Everyone Lies by A. Garrett D. Read Free Book Online Page B

Candice says again. ‘Business.’
    ‘I suppose,’ Marta agrees, although it’s a very different kind from the usual. It’s a professional relationship, sure, but one which does not make her feel ashamed, one that she is proud of. A face-to-face meeting? Yes, she thinks she is ready. She smiles to herself, texts back. ‘Will call U.’
    Candice sets her cup down and twirls a lock of hair between her fingers, squinting at the ends. Her hair has been bleached so many times that it has started to break around the hairline.
    ‘Marta, love.’ She talks in the singsong voice which means she’s about to ask for something. ‘Couldn’t borrow us a tenner, could you – for the kids – buy them breakfast?’
    For the kids – it’s always for the kids. Candice has three and, if you believe her, the whole Chinese economy couldn’t generate enough money to keep them fed and clothed and happy.
    ‘What about what you just earned?’ It’s a rude question, and Marta already knows the answer, but she doesn’t want to be seen as a pushover.
    Candice shrugs, embarrassed. ‘Still paying Frank back on last week’s advance. You know how it is with kids.’ Under the table, her foot starts a rhythmic tapping. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I love them, and all that, but I swear, if it isn’t food, it’s coats, or uniforms or school trips, or shoes.’
    Unthinking, she pulls at the brittle hairs at the rim of her hairline, plucks out a tuft. She stares at the stubs of broken hair for a moment, then rubs her fingers together, watching them fall to the table. ‘See that? Know what does that to you? Having kids does that to you.’
    Marta shakes her head. It is heroin, and working double shifts, and alcohol substitutes when she couldn’t get a proper fix that did this to her, but Candice is strung out, her brain screaming for a fix, and she can’t admit the truth. She wipes her nose with the heel of her hand, turns her pink-eyed gaze on Marta. ‘Don’t ever have kids, love. First they ruin your figure. Then they ruin your life. It’s not like them babies in the Cow & Gate ad, laughing their little socks off.’
    Marta thinks again of her nephew, and how he seems to carry the sun in his smile, and the way his laugh can make her heart swell with so much joy that she has to put her hand to her chest to stop it from bursting.
    Candice’s foot-tapping becomes a frantic, angry rattle, like a resentful child intent on annoying. She flicks her thumbnail against the mug handle, setting up a constant pingpingping in time with the nervous tapping of her foot. ‘Take, take, take – that’s all it is with kids. Always wanting something . I swear, I stick my nose round the front door, the first words out their mouths: “I want”.’
    ‘Candice.’
    ‘I mean – what about what I want?’
    ‘ Candice .’
    ‘What?’
    ‘It won’t help,’ Marta says.
    ‘What? A tenner to buy my kids breakfast won’t help? If it shuts them up for five minutes, believe me, kiddo, it’ll help.’
    A shadow falls across the doorway, and Marta sees it’s Amy; she looks from Marta to Candice, a sardonic smile on her face.
    ‘Forget it, Candice. She thinks you’ll spend her tenner on smack.’
    Candice looks at Marta like she had snatched her cup and poured her coffee over her head.
    Marta says, ‘I didn’t say that—’
    ‘We all know she’s been working double shifts, moonlighting at the new place,’ Amy says, talking over Candice’s head.
    Candice slides lower in her chair and Amy bends to catch her eye, talking loudly, as if she is deaf. ‘You should be rolling in cash, sweetheart. But you’re not, because it’s all going in your saggy veins. And if working double shifts isn’t enough to keep the monkey off your back, an extra tenner isn’t going to help. Now, is it?’
    Candice blinks back tears, wipes her nose with the heel of her hand again.
    ‘Leave her alone.’ Marta takes a card from her purse and places it in front of