Bobby's Girl by Catrin Collier Read Free Book Online Page A

to transfer forty-eight pounds into your account tonight.’
    â€˜It would be better if he sent me a cheque made out to the student’s union, Mam.’
    â€˜You’re overdrawn again.’
    â€˜Not by much,’ she lied.
    â€˜How much is not much?’
    â€˜I’m not sure.’ She reflected that that, at least, was the truth.
    â€˜Sort it, darling, and tell me how much you need. And if Kate needs help …’
    â€˜She wouldn’t take it, Mam. You know how independent she is.’ She glanced over her shoulder into the foyer where Kate was waiting for her.
    â€˜You could try, but be tactful.’
    â€˜I’ll ring you again when I know more. Love to you, Dad, and everyone.’
    â€˜I’ll pass on the message. You’re eating properly and taking care of yourself?’
    â€˜Of course, Mam.’
    â€˜You’d better do some clothes shopping. Depending on where you go in America it could be hot. Shall I ask your father to put a hundred pounds into your account? Or won’t that be enough?’
    â€˜I’ll make it enough.’ She wondered if the Dragon needed another waitress. ‘And, if he does stretch to a hundred pounds, tell him I won’t need another sub until the autumn and I won’t then, if I get a halfway decent job in America.’
    â€˜Seeing is believing, darling.’
    â€˜You’re not cross about the overdraft?’
    â€˜Resigned. You’re no worse than Rachel, Ned and Evan.’
    â€˜The advantage of being the youngest is your parents have seen it all before. That’s the pips, Mam. I haven’t any more money. Love you.’ She hoped her mother heard her last words before the line went dead.
    â€˜Well?’ Kate asked.
    â€˜My mother’s going to ask my father to send me the money.’
    â€˜Lucky you.’ There wasn’t a trace of envy in Kate’s voice. She wasn’t sure there wouldn’t have been in hers, if their situations had been reversed.
    â€˜We’d better talk to someone about work permits.’
    â€˜And jobs,’ Kate echoed.
    Â 
    â€˜You’re really going?’
    Rich’s question irritated her as much as his attitude towards Kate. ‘I dropped a post-dated cheque into the union office an hour ago.’
    They were facing one another across the supper table. The dining room was almost empty. It was Wednesday, the one weekday evening when visits from the opposite sex were officially allowed in the hostels from seven until ten o’clock. Not that the privilege affected the boys’ hostel. Their wardens treated them as adults and allowed them to have visitors for as long as they wanted, at any hour of the day or night – and all night if the mood took them. Unlike the elderly female warden the girls had nicknamed ‘Fanny’, who supervised the girls’ hostel.
    Fanny spent her evenings and nights creeping up and down the corridors in soft-soled bedroom slippers, listening at their doors for a masculine voice. If she heard one, the punishment was swift and severe. The visitor’s hostess was exiled to selected ‘digs’ where the landlady’s rules were even stricter than Fanny’s.
    â€˜What about me?’ Rich asked.
    â€˜What about you?’ She dipped a spoon into a bowl of apple pie and custard, decided she wasn’t hungry enough to eat it, and pushed it aside.
    â€˜I can’t believe you’re going to leave me for four months.’
    â€˜We’re not married.’
    â€˜We agreed to marry after we qualified. I wanted to buy you an engagement ring for Christmas. You wouldn’t let me.’
    â€˜I’m not in the mood to argue with you.’ She left the table.
    â€˜Pen,’ he followed her into the car park. ‘I’m only upset at the thought of not seeing you for months on end. Come to my room and wait for me while I phone home,’ he begged.
    â€˜You’re going