OLD GIRLS BEHAVING BADLY BY KATE GALLEY – eBook Details Online
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- Authors: Kate Galley
- Language: English
- Genre: contemporary romance
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GINA
‘So, is that it then, no discussion; you’re selling up and buggering off?
What does my dad have to say about it?’
‘Your father was finding himself on a wellness retreat in Santa Fe. He’s
back now and staying in a flat in Maidenhead, apparently.’
‘He had a holiday, Mum! Maybe you could have gone too if you’d
shown some interest.’
I held the phone a little away from my ear while my daughter vented on
the other end of the line. I hadn’t told Alice that two days after her father
had dropped a grenade into our marriage and disappeared to the airport, a
Dear John letter had arrived. Douglas, it seemed, had left it quite late to
have his midlife crisis. He was seventy-three.
‘And you don’t need to sell the house. Let Dad have his moment and
then he’ll come back.’
‘He’s not coming back, Alice. He’s made that very clear and I really
don’t have any choice; he’s the one pushing the sale,’ I said. ‘I can’t keep
this place on my own. Your dad needs his half share and, frankly, I don’t
want to rattle around here any more. It’s too big and has been for a while.’
This wasn’t actually true. I didn’t rattle around; the house was quite
modest and we’d never pushed ourselves to extend it past a small
conservatory.
‘Get a lodger then,’ Alice said. ‘It’s our family home, all our memories,
and you’re just going to hand them over to somebody else! Take a breath,
Mother. You don’t need to do everything all at once. Dad’s only been gone
five minutes and you’ve packed up the house without any conversation or
consideration. This is not like you.’
I sighed. I couldn’t help it. Alice just wasn’t listening and contrary to
what she said, this was actually the third of such conversations I’d had with
my daughter; I didn’t have the energy to do it all again. Alice adored her
father; it was so much easier if this was all my fault.
‘I haven’t packed everything up, I’ve just been going through the loft,
but I do have your things boxed up carefully. You can come and get them
and enjoy your childhood memories in your own home.’
That was when the tears started and I moved the phone away again.
Alice was forty, married with two children and behaving like one of them.
‘Look, darling, this thing going on with your father is complicated. He
needed to go away and he doesn’t want to be with me any more. I can’t stay
here and look after a house of memories on my own. You wouldn’t want
that for me, would you?’
‘I think you’re being completely selfish,’ Alice said, sniffed for effect
and then hung up.
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