Molly sipped her drink, watching her mum scroll through her emails. ‘Mum…’ She paused, not sure whether to speak, then had a fuck-it moment. ‘You hate him, don’t you?’
Julia froze. ‘Excuse me?’
‘Shane. You hate him.’
Julia’s jaw worked, then she set her glass down and looked at Molly properly. ‘I don’t hate him. I just don’t trust him or want to be around him anymore. There’s a difference.’
After hearing her mother’s barefaced lie but not wanting to admit she’d been eavesdropping, Molly met her gaze. ‘Why?’
‘Because he lies. And he cheats. And he thinks he’s cleverer than he is.’
Molly looked away. Her throat felt dry. ‘Are you sure, about the cheating?’
‘Yes, yes I am but I don’t want to go into that now.’
Molly wanted to probe but didn’t dare. ‘So why have you stayed with him this long?’
‘Because… because it was easier. And because I didn’t want to unsettle you when you were doing your GCSEs, then your A-levels, or Christmas and birthdays and holidays and bloody everything.’ Julia paused and sucked in a deep breath, then continued. ‘It just kind of goes on and on and time passes until suddenly you’re exhausted by the effort of it all. Keeping the peace and putting on a front.’
‘But, Mum, you shouldn’t have had to do that. Loads of your friends and mine have dealt with divorce in their family and they got through it so I don’t understand why you didn’t just call itquits with Shane ages ago.’ Molly hoped that if she kept pushing, her mum would tell the whole truth.
‘Well sometimes it’s not that simple. Things can be complicated, Molly. Marriage is tricky and there are things you don’t understand.’
‘Try me.’
Julia stood, pushing her chair back with a scrape. ‘Love, please can we leave this for now. It’s bad enough muddling through each day and I really am looking forward to your party and spending time with you in America, so for me at least, can we pick this up another time? Just focus on finding some shoes. Let me deal with the rest.’
But Molly couldn’t. Not now. The quiet war between her mum and Shane was pecking at her head, then the revival of her mother’s alliance with Nancy, the secretive phone calls, the party that loomed was becoming a stage, set for something bigger than a goodbye. It was all too much.
And somewhere, beneath all that, the sickening truth of what she’d done. Of the person she’d become. The house was like a giant pressure cooker, steam building, waiting for the lid to blow. And she couldn’t shake the feeling that if it did, nothing would ever be the same again.
Molly stepped off the tram, tugging at the sleeves of her mini dress and checking her reflection in the mirrored window of a nearby café. She looked, to all the world, like any other teenager enjoying a day out. She’d left her car at home, pre-empting some cheeky cocktails later.
She was meeting her best friend and rebel-child, Phoebe, who’d quit school after her GCSEs to work in Affleck’s Palacewhere she was now training to be a tattoo artist like her boyfriend. They had grand plans to have their own tattoo parlour, full of snakes and spiders in glass cases. Molly would not be a regular visitor for both of those reasons.
Horns honked in the distance, a busker played his violin outside Primark and shoppers filed in and out of the stores along Market Street. As she neared the Northern Quarter the scent of street food lingered in the air, mixing with traffic fumes that swirled inside a bubble of humidity.
Phoebe spotted her from across the street, waving enthusiastically from a table outside an artisan coffee shop. Her dyed red hair was tucked beneath a straw cowboy hat, eyes hidden behind giant bug sunglasses. Her silver wedges peeped out from below her rainbow-coloured maxi dress. As if anyone could miss her crazy friend Phoebe!
‘You took your time,’ she teased as Molly approached.
‘Tram was slow. Had to stop for a protest. I was half-expecting you to be in the crowd if I’m honest.’
They kissed cheeks and fell into easy chatter as they waited for the coffee Phoebe had pre-ordered, oversized frappuccinos to counteract the weather. Molly loved her best friend, who had always been her own person, breaking the mould and shrugging off the trappings that came with having a rich mum and dad, who’d sent her to private school and paid for elocution lessons.That was a complete waste of money,thought Molly as she listened to Phoebe chatter on in the gentle Mancunian accent she’d adopted. It made Molly aware of her own voice, Cheshire through and through, modulated and some might say a bit posh, which was one of the many things Shane adored about her.
‘So, how’s it going at home?’ Phoebe asked as Molly moved her chair out of the sun.
Molly shrugged. ‘Same as usual. Bad vibes and silences. Shane had to sort some big mess out at work so he was in agrump. Dee’s sulking about some drama with a friend, and Mum was holed up in her office doing whatever she does in there. I have been ordered to find a pair of shoes I don’t even need so escape and a catch-up with you seemed like a good option.’
Phoebe grinned. ‘Lucky me.’
They wandered after coffee, trailing through shops, trying on sunglasses, spritzing perfume testers, and laughing over a display of absurdly expensive dog coats.
‘This one costs more than my rent,’ Phoebe said, holding up a puffer jacket designed for a dachshund.
They ended up in a small ramen place tucked off Tib Street, slurping noodles and sharing a bowl of dumplings. It was noisy and alive with the comings and goings of customers, and for a while, the ball of worry in Molly’s chest eased.
‘So,’ Phoebe said, leaning in with a mischievous smile. ‘Tell me what’s going on with you. I reckon you’ve got a guy on the go, either that or you’ve been a right ignorant cow for the past few months. I was actually thinking you didn’t love me anymore.’
