Happy Families by Adele Parks Page B

her for anything other than money! And now Jack was at secondary school too.
    This morning Lisa had wanted to walk him toschool. Jack went mad. He said his friends would laugh. The school was only up the road – not even as far as the chip shop. Lisa often sent him to buy chips. He was not a baby. He didn’t need Lisa. But Lisa needed him. Lisa needed to be needed.
    She felt useless.

2
    3 September
    Lisa called Carol, her big sister. Lisa always called Carol if she was feeling a bit down. Lisa thought Carol would cheer her up, but that was a mistake. Carol never made Lisa feel better, but Lisa never learned! The good news was that sometimes Carol could boss Lisa out of a bad mood.
    ‘It’s a good thing that the kids can be on their own more/ said Carol. Carol sounded so sure of herself. Lisa was never sure of herself.
    ‘Is it?’ asks Lisa.
    ‘Yes. You’ll have more time to yourself.’
    ‘But I don’t want more time to myself,’ said Lisa. ‘I have too much time to myself as it is.’ Lisa liked using her time to look after her family.
    ‘You can do more hours at work. The extra cash will come in handy,’ said Carol.
    This was true but not a comfort. No one liked to be reminded that they needed more cash,and no one liked to think that they had to work harder. Lisa worked hard enough as it was. She was a single mum. Carol didn’t understand how much work that was. Carol was a rare thing. Carol was happily married.
    But Lisa did enjoy her job. She worked in a small café just up the road. It was not a posh café, more of a grotty caff. It was not the sort of place that sold millions of different types of coffee. The coffee came out of a jar and you just had to add boiling water. There were no posh sandwiches with tiny tomatoes and smelly cheeses. It was the sort of place that sold everything fried and with chips: fried egg and chips, fried bacon and chips, fried Mars bar and chips. The place was even called ‘N Chips’.
    Lisa had worked at ‘N Chips’ since her divorce. Before that she’d been a stay-at-home mum. Keith did not like her going out to work. He said he was the money-maker, but that changed when he left with the Big Breasted Woman. Then he wanted Lisa to make her own money.
    It was not a bad little job. The boss, Dave, was good about Lisa changing hours if she ever needed to pop into the school or take one of the kids to the dentist. Dave understood aboutbringing up kids alone. His mother had done it and his sister was doing it. Who’d have thought Lisa would ever be so fashionable?
    Dave and his wife didn’t have kids. They were getting on a bit now. They were Lisa’s age and too old to bother. Lisa had never asked Dave if they’d ever wanted kids. It was not the sort of thing she would ask. Paula would, given the chance. Paula was at an age where nothing was private.
    For example, the other day Paula had asked Lisa if Lisa had ‘sexual relations’ with her boyfriend, Mark. Lisa was very embarrassed, even though Mark had been part of their lives for a few months now. Wasn’t that the wrong way round? Paula had had ‘the talk’ at school. She’d had a good idea about the birds and the bees before she’d had the proper lesson at school. But now she’d had the lesson she felt totally grown-up. Paula saw a chance to embarrass and confuse her mum. Every kid loves to do that! After asking about her mum’s personal life she quickly asked, ‘Can I have my belly-button pierced?’
    Lisa was so hot and bothered by the ‘sexual relations’ question that she said she’d think about the piercing. For ages she’d said, ‘No. No. No,’ but anything to change the subject.Later, when Lisa had time to think about it, she realized she’d been tricked.
    For the record, Mark and Lisa were having sex. Thank you for your interest! Lisa was forty-two, with three kids and a divorce under her belt. She was officially not-so-young, not-so-free and not-so-single. She was also not-so-comfortable