The Honeymoon Sisters (7 page)

‘Would
you
like to be an artist when you grow up, Sadie?’ Mum asked, clearly trying to break the tension.

Sadie shrugged. ‘Maybe … If I’m good enough.’

‘Oh, you’re definitely good enough!’ I put in before I could stop myself.

Mum looked pleased by my comment and I saw her glance at Sadie for some kind of response. But this time – maybe because I’d said something so unexpectedly nice – Sadie was struggling to find one.

Chapter Ten

The next few days passed and suddenly it was Saturday again. I couldn’t believe Sadie had been staying with us for a whole week. I had avoided being alone with her as much as I could, and Sadie had continued to act like the perfect guest. Sadie’s social worker had been and gone, seemingly perfectly happy with her temporary placement, and there was still no news about when she’d be moving on to a longer-term foster-family.

‘How about we go out to the park for a bit, Poppy?’ Sadie suggested as I came downstairs on Saturday morning. I’d already stayed in my room for longer than I normally would on a weekend morning because I was in no rush to join Sadie and Mum in the kitchen.

They’d actually been baking! The scones they’d made were already in the oven and now Sadie was busy loading
the dishwasher. She was still wearing the pink flowery apron Mum had lent her.

I gaped at her in disbelief. ‘What – you and me? Together?’

Sadie laughed. ‘Yeah. The fresh air will be good for us, right?’ She shot Mum her most open, butter-wouldn’t-melt smile as she undid her apron.

Of course Mum fell for it. Mum is always saying I should get more fresh air. Fresh air is very good for your complexion apparently. So before I knew what was happening I was being sent out to the park with Sadie – the last person on earth I wanted to hang out with.

‘You know what,’ Sadie told me as soon as we left the house, ‘I really like your mum. I think I’ll start calling her “Auntie Kathy”. And I don’t think she’s nearly as stuck-up as my dad made out.’

‘She’s not stuck-up at all,’ I said crossly.

‘Yeah, well, Dad says she used to be. He says she used to speak to him like he was the lowest of the low, and that she tried to interfere all the time in how he was looking after me after my mum left.’

‘She was probably just trying to help, that’s all.’ I gritted my teeth. ‘Like she is now.’ I only just stopped
myself from saying something cutting about Sadie’s dad. Instead I asked, ‘So when did you last see him?’

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ she said coldly.

‘Fine,’ I replied.

We walked on in silence.

‘The park’s this way,’ I reminded her as she turned right instead of left at the bottom of our road.

‘Look, we can split up now! You go to the park. I’ll go where I’m going. I only suggested we go together so your mum wouldn’t suspect anything. Linda always got uptight if I tried to go anywhere on my own.’

‘Suspect
what
?’ I demanded. ‘Where
are
you going in any case?’

‘Oh, you know …’ she answered in a sarcastic tone, ‘it’s Saturday, so that’s the day I usually go and nick stuff from Sainsbury’s.’

‘Ha ha.’

I’ll meet you at the swings in two hours and then we can go back together. How’s that?’

‘I’m not hanging around in the park for two hours! Anyway, if you go off for that long I’ll have to tell Mum.’

‘Listen, Poppy, you know those mates you saw me with the other day? I’m going to meet up with them.
OK
? And to be honest –’ she looked me up and down witheringly – ‘they’re really not your kind of people. So the best thing you can do is cover for me with your mum – then my friends won’t get mad at you and pay
you
a visit like they did Linda.’

‘
SADIE
!’ I yelled after her as she walked away, but she just ignored me.

As I watched her walk briskly towards the main road I wondered if I should tell Mum anyway. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if she really was going shoplifting. But I was a bit afraid Sadie might carry out her threat. I still didn’t know what had happened at Linda’s, but so far I’d been imagining all sorts of horrible stuff which I’d hate to have happen at ours: bricks through the windows, dog poo through the letter box, fire-setting, poisoning the cat. (
OK
, so
we
don’t actually have a cat, but Tiger from next door is always lazing in the sun on our front doorstep.)

In the end I decided it was probably safer to let it go. Besides, what did I care if she went ahead and got into trouble? At least then Mum might see that I was right about her.

