LITMIR.BIZ

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I wouldn’t want them to. I’d like them to go off and explore the world. Liam came up with a long-list of possible unis over the summer, but I suppose we do need to whittle it down. Isn’t January the deadline for getting applications into UCAS?’

      ‘It doesn’t matter any more,’ Liam said. ‘I’ve changed my mind.’

      ‘Pardon? What do you mean, you’ve changed your mind?’

      ‘Not everyone has to go to uni.’

      ‘I know,’ Nina said slowly to keep her temper in check, ‘but up until now, it was what you wanted. And if you don’t go, can you please tell me what you do have planned?’

      ‘My company has a very good apprenticeship programme,’ Miles offered. ‘Or failing that, there could be opportunities with Sarah’s new housing development. It’s still going through planning, but once we get the green light, I’m sure we could persuade one of the contractors to take you on. What kind of career were you thinking about?’

      Nina was struggling to keep up with the pace of the conversation. ‘Hold on, can we rewind for a minute. We haven’t ruled out university yet.’

      Rather than answer, Liam returned his attention to his phone. The argument was closed, for now at least, and perhaps that was for the best. She didn’t want Miles mapping out her son’s life for him, she had managed well enough on her own so far.

      ‘I’ll be out this evening and, by the sounds of it, so will Scarlett,’ Bryn said. ‘Maybe you two could have a chat about it later?’

      ‘Good idea,’ Nina said, admonishing herself for forgetting she was in a partnership now. The conversation she needed to have with Liam might be better alone, but it felt good knowing she had backup.

      While everyone had been concentrating on Liam, Scarlett became disengaged from the conversation. She had finished her starter and was looking absent-mindedly around the restaurant. Taking her lip gloss from her purse, her mouth open in a pout, she stroked the wand across her lips in soft, sensual strokes.

      ‘A word of advice, my lovely,’ Sarah said, her note of caution laced with a hint of envy. ‘Don’t do that in public unless you want to attract the attention of every hot-blooded male in the room.’

      Bryn and Miles remembered themselves and looked away from the fifteen-year-old schoolgirl.

       Scarlett

       I used to think I could tell Mum anything, but not now, at least, not everything. Actually, not even close.

       I know all this is driving her crazy, but it’s not like I meant to cause so much trouble. It just happened, and it happened so bloody fast. It was like, one minute I hadn’t spoken two words to him, and the next, he was the only one I could talk to. I’m not saying I didn’t know it was wrong, but I honestly couldn’t help myself and neither could he. You have no idea what it was like. We fell truly, madly and deeply in love and it was like we became addicted to each other.

       And do you know what really annoys me? People won’t take my feelings seriously. Like, they assume because I’m technically underage, I couldn’t possibly know what real love is like. I’m sorry, but what does a date on a calendar have to do with anything? I was in love. I still am.

       I know I shouldn’t say this, but it was actually funny looking back at how I acted. I didn’t have a clue he was interested in me, not in that way. I’m sort of used to people staring at me and I don’t want to sound vain or anything, but I know I’m pretty. It doesn’t matter how big a group I’m in, people always look at me first. I used to think it was because I was the tallest, but now I get it. It was always the men who looked at me the longest.

       I’ve been told that I could hypnotize men with my dazzling violet eyes, but the person who said that was interested in a lot more than my eyes.

       ‘That mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble one of these days,’ he told me.

       I bit my lip and said, ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

       To be honest, at the time I wasn’t sure if he was talking about all the backchat I’d been giving him, but when he glanced at my mouth, I swear to God, it was so obvious he was wondering if my strawberry lip gloss tasted as good as it smelled. But the next minute he was laughing.

       ‘OK,’ he said, ‘if not you, then most definitely me.’

       3

       The Accusations

      Vikki Swift didn’t know why she had been lying awake all night worrying about Scarlett. It must be so awful for Nina, but teenage pregnancies were a sad fact of life and Vikki had been little more than a teen herself when she had had Freya. Of course the difference was that Vikki had been married by that point, but who was to say Scarlett wasn’t in a loving relationship? Except that seemed extremely unlikely, if what Scarlett had said was true. How was this man she was involved with going to explain himself to the world in general, and more especially to his wife?

      Refusing to dwell on the subject, Vikki turned on her side and slipped an arm around her husband. She reminded herself how lucky she was to have Rob. He was her one and only love, and even though she was still only twenty-four, she couldn’t imagine life without him. She held him tightly as she thought about everything they had been through, and how much growing up she had had to do. She might be a teacher’s wife and a mother, but up until six months ago they were simply labels she had collected, certificates she had acquired without actually passing the exams. She had always depended on other people to make sure she didn’t mess up, and although she was trying her best to think more for herself these days, it was still so hard. There were some things that she could never have been prepared for. It was scary how life could change so quickly.

      ‘What’s wrong?’ Rob whispered.

      Vikki was surprised that he had been awake enough to notice her clinging to him. Or was there something keeping Rob from sleep too?

      ‘Nothing,’ she said.

      ‘Are you sure?’

      ‘Hmm,’ Vikki said, which was as near to a lie as she was prepared to go.

      The truth was, she wasn’t sure of anything all of a sudden.

       4

       Before

       Sunday, 6 September 2015

      As thirtieth birthday parties went, having lunch with your wife, mother-in-law and daughter was not how Vikki thought the occasion should be celebrated, but Rob had insisted that he didn’t want a fuss. Reluctantly, she had gone along with his wishes, although she had been a tiny bit naughty. There were two helium balloons tied to the back of his chair which he obviously hated.

      ‘Sorry, is that annoying you?’ she asked when a balloon hit Rob in the face as he turned to fill her mum’s glass.

      ‘It’s fine,’ Rob said. There was a smile on his face and a glint in his eye when he added, ‘Who wouldn’t want to be assaulted by an inflatable number three. It could be worse; I might get my head stuck in the zero.’

      When Rob leant over and gave her a peck on the cheek, she relaxed; she had done the right thing. Smiling, Vikki pushed back a rogue curl that had escaped the hair grip pinning back her dark golden

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