The Girls in the Woods Read Online Free

earth do you expect to get up to Bowness day in day out and home again? It’s at least a thirty-minute drive there and back on a good day, without traffic or bad weather.’
    ‘It’s not ridiculous, Mum. They might let me live in – and if not I’m pretty sure Aunty Annie would let me stay with her. She has plenty of room in that big house and I wouldn’t get in her way. She wouldn’t mind at all.’
    ‘No, she might not mind but I certainly would; you never know who’s going to turn up knocking on her door. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Yorkshire bloody Ripper decided to pay her a visit.’
    And so it had continued for the next ten minutes until Tilly had stormed out of the kitchen and up to her bedroom, slamming the door for good measure. They hadn’t spoken for the rest of the afternoon and when Ben arrived home Lisa was drinking her second glass of wine. He walked in, looked at the half-empty bottle of Chardonnay on the table and nodded.
    ‘Rough day?’
    ‘You could say that. Your daughter has got it into her head she can go for a job interview at some hotel in Bowness and live and work up there – for Christ’s sake, she can’t even keep her bedroom tidy.’
    ‘It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard, Lisa. At least she’s looking for a job.’
    ‘Are you having a laugh, Ben. She said if the hotel won’t let her live in then she’ll go and stop with your Annie. Which is never a good idea. I love your sister to bits but she has more nutters and serial killers chasing her than the bloody detectives on the television. No, it’s not a good idea at all – and you should go upstairs and tell her that.’
    ‘Yes, you’re right about Annie but she’s pregnant now and that man who was stalking her is dead. For all we know it’s not as if Tilly will even get the job; the least you can do is let her go there and have an interview. It will be good experience for her and if she does get it then we’ll discuss what’s going to happen then. How does that sound?’
    ‘Fucking ridiculous, Ben. The day you actually stand by me and my opinions I’ll probably drop dead with shock. Do what you want, but I’m not being a part of it. You can tell her and if anything bad happens then on your head be it.’
    She rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. Ben walked across and kissed his wife’s forehead, then he sighed. All he seemed to do lately was try to keep the peace between them but it was getting more difficult each day. Then he went upstairs to talk to his daughter, who had music blasting from her room so loud the floor was vibrating underneath his feet. No doubt it had been to drown out the noise of him and Lisa arguing. Tilly hated it when they argued, which seemed to be an awful lot lately. What she didn’t realise was that she was the cause of most of the arguments. He’d never imagined teenage girls could be such hard work.
    He knocked on her door and waited for her to open it. She did and he followed her inside and sat on the end of her bed.
    ‘God, she told you to say no, didn’t she?’
    Ben nodded. ‘Tilly I can understand where your mum is coming from. She’s only worried about you.’
    ‘No, she isn’t. She doesn’t want me to have a life – she wants me to be stuck in this crap town for ever and pregnant before I’m twenty-one. For God’s sake it’s only an interview, I probably won’t even get the job.’
    ‘When is it?’
    ‘Tomorrow.’
    ‘How are you going to get there? Me and your mum are both at work, you know that.’
    ‘I’m not an idiot, Dad. I can get the bus or a train – and besides, Gemma is coming with me and her mum who isn’t a total psycho might be taking us yet.’
    Ben started to laugh. ‘All right, you can go, but if you get stranded make sure you phone one of us, okay.’
    ‘Thank you, Dad, I promise I will. You do both realise I’m almost eighteen, don’t you?’
    ‘Yes, but you have to realise that whether you’re eighteen or fifty-eight