I took out my phone and called Josh, hoping he’d want to meet up for a bit. Thankfully he was also at a loose end and he agreed to meet me at the shops near the park.

‘I’ll meet you inside the gift shop,’ I told him. ‘You can help me choose a birthday present for my dad.’

‘Oh no,’ Josh complained. ‘Do I have to?’

‘See you in fifteen minutes,’ I said with a grin, ending the call before he thought up a good enough excuse to back out.

Anne-Marie is always teasing me about Josh, referring to him as my boyfriend and asking me when the wedding’s going to be. I keep telling her that we’re just good friends, but she doesn’t listen.

Recently I tried to shut her up by stating that I would never risk ruining my friendship with Josh by going out with him. But she even had an answer for that: ‘That’s silly,’ she’d said. ‘Because when you do get a boyfriend you won’t be able to stay best friends anyway – your boyfriend will get jealous. Same thing will happen if Josh gets a girlfriend. So you might as well give the romance thing a go, because basically your friendship is doomed anyway.’

‘Don’t be too optimistic will you?’ I’d said sarcastically. ‘Anyway, I don’t even
want
a boyfriend. Not yet, at any rate!’

‘What about what Josh wants?’

‘I don’t know. We’ve never discussed it.’

‘Well, maybe you should.’

*

I arrived at the shops before Josh did. There’s a little cafe there as well as the gift shop, a newsagent, an estate agent’s and a second-hand bookshop.

I was inside the gift shop when Josh joined me. ‘So let me guess … as per usual, you don’t know what to get him?’ he said when he found me standing in front of the men’s toiletries with a big frown on my face. Like I said before, Josh has known me for a long time and he’s well aware of how I’m always trying my hardest to impress my dad.

‘Got it in one,’ I murmured gloomily. ‘It’s this Friday.’

The trouble is I always get stressed about buying Dad’s present, which Mum says is my own fault because I try too hard to get it perfect. She says not to worry because Dad will like anything I give him just because it’s from me, but I’m not so sure that’s true. I mean, he never wears the tie I gave him last Christmas, and the toiletries I bought him for his last birthday are still sitting on his bathroom shelf in their original packaging.

‘I wish that just one time, I could get him something he really
loves
,’ I confided in Josh. ‘But it’s hard because he has such expensive tastes in … well … in just about everything.’

Josh nodded sympathetically and started to follow me around the shop.

Once we were outside again (without buying anything) Josh said, ‘What about the bookshop?’

I shook my head. ‘He won’t want anything from there.’

‘I thought you said he doesn’t do charity shops but he does do second-hand books?’

‘Well, yes, but not the way Mum and I do them. Put it this way,’ I said with a sigh. ‘He won’t want anything from in there that
I
can afford to buy him.’

Mum and I always spend ages in second-hand bookshops browsing the shelves to see what we can find and pausing frequently to show each other stuff or to read amusing blurbs out loud. Currently Mum is on a mission to replace all the children’s books she remembers having as a girl.

Dad, on the other hand, makes straight for the locked glass cabinet behind the till where all the more valuable items are displayed. And if there’s nothing there that interests him he just walks straight out again.

‘What about going for nostalgic value instead?’ Josh suggested, pointing at an old
Beano
annual in the window.

I shook my head at the
Beano
but I followed him inside anyway, not really expecting to find a present for
Dad, but knowing I’d have fun browsing for books Mum or I might like.

After a little while I spotted an old
Just William
hardback and I suddenly remembered Dad talking about how he used to like
Just William
as a boy. I picked up the book and showed it to Josh. ‘But it’s not signed and it’s not a first edition or anything,’ I said uncertainly.

‘It doesn’t matter. It’s still a really original present. I know my dad would love it.’

‘Yeah, but this is
my
dad we’re talking about. He probably –’ I broke off abruptly as someone I knew came into the shop. It was Josh’s mate Sean from school.

Sean isn’t as obviously handsome or as tall as Josh, but I suppose he’s fairly good-looking in a boyish sort of way. And he’s got really twinkly brown eyes. He’s certainly very witty – another attribute Mum says she used to find super attractive in my dad, but now finds super irritating.

Now I remembered Josh telling me that Sean’s mum worked in the estate agent’s next door.

