Inheritance: The new novel from the author of Richard & Judy bestseller Moving by Jenny Eclair

Author:Jenny Eclair [Eclair, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780751567052
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2019-07-31T22:00:00+00:00

30

Guilt

London, May 2018

Tikkagate was a week ago and Bel is still mortified by her behaviour, occasionally experiencing flashbacks of Maisie’s face as she swiped the chicken tikka carton from under her nose. The girl’s instant look of confusion and hurt, the same face her sons pulled when they were little, followed by the endless fraternal round of accusations, ‘He’s being mean to me.’

I was mean to her, Bel confesses inwardly, forcing herself out of bed. I acted like a crackpot. Even Andrew had looked embarrassed on her behalf. Why do I keep behaving like this, she asks herself, immediately excusing herself with a list of reasons.

Because she swans about in my house, wiping her arse on my toilet paper, shagging my son and smirking at me because I don’t spend forty-five minutes a day shading in my cheekbones and pouting into the mirror.

Maisie pouts constantly; whenever she passes any remotely shiny surface, her face automatically turns into what looks like a sexed-up guppy, she lowers her lids and purses her lips, whatever time of day it is and whatever she’s meant to be doing.

Bel finds it incredibly off-putting, especially first thing in the morning, plus the girl needs to cover herself up a bit more. It’s bad enough having Jamie and Ed coming downstairs with what look like tent poles in their jogging bottoms; there’s no need for Maisie to go around exposing her genital shaving rash. A rash induced by using Bel’s leg-stubble razor, no doubt. Personally, she has never dared to wield anything that lethal near her own undercarriage, which is why Bel’s nether regions are as neglected as the failed vegetable patch in the back garden.

I might make it a rule that everyone needs to be fully dressed for breakfast, thinks Bel, soaping herself down in the en-suite shower and realising that the sag of her belly has finally formed an official saddle of flesh that hangs low over her pubic region.

Her mother will make some comment about this development at Lance’s party, no doubt. She will say something along the lines of ‘Well, a lot of women thicken around the waist in middle age, dear, which is unfortunate. I think the only solution is discipline.’

Natasha has always been stick thin, but then Bel has never seen the woman enjoy a meal in her entire life. She approaches every morsel as if the dish may have been contaminated. The thought prompts a flashback to making a lemon meringue pie in the school holidays and her mother struggling to swallow a couple of mouthfuls. ‘This pastry is very heavy.’

It’s been four years since she actually saw her mother in the diminutive flesh and the realisation that it was at Benedict’s funeral makes Bel feel weak. She allows herself to sit on the floor and let the hot water rain down on her head. The good thing about working part-time is that she doesn’t have to rush off anywhere; sometimes it’s good to just sit and think, even if the memories are too sad to bear.

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