Marry Me Tomorrow: The perfect, feel-good read to curl up with in 2017!. Carla Burgess

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СКАЧАТЬ drink and drugs the reason they become homeless in the first place?’

      ‘In some cases. But once they’re on the streets it becomes a way of getting through the horror of it all. And it’s not only stuff like heroin and cocaine, those so-called legal highs cause massive problems too.’

      ‘Have you never been tempted to use drugs? Just to get through?’

      He pulled a face and shook his head. ‘I’ve got enough problems without that shit. Sure, I’ve smoked a bit of weed in my time, but I’m not up for becoming dependent on anything else. Tobacco’s dear enough. I used to drink too much but I stopped when I fell over and cut my head open. Ended up in A&E covered in blood and no idea how I’d got there. Scary stuff.’ He shook his head. ‘Some of the old guys have stopped caring. They want to get shit-faced so they don’t know what’s going on. They don’t care if they lose days, or if they can’t remember what they’ve done or where they’ve been. I don’t want to get like that.’ He yawned widely. ‘Sorry, it must be the heat. I’m not used to it.’

      ‘Are you warm? I’m cold?’ I shivered and pulled my cardigan around me.

      ‘I’m boiling. I’ll be asleep in a minute.’ He yawned again.

      ‘Feel free to go to bed if you want to. You look knackered.’

      ‘No, I’ll be all right. I probably won’t sleep all night anyway. I never do.’

      ‘Well, if you do wake up in the night, feel free to make yourself something to eat or drink. Or watch TV, if you like.’

      ‘Have you got any music?’ he asked. ‘I miss music. Most of mine went when my car got nicked. Then my phone broke and I was buggered.’

      ‘Oh no! Really?’ I picked up the remote and changed to a music channel. ‘Is this all right? It’s just chart music.’

      He pulled a face. ‘Nah, I want some old tunes on. Give it here.’ He took the remote control and started scrolling through himself.

      ‘When did your car get nicked then?’

      ‘February. I used to sleep in it. I was buggered after. It was found burnt out in some car park in Deeside. All my fucking stuff! Bastards.’ He shifted angrily in the seat and tapped the remote control on the armrest, agitated. ‘I was doing all right until then.’

      ‘So when did you actually become homeless?’

      ‘Last summer.’ He glanced across at me and away again. I watched him, wanting to ask what had happened but not wanting to sound too nosy. He took another sip of tea and changed channel again. A Pearl Jam video was playing. ‘Ah that’s more like it.’ He placed the remote control back on the armrest. ‘Do you mind?’

      ‘Not at all.’ Chewing my lip, I fought the desire to interrogate him. Was he going to leave it like that? He couldn’t, could he?

      ‘I love nineties music,’ he said. ‘That whole grunge scene reminds me of being a teenager. Smoking behind the bike sheds, getting drunk in the park and all that shit.’ He sniffed and glanced across at me. ‘I bet you didn’t do all that, did you? I bet you were a right good girl.’

      I stiffened, feeling defensive. ‘Is that a bad thing?’

      ‘Bad?’ He laughed. ‘How can being good be bad?’

      ‘It’s usually seen that way. Well, more boring than bad, I suppose. Uncool.’

      He smiled. ‘I shouldn’t worry about that.’ He yawned again. ‘So, what did you do as a kid, if you didn’t hang around drinking and smoking with your mates?’

      I frowned slightly. ‘I had friends that I hung out with. We just didn’t smoke and get pissed. Well, not until we were older. But at school, we went to each other’s houses or went shopping and stuff. Lydia only lived around the corner so we were always together.’

      ‘So Lydia’s an old school friend, is she?’

      ‘Yes. We’ve known each other since we were eleven.’

      ‘Nice one. No wonder she’s so protective of you. Is she single, too?’

      ‘No, she’s married to Dave.’

      He nodded and looked back at the TV. ‘So why aren’t you married, then?’

      ‘I am,’ I said. ‘To you.’

      ‘Ha ha, but why aren’t you really married? Or at least have a boyfriend?’

      I shrugged. ‘Why do I have to have a man in my life? Is that the only thing that should define me as a woman? I think not. I’m perfectly happy on my own.’

      ‘Are you gay?’

      ‘What?’ I gaped at him. ‘So, because I’m over thirty and don’t have a man in my life, I must be gay?’

      ‘I’m just asking! Don’t get all offended.’ He laughed. ‘I just meant, you’re a very attractive lady, and it’s hard to believe that you’re single.’

      ‘I have had boyfriends in the past, you know! They’ve just all been crap, useless arseholes. I’d rather be alone than with some annoying man who makes me miserable.’

      ‘Great. So why didn’t you tell your mum that instead of making up some crappy lie?’

      ‘I have, repeatedly, but she says that it’s rubbish and I must be lonely.’

      ‘Are you lonely?’

      ‘No!’ I said, a bit too aggressively.

      ‘So what’s her problem?’

      ‘I don’t know really. It’s probably because of my dad leaving. After he left, she struggled on her own but then she met Alan and her life – our lives – improved so much. We moved to a bigger house, went on nice holidays, had a decent car. She married him when I was five so I think of him as my dad, really. He died when I was eighteen. We were devastated, and I suppose Mum was really sad and lonely with me away at uni. But then she met Mike, who was some big shot businessman and she moved to New York with him. Obviously, he was minted. They split up a couple of years ago, and then she met Len, who she married last Christmas, and she’s all loved up and happy again and thinks the whole world should be loved up and happy with her.’ I shook my head and sighed.

      ‘Did you go to the wedding?’

      ‘Yes, it was fabulous.’ I smiled at the memory. ‘Christmas in New York with all the snow. It was really nice. Mum went a bit Bridezilla though. She was different.’ I pulled a face. ‘And Len’s nice but he seemed dead old. Like a grandad or something.’

      ‘Is he rich?’

      ‘I think so.’

      ‘Your mum must be pretty glamorous to pull these rich men?’

      ‘Yeah…’ My voice trailed off, unenthusiastically. She never used to be that way. I remembered her pegging out the washing in our back garden, or on holidays in the СКАЧАТЬ