Radio Gaga by Nell Dixon Read Free Book Online

let it go to voice mail. It was my mother.
     
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Shelly gave me my mug of tea and an apologetic smile as the sound of my mother’s cut glass voice penetrated the silence of the lounge.
    “I’ve managed to get a seat on the ten o’clock flight so I’ll be at your flat shortly after lunch. Really, Chloe, whatever will you get up to next? I told Michelle, it’s been very inconvenient for me to have to drop everything to come to look after you. You know how busy I am.”
    I dived in quickly when she paused for breath. “Mum, everything is fine. I’m quite all right now. You don’t have to come down. I don’t need anyone to look after me.” My mother had never looked after me whenever I’d been ill. It had usually been Daddy that had stayed home whilst my mother had issued instructions and terrified any childhood illnesses into fleeing the vicinity.
    “Nonsense, it’s about time someone helped you to sort your life out, Chloe. What does Neil think about all this?”
    Hell. “Um, about that. I meant to tell you, Neil and I aren’t together anymore. He moved out.”
    There was a telling pause.
    “I’ll be at your flat shortly after lunch.” She rang off.
    Shelly opened my emergency packet of biscuits from the other night. “Thought you might need these,” she mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs.
    I needed more than a chocolate digestive and a cup of PG Tips. By the time my mother arrived tomorrow I would probably need at least half a bottle of vodka.
    “Do you think I’ve got time to flee the country before midday tomorrow?”
    Shelly shook her head. “I take it you hadn’t told her about you and Neil?”
    “I was waiting for the right moment.” Not that there ever would have been a right moment. I’d been hoping for a not-quite-so-bad, or maybe-when-I’d-been-visiting-Dad kind of a moment.
    Judging from Shelly’s biscuity snort she didn’t think there would ever have been a right moment either. I fortified myself with a sip of tea and three more biscuits before reading the text messages on my phone.
    Unsurprisingly, there were several from my colleagues at Live it Up.
    ‘Hope U ok?’ From Bhangra Bob.
    ‘Shld have known U’d mess up.’ From Steph. I gritted my teeth and read on.
    The last message was the one I dreaded most. ‘B here 10 am tomoz.’ From Merv.
    “Crap.” I read Merv’s text out loud to Shelly.
    She chewed her bottom lip. “Sorry, Clo, that doesn’t sound good.”
    I switched my phone off and threw it down on the sofa. “I know. He sounds really concerned about me, doesn’t he? For all he knows I might still be in hospital – or dead.”
    “When did he send the message?” Shelly picked up my mobile and turned it back on. “Twenty minutes ago. He probably rang the hospital and they told him you’d been discharged.”
    I peered at the screen. “I’ll have to get up early then to collect my car from outside the castle.”
    “Where did you park? I didn’t see your car.”
    “In a side street by the old post office.”
    Shelly’s brow arched. “Then you’ll have a ticket when you get there tomorrow. It’s a two hour limit along there.”
    The expression on my face must have said it all. Shelly plucked my phone from my hand. “Come on, go and get some sleep. I’ll give you a lift over to collect your car in the morning, and if you still feel crappy, I’ll call Merv and explain.”
    I’d thought it would take me a long time to fall asleep after being out for the count for most of the day. I must still have still had some side-effects from the tablets as when I woke it was already morning and Shelly’s voice sang out tunelessly from the bathroom.
    Two cups of coffee, a hot shower and a round of toast later Shelly and I were zipping through the back streets to collect my car.
    “What am I going to do if Merv sacks me?” I hung on to the strap of my seatbelt as Shelly bounced us over a pothole.
    “You’ll get another job.”
    I didn’t