Hidden Sin: When the past comes back to haunt you. Julie Shaw

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       Chapter 5

      Paula stepped out into the street and gaped. ‘Really, Dad?’ she squeaked, not quite able to believe what she was seeing. ‘You mean I can have it now? Seriously? Oh my God!’

      Christmas, it seemed, had come early. After a long lie-in – the band had been rehearsing till late the night before, and she’d lingered a bit, with Joey – she’d come down to find an unlikely silence. Her dad was out somewhere, her younger brothers too, the latter being an extremely rare occurrence for a Saturday morning, as they were usually glued to some rubbish on the TV. And her little sister Louise had been in a decidedly funny mood. Which wasn’t that unusual – Louise had just turned thirteen and become the family diva overnight – but there was definitely something going on in the house that she wasn’t party to.

      And now, out in the street, winking diamonds of sunshine at her, was the reason. Parked at the kerb was a beautiful red Mini. Christmas had come very early.

      Her dad, Eddie, stood proudly by the open driver’s door.

      ‘Yes. I just told you. So, come on, lass, don’t just sit there gawping at it,’ he urged, as her brothers tumbled out of the passenger side door.

      ‘You deserve it, baby,’ her mam said, appearing at her side and shunting her forwards to take a closer look.

      ‘But I didn’t even know you’d got it,’ she said to her dad, touching the gleaming paintwork. ‘God, Dad, it’s beautiful. It looks brand spanking new!’

      ‘Well, she’s definitely not that,’ her father told her. ‘She’s a middle-aged lady. Needed a fair bit of TLC to coax her into showing her best side, I can tell you. Bit like your mother.’ He quickly ducked to avoid a whipping with Josie’s furled tea-towel. ‘Inside and out, mind – there’s been a lot going on under that bonnet. Reconditioned engine, new gearbox, new clutch, bit of a paint job.’ He stuck his hands out, which were a mass of cuts and scrapes and bruises. ‘As my poor porkies can testify.’

      Paula didn’t doubt it. Her dad was a legend. He could do anything. Make anything. Fix anything. Everything. And he was a fine, fine mechanic. Everyone said so. And had clearly been beavering away in secret for weeks – maybe months. She felt tearful all of a sudden. What had she ever done to deserve a mam and dad like she had? She cleared her throat – she wasn’t a crier – and hoicked a thumb at her youngest brother, Tommy, who was sliding his grubby hands over the bumper. ‘Oi!’ she said. ‘Get your grubby mitts off, Tommo! Out of bounds, you hear? No touching!’

      He stuck out his tongue. As did his older brother, Sam.

      ‘Off inside and make your beds, you two,’ her mam said. ‘And clear your bedroom up while you’re at it. So you like it, love?’ she said to Paula as her brothers thundered back indoors. ‘We’ve been that excited to show it to you.’

      ‘It’s just –’ she was struck dumb again. ‘It’s just incredible, Mam. I can’t believe it’s really mine. It’s so – so pretty.’

      ‘Just like you,’ her dad chuckled. ‘Anyway, now you’re so famous, me and your mam felt you ought to have the car to go with it. Besides, no point leaving it mouldering in the lock-up for six months, is there? All the gadding about you do these days – or rather nights – you need your own set of wheels, don’t you? Just don’t be drink-driving, okay? Not even one. I know what it’s like when you’re doing shows in pubs. All too easy to get caught up when everyone else is drinking, and –’

      ‘Gigs, Dad,’ Paula pointed out, laughing. ‘They’re not shows, they’re called gigs. I’m not a bloody ballerina! I’m an artiste.’

      Eddie rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, artist is it now? I thought they painted pictures. Anyway, whatever you call yourself, just don’t be a piss-artist, okay?’

      ‘Ha ha, very funny I don’t think,’ Paula told him. ‘Oh, God, it’s just amazing.’ She showered both her parents in kisses. ‘Can I take it tonight? Round to show Joey? To the gig? Is it all insured and that?’

      ‘Insured. MOT. You’re good to go. Want to try it? I reckon we ought to take it for a run-out together first anyway – been a while since you passed your test now.’

      ‘Oh my God!’ They all turned around to see Lou had by now appeared. Not yet two in the afternoon and she was already done up like she was off to an all-night party. They were good kids, her siblings, and with the age gap (at fifteen, Tommy, the next eldest, was still five years her junior) she felt like a second mum to them sometimes. And she was, much of the time, because her mam worked long days at the factory, and together they could be a right handful. And Lou especially, now she’d discovered boys and UB40 as well as her and her mam’s make-up – a potentially lethal combination round their way. She was definitely going to need some watching over from now on. ‘Yeah, and good plan, sis,’ she was saying to Paula now. ‘You could drop me off at the youthy, couldn’t you? I am going to look way cool turning up there in that.’

      ‘Not looking like that,’ her mam said. ‘You’re going nowhere till you change out of that skirt and put some jeans on or something.’

      ‘As long as the “or something” is jeans,’ her father added sternly.

      It only took a couple of circuits round the neighbourhood before Paula’s dad pronounced her safe to venture out alone in her new toy. To see her toy-boy, as her mam had joked when she and her dad had returned home. She’d seemed as tickled by their fledgling romance as Paula herself had been surprised by it. Joey was two years her junior, and a world away from her last boyfriend, after all. But that had been a good thing, not least because her last boyfriend, she’d discovered, had been an ignorant oaf, and as her mam had pointed out, age was only a number – and because Joey had had such a rough start in life, he had a very old head on his shoulders. Not to mention a very handsome one, she thought to herself as she sorted out her mic stand.

      She and Joey, his uncle Nicky having dropped his kit off earlier, were now back in The Sun with the rest of the band, setting up for what was already looking like being a sell-out performance. Well, or would have been, СКАЧАТЬ