Sapphire Read Online Free Page B

husband until she got them. After his death the luxurious lifestyle was over, the big house had to be sold and there was just enough money for Sapphire’s mum to buy a small terraced house in Hove. There had also been a small amount of money in trust for Sapphire, which she used to start her business. Yet it was a comedown after the lifestyle they had been used to. For years she was furious with her dad for dying and leaving her alone with her mum. But itwasn’t really to do with the change in their standard of living, it was to do with how much she missed him.
    Sapphire nipped into an off-licence for a bottle of wine, on her way to her mum’s; she was definitely going to need something to take the edge off the day. Although her mum’s house was small it was in a lovely area, near a park, and it was actually not a bad location, just a bit dull, but her mum had never got over losing the big house and was always moaning.
    Sapphire rang the doorbell and looked at her watch. Half six, with any luck she could be out of there by ten.
    Christine, her mum, opened the door. She was only fifty, the same age as Madonna as Sapphire was forever telling her, but she behaved like someone far older. She used to be so glamorous and proud of her appearance when Sapphire’s dad was alive, but she truly had let it all go. It was as if she’d given up when he died. Sapphire despaired of her mother’s dress sense. She hid a perfectly good figure under shapeless jumpers and jeans and rarely wore make-up. She scraped her long black hair, which was now streaked with grey, into an unflattering ponytail. Sapphire thought Gok Wan would probably love to get his hands on Christine and her wangers. She’d certainly lost her va va voom these days. And she could have looked so good! She had the same striking dark blue eyes as Sapphire, but they looked so sad. She also smoked heavily, something else that drove Sapphire mad. But appearance aside, the thing Sapphire really found hard to deal with was the ‘poor me’, victim quality of her mum.
    ‘I was expecting you half an hour ago.’ Her mum’s first words to her. Not hi, not how are you?
    ‘I just got held up at work, Mum, you know what it’s like.’
    Actually, Christine had no idea as she didn’t work.Sapphire trailed after her mum into the living room. Christine had insisted on keeping most of the old furniture from the other house – which was all too big and grand for the terrace – and as a result what could have been a pretty house felt cluttered and claustrophobic to Sapphire; she was strictly into the minimalist look herself. She was enveloped by the familiar feeling of sadness at the state of her mum’s life as she sat back on the sofa and stared dispiritedly round the room. She looked at the photographs on the mantelpiece – the one of her mum and dad on their wedding day, and the one of her and her dad taken when she was ten. The pair of them were grinning away at the camera with smiles so wide it almost hurt to look at them. Then her gaze moved to the other side of the room.
    ‘I didn’t know you had a laptop,’ she exclaimed noticing a computer on the dining table. My God, something different in her mum’s life at last.
    ‘I’ve been doing a course at the college, I told you.’ Christine sounded hurt that her daughter hadn’t remembered.
    Shit, had she? So much of what her mum said passed her by because usually she was moaning about something or other. ‘Oh yeah, I remember. It’s great you’re doing it, mum, about time you caught up.’
    ‘I want you to have a look at it actually, I’m having trouble with my Internet connection – can you try and fix it while I make dinner?’
    Sapphire sighed and walked over to the computer. Her dad used to be the one who fixed everything in the house and sorted out all the bills. When he died that role had fallen to Sapphire. Her mum didn’t even know what direct debits she had, or how to budget. It had been hard for