Читать книгу The Woman Who Kept Everything - Jane Gilley - Страница 15

‘Wheeeeeeeee –’ Gloria shrieked as the little scooter sped along at an eye-watering forty miles per hour towards the azure sea, the wind batting her new hairstyle, that warm July morning. She’d misplaced Jocelyn’s helmet at the gas station, when Tilsbury had filled up for the rest of their journey, so her eyes were, indeed, watering with all the wind and grit. But they’d grabbed some sandwiches, a couple of cans of fizzy pop and two cheap beach towels and she’d paid for the lot with the credit card – the one Cleggy had got for her, which she’d never actually used before.

‘And this’s on you, Miserable Son! Well, you give it to me for essentials and emergencies, so I vow that I will spend it on all the essentials we need – things for the beach – and any emergencies that might befall us, like making sure this crappy moped thingy gets us from A to Z. In other words, my dear Tils, we’re gonna enjoy today!’

In fact, Gloria had happily decided to shut down her worries for today. Trepidation of all things unknown was no longer her concern and nor was getting back to Cleggy and Val before they got home. Whatever the rest of the day brought, so be it. There was no way Gloria was going to be dictated to by her son. She was the mother, after all, and so she’d do as she darn well pleased.

Oh yes! Gloria Frensham was enjoying this. She was actually having fun. Gloria Frensham couldn’t remember the last time she’d had any fun. When you hit that mysterious age that some youngsters deem ‘old’ – and which could be any age over thirty (or even less) – you weren’t supposed to be having fun, were you? You were supposed to be sitting down in a comfortable armchair, somewhere, sipping tea, watching TV reruns, and being perfectly respectable, calm and fuddy.

That, she could now see, was what Clegg and Val had been trying to make her do – conform to that ideal. ‘Keeps ’em quiet!’ she’d actually heard a youngster in Green’s Nursing Home say.