‘Sean!’ Josh immediately called out. ‘What are
you
doing inside a bookshop? Oh … hi, Mr Anderson!’

Mr Anderson was right behind him. Like I said before, Sean’s mum married our English teacher last summer. Apparently Mr Anderson is ten years younger than Sean’s
mum, and Anne-Marie says that our teacher must therefore have some kind of ‘mother complex’ (whatever that’s supposed to mean). When I repeated it to Mum she laughed and said that Sean’s mum is really glamorous and doesn’t look like
anybody’s
mother.

Anyway, I can’t imagine anything more embarrassing than having my mum marry a teacher in our school. Except for everyone finding out my dad’s in prison, perhaps.

Mr Anderson was smiling at Josh and me as he said, ‘It’s nice to see
some
of my pupils have developed a love of reading, at any rate.’

‘Poppy’s thinking about getting this for her dad’s birthday,’ Josh told him, showing him my book. ‘What do you think? He used to read
Just William
when he was a kid.’

‘Well, that sounds like an excellent choice, then,’ Mr Anderson replied, smiling kindly at me.

Sean was grinning at me cheekily. ‘
Your
dad sounds nice and normal.
Leo
was reading the classics and reciting poetry right from when he was in his pram, weren’t you, Leo?’

Mr Anderson put an arm around his shoulder. ‘Tell you what, Sean. Let’s find the poetry section and you can choose a book for yourself while we’re here. My treat!’

Sean laughed, while I just stood there feeling self-conscious. It was so weird to see my hunky English
teacher in ‘dad’ mode – and it was also weird how much
less
hunky that seemed to make him.

‘Come on, Poppy, let’s get it,’ Josh said, leading me towards the front of the shop to pay for my book.

Suddenly Sean whirled round. ‘Wait a minute … I meant to congratulate you, Poppy.’

‘Huh?’

‘
Sean.
’ Mr Anderson’s voice held a warning which Sean clearly had no intention of heeding as a grin slowly began lighting up his face.

‘What are you on about?’ Even Josh sounded puzzled.

‘Mum just told me the story this morning.’ Sean started to laugh. ‘Her and Leo have got this whole
Does my bum look big in this?
thing going on … and this morning Mum told me what started it. Way to go, Poppy! At least there’s one girl in our school who doesn’t think Leo’s perfect!’

‘Sean!’ Mr Anderson sounded cross now, and maybe even a bit embarrassed.

As for me, embarrassed didn’t even begin to cover it! I could feel myself flushing bright red and all I wanted was to find myself a deep, dark hole to bury myself in.

Chapter Eleven

Josh laughed all the way back to the park entrance.

‘It’s not funny, Josh!’ I wailed. ‘Next time I see Mr Anderson I think I’ll die. In fact I just want to die
right
now
.’

‘Don’t be daft!
He
obviously thought it was funny or he wouldn’t have gone home and told his wife, would he?’

Josh was still struggling to contain his mirth when we reached the park.

‘Just go home, will you?’ I snapped.

‘
OK
,
OK
… But it’s no big deal. Just chill …’ I could still hear him laughing as he walked away.

I entered the park alone. I was fuming. This was all Anne-Marie’s fault for blabbing as usual. Maybe Olivia was right. Maybe I should just dump her completely as a friend. It might be a lot safer that way. If only Olivia was still here, I thought.

Since there was no sign of Sadie yet I sat down on the nearest bench and took out
Just William
to have a proper look at it. One of the things I love about old books is the illustrations, and this one had some beauties. I just hoped Dad didn’t think it was a really naff present, that’s all.

I’m not sure how long I’d been sitting there reading when someone suddenly appeared behind me and grabbed the book. It was Sadie.

‘What’s this, then?’ She was grinning as she bent the front and back boards back so that all the pages in between splayed out like a fan.

‘Watch it. You’ll break the spine,’ I said angrily.

‘So? It’s not like it can feel it, is it?’ She chucked it back at me.

‘Where’ve you been?’ I demanded, standing up and glaring.

‘Over at my best mate Alison’s place. Don’t tell your mum unless you want that book of yours to need some major spinal surgery!’ She laughed like she thought she was being super witty.

‘I thought you were going to see those mates from the other day? The ones who were at the bus stop with you?’