Full House [Quick Read] Read Online Free

understand Dee’s reaction at all. ‘You’re taking it very well, I’ll say that much for you,’ she said in the end.
    ‘What other way is there to take it? And talking about taking things, could you and Harry use some breakfast cereal, and some eggs and maybe a couple of packs of biscuits?’
    ‘The ones you bought yesterday at the supermarket?’ This was getting odder by the moment, thought Josie.
    ‘Yes indeed,’ Dee said.
    ‘Where are they?’ Josie asked.
    ‘In that green bag in the back of the van. Oh, and there’s a nice iced cherry log in there too.’
    ‘Dee, why are you doing this?’
    ‘Well, I’m not going to sell them to you, am I? I’m giving them to you.’
    ‘You paid the money you earned cleaning floors for that food and now you’re giving it away?’
    ‘It’s not needed any more,’ Dee said simply.
    ‘But Dee, don’t you need it more than ever now? Please be reasonable.’
    ‘I’m being very reasonable, believe me. And, Josie, either take the food – or don’t take it – but can we not talk about it again today?’
    Dee settled back in her seat and Josie drove on in a very rare and unusual silence until they got to work.
    Dee’s strange mood continued all day. It was as if she had been given her happy pills. Nothing annoyed her, not the messy Sonia who had left some table napkins smeared with lipstick and food, with a note saying, Darlings, the laundry won’t do these, can you work some stain magic on them? Please …
    She didn’t get annoyed by the thoughtless young men in their new shining offices who had flung paper cups that still contained coffee into waste-paper baskets so that they created a mush and a mess. Dee was almost serene.
    Josie couldn’t understand it at all. When the day finally ended for them, Josie said that she was just dying for that sandwich. She had been thinking about it for the last two hours. Maybe a tuna melt? Or a chilli chicken wrap?
    But no. Dee-of-the-surprises had yet one more. She wasn’t going to join Josie for a sandwich: she was going to go straight home. No, thank you, she didn’t want a lift. She would take a bus part of the way and walk the rest.
    ‘Did I do something to annoy you?’ Josie asked, because she was totally confused.
    ‘Aw, Josie, will you stop it, of course you didn’t.’
    ‘But Dee, we always have a bit of lunch …’
    ‘You sound seven years of age, Jo!’ Dee laughed at her and gave her a hug. ‘Why don’t you go home yourself – and don’t forget what I left you in the green bag in the back of the van.’
    ‘There’s no sweet chilli chicken in it, is there?’ Josie wanted to know.
    ‘See you tomorrow.’
    Dee swung off towards the bus stop leaving Josie not knowing what to do next. She had been planning that sandwich and a big frothy coffee for half the morning, but now she wondered would it be more sensible to go straight home with Dee’s green bag? But Dee had been so odd today there could be anything in that bag …
     
    Anthony was sitting at the table at home in number sixteen.
    ‘How are you, Ma?’ He greeted her with a big grin. He had such an eager smile. She forced herself not to ask him if he had eaten any lunch.
    ‘All well with you, Anthony?’
    ‘Fine, Ma. What are you making?’
    She knew what he meant – he wanted to know what was for supper – but she pretended not to.
    Instead she said, ‘What am I making? Let me see. Let’s say eight hours a day, five days a week on the minimum wage, what does that come to? You do the sums.’
    He looked up at her, startled. ‘I wasn’t trying to pry, Ma, honestly … I didn’t mean that, I only meant what’s for …’ His voice trailed away.
    ‘No, that’s fine, love. I thought you were worried, like we all are, about Dad losing his job and whether we would manage. I was wondering whether you’d had any luck yet trying to get a job, or a girlfriend who might interest you more than your music. I was thinking that most men your age go