Clean Break Read Online Free Page A

carbohydrates and all that stuff, though Mum always got mad at her and said she’d turn me anorexic.
    â€˜As if!’ said Gran unkindly.
    I took no notice and munched my way through my turkey and chipolata sausages and roast potatoes and mashed potatoes and parsnips and every single sprout and then I had a slice of Christmas pudding with green jelly and red jelly and cream and then a mince pie and then a satsuma and
then
three chocolates out of the Christmas tin of Quality Street.
    Gran slapped my hand away when I reached inthe tin for a fourth chocolate. ‘For God’s sake, Em, you’ll burst,’ she said. ‘Your stomach must be made of elastic. You’ll have to learn to stop shovelling your food up like that. I don’t know how you
can
. I’m totally stuffed. I’m going to have to take my posh jeans off and have a little lie down.’
    â€˜Quit nagging Princess Emerald. It’s great that she’s got a healthy appetite,’ said Dad. ‘Right, ladies, us chaps will do the washing-up. You can all take a little nap. We’ll do the donkey work in the kitchen, won’t we, Maxie?’
    Maxie took Dad seriously and started gathering Gran’s best china with a bang and a clatter.
    â€˜Hey, hey, careful, you’ll chip those plates!’ said Gran.
    â€˜Yeah, Gran’s got a point, little guy,’ said Dad. ‘Tell you what, you start drawing me a lovely picture with your new felt pens. Then I can get on with the washing-up in peace.’
    Maxie lay on the floor, carefully colouring, his eyes screwed up and his tongue sticking out because he was concentrating so fiercely. He was
much
more careful with the points of his own felt tips than he was with mine.
    Vita annoyed him for a while, running her fingers over the felt pens in the tin, playing them as if they were an instrument, but her roast potatoes took a toll on her. She lay back on the sofa, Dancer onher arm so she could use her velvety head like a cuddle blanket. Mum curled up in a corner of the sofa. She said she wanted to watch the Queen on television but her eyes started drooping and she was asleep in seconds.
    I sat back, my hand stretched out in front of me, so I could admire my real emerald from every angle. I still couldn’t believe how wonderful it was. Dad said he’d got it at a bargain price but I knew it still must have cost heaps. More than Mum’s silver sandals or Gran’s jeans or Vita’s reindeer or Maxie’s crayons.
    It must mean that Dad loved me just as much as Vita and Maxie even though I wasn’t really his daughter. I knew I loved him more than anyone. Far far far far far far far more than my own dad.
    I hadn’t seen him for years now. I didn’t want to. We didn’t want to have any more to do with him, Mum and me.
    I decided to go and help Dad with the washing-up, even though he’d told us all he wanted the kitchen to himself. I crept across the living room into the hall. I waved at my ring in the mirror above the telephone table. It winked its brilliant green light back at me.
    The kitchen door was shut. I could hear Dad muttering inside. I grinned. Was he singing to himself as he did the dishes? I opened the doorslowly and carefully, not making a sound. Dad had his back to me.
    â€˜Oh darling, darling, darling,’ he said.
    I thought he was talking to me. Then I saw the hunch of his shoulders, his hand up against his ear. He was talking on his mobile.
    â€˜Yeah, yeah! Oh Sarah, I’m missing you so much too,’ he said. ‘Still, I can’t get out of Christmas, it means so much to Julie and the kids. I’m trying to make it happy for them, though dear God it’s such an effort now. Still, I’m planning on telling them soon. I can’t stay much longer. I’m going crazy. I want to be with you so badly, babe. I’m leaving them, I swear I am.’
    â€˜
Don’t leave us, Dad!
’
    He whipped