Hubble Bubble by Christina Jones Page A

laughed.
    ‘Not fair,’ Lulu paused in her boot-sort to peer over her shoulder at her mother. ‘Now you sound like Nasty Niall. It may not be a conventional career – but I work very hard in the shop and on fund-raising and awareness and – oh, and by the way before I forget, Doll says I’m to ask you if you’re thinking of seeing Dad while Jennifer’s away being buffed up. Because if you are, we want it put on record that we’re not happy about it. Much as we love him, he’s not to be trusted, Mum. If you take him back—’
    ‘Of course I’m not taking him back,’ Mitzi said. ‘I’m not even going to see him. You know what your Dad’s like. Without Jennifer there to mother him, he was just feeling lonely. And she was only being buffed up over the weekend. She’ll be back today.’
    ‘That’s okay then.’ Having resumed her hunt, Lulu broke off with a little yell of triumph as she discovered the boot, then sat on the floor to pull it on. Richard and Judy helped with the laces. ‘Still, it was all a bit spooky. You know,you wishing for someone to love you and want you and then – shazam! – Dad’s on the phone saying those very words.’
    ‘Pure coincidence,’ Mitzi said firmly. ‘And you know Dad always gets maudlin when he’s left on his own for more then twenty minutes. But it was fun, wasn’t it? Especially for you, with the gorgeous Shay moving in next door.’
    Lulu scrambled to her feet and opened the back door. ‘Yeah, far better for me than for poor old Doll having to endure Brett’s amorous advances, that’s for sure. Mind you, I haven’t caught as much as a glimpse of him since Friday. He was probably just a pigment of my overheated imagination.’
    ‘Don’t you mean figment?’
    ‘After that Wishes Come True concoction I know exactly what I mean.’ Lulu grinned. ‘Right, I’m off. Oh, sod it, it’s raining. I’ll get soaked waiting at the bus stop.’
    ‘Hmmm – not one of the things I have to worry about. No more wet Monday mornings and getting into work sopping wet and tearing round at lunchtime getting even more sopping wet. I think I shall just spend the day ensconced by the fire organising my first Baby Boomers Collective meeting in the village hall – oh, and maybe planning my next culinary surprise.’
    ‘That’s so cruel,’ Lulu pulled a face as she rummaged in the pile of back-door debris for a serviceable umbrella.
    ‘Oh, I think the Baby Boomers are looking forward to meeting up at last – and my cooking wasn’t that bad.’
    ‘It’s not the cooking or the Baby Boomers.’ Lulu looked despondently at a selection of umbrellas with torn fabric and bent spokes. ‘It’s the staying at home by the fire bit … Oh, what the hell – I’ll run to the dentist’s and see if Doll can give me a lift into Winterbrook. It’ll be loads quicker than the bus or waiting for you to get dressed and offer.’ She grinned. ‘Plus it’ll give me a chance to find out what happened during the Love Fest. Bye!’
    Doll had become used to her scrounging lifts in the Poloin inclement weather over the years. It always led to sisterly arguments about Lulu taking her driving test – again. Having failed seven times and knowing that, even if she could drive, she certainly couldn’t afford a car, and not being sure that as an almost-eco-warrior she should be adding to atmospheric pollution anyway, Lulu always felt the argument was very much stacked against her.
    The rain was irritatingly fine and non-stop, so by the time she reached the surgery Lulu’s feet were squelching, the hem of her trailing skirt was saturated, her Afghan coat was giving off an even stronger aroma than usual, and drops were dripping annoyingly from the end of every one of her beaded braids.
    ‘Drowned rat alert!’ Viv the receptionist called out cheerily, not looking up from her screen. ‘Blimey Lu, that coat pongs to high heaven! If you hang around outside Patsy’s Pantry with the rest of the