Happy Families by Adele Parks Page A

Lisa’s little brother, had the best reaction. He didn’t seem to have noticed Lisa was divorced at all. The divorce didn’t have anything to do with booze or women, which were his hobbies. John was thirty-eight and only ever thought about himself. He was still single and dead happy to be so. His longest ever relationship had lasted two months and he was proud of that. Lisa would be dying of shame. She told him this.
    ‘That’s the difference between men and women,’ he said. ‘If I play around, I’m a stud. If you do, you are a slapper.’
    Lisa told her brother he was a sexist pig. He grinned, thinking she was being nice.
    ‘That’s not fair,’ said Lisa. But then she remembered it’s also not fair that Angelina Jolie gets to have babies with Brad Pitt. Life is many things. It can be funny, interesting, hard and sad, but it’s never fair.
    Then there were the children. They seemed OK. But everyone said Lisa seemed OK. Was OK good enough? They seemed to understand it when their dad said he needed to be with the Big Breasted Woman from the accounts team at his work. More than he needed to be with them or his wife of fifteen years. He actually said he needed to be with Helen, but Lisa couldn’t bring herself to use the woman’s name. It made her seem… well, human. Lisa called her the Big Breasted Woman Who Replaced Me, or just the Big Breasted Woman for short.
    The kids hadn’t turned to crime, and that was odd, because all the newspapers said kids from broken homes were trouble. Lisa’s kids were fine, which goes to show you can’t believe everything you read. The promise of two sets of birthday and Christmas presents really helped.
    Lisa had had a very controlled morning. She had sorted the wash into light clothes and dark.She’d put on the darks. There were always more darks, the kids all lived in jeans. She’d cleaned the kitchen, made beds, run round with the hoover and the duster. She’d even washed the floor in the porch. She had everything under control. So why had it seemed such a terrible morning?
    Lisa knew why. There’d been no noise. She was used to noise. She didn’t like noise but she expected it, lots of it. Today the only noise had been her voice.
    ‘Now then, Lisa, I think it’s time to clean out your sock drawer,’ she’d said. And then she’d said back to herself, ‘Good idea.’
    But it was not a good idea. Manic cleaning and talking to yourself are signs of madness. Think of the Big Brother House. When a contestant starts to overdo the polishing, scrubbing, tidying, you know they are losing it, and it’s the same thing with talking to yourself.
    It was the first day of the new school term. The kids were all back at school and Lisa felt very alone. It was odd that she missed them. Lisa had spent the last six weeks begging for hush. But now that the new school term had started Lisa was not so sure. The silence of an empty house was about as welcome as heavy rain on sports day.
    Lisa grumbled that the kids were always demanding things from her.
    ‘Mum, I’m hungry. When’s tea?’
    ‘Mum, will you iron my top?’
    ‘Mum, can you drive me to my friend’s house?’
    But in truth Lisa liked being needed. She had always been needed. Keith, her husband, had needed her first. But then he stopped needing her and became her ex-husband. Lisa felt the kids didn’t need her like they used to. She knew the kids couldn’t divorce her, as such. But they could leave. They should leave – that was natural. But what then, for Lisa? She had a new man in her life, Mark, but he was the independent sort. He didn’t need her. She wasn’t sure how long he’d want her for. Nothing was certain.
    This year was the last school year for Kerry, unless Lisa could talk her into doing A levels. She might leave home in the next year or two. Lisa hated the idea. Paula was almost thirteen (going on thirty). Paula was more worldly than her mum. Lisa couldn’t remember the last time Paula had needed