If You Were Me by Sam Hepburn

Author:Sam Hepburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicken House

DAN

The house was empty when I got home and I managed to shower off the mud and change into clean clothes before Mum got back from her Zumba class. Cheeks flushed, ponytail swinging, she slipped off her jacket and I followed her into the kitchen.

‘It’s just you and me tonight, so I picked up a pizza on the way home.’ She laughed and patted her thighs. ‘Put back some of those calories I just burnt off.’ She opened the box, filling the kitchen with the warm doughy smell that always meant a night in with Mum, because Dad didn’t like pizza. But tonight, all I could think about was how miserable she’d be if it was just her and me permanently.

‘Get some plates out. We’ll have it in front of the TV.’

‘Where’s Dad?’

‘Pub with Jez. Why?’

‘Just wondered.’

I reached for the plates and closed my eyes for a minute, not sure how to ask her what I wanted to know. ‘You know when his business was in trouble . . .’

She was heading for the door with the open pizza box. She stopped and looked back, surprised and frowning slightly. ‘It’s doing fine now, love. Don’t you worry about that.’

‘Yes, but does he ever talk to you about how he turned things around?’

‘You’re in a funny mood tonight.’

‘Does he, Mum?’

‘Well, no, not really. I mean, I know getting those big council contracts helped a lot, and I don’t like to admit it, but Jez does his bit bringing in new work and doing the books. It was just a blip – that’s the way it is when you run a small business.’

I followed her into the living room. She handed me the TV remote. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘You choose. Anything you want as long as it’s not football.’

I flicked through the channels, itching to check out the news, but that really would have got her worried. She held up a slice of pizza and bit off the corner. ‘Eileen told your Dad you had someone round this morning,’ she said, trying her best to sound offhand and not succeeding. ‘A girl.’

‘She’s just a friend, Mum.’

‘The one who phoned the other night?’

‘Yeah.’ I could feel my heart thumping.

‘Eileen said she’s foreign.’

‘It’s not a disease.’

‘Don’t be silly. Your Dad wants you to bring her round. We’d like to meet her.’

My heart almost stuttered to a stop at the thought of Dad meeting Aliya, looking her over, judging her, finding out who she was. ‘It’s not like that. She’s not my girlfriend or anything. I’m just . . . helping her out.’

‘What with?’

‘Filling out forms and stuff. Her family haven’t been here long.’

She gave me a funny little smile and ruffled my hair, as if she was about to say something sloppy.

‘Get off!’ I dodged away and turned up the sound. ‘There’s a new cop show starting – do you want to try it?’

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