Amber by Heather Burnside (great novels of all time .TXT) 📗

Never would she have envisioned that by thirty years of age she would be living on a rough council estate bringing up two children alone. Her instinct was to pour herself a nice soothing cup of tea but that was impossible. She hadn’t yet found where she’d put the bloody kettle!

But she’d managed to find the few bottles of wine that she had packed so she sat down and poured herself a large glass of red. She knew she shouldn’t really seek solace by drinking alone but these were exceptional circumstances. Anyway, she told herself after a couple of glasses, the situation was only temporary. Somehow, eventually, she would find a way to get back what they had once had. But without a job and no skills she wasn’t yet sure how she was going to achieve it.

3

September 1993

Maisie was due to visit with her mother, Yvette, and Amy was excited. As she waited by the living room window for them to appear, she asked, ‘How long will they be, Mum?’

Loretta smiled. ‘I’ve told you, darling, they’ll be here as soon as they can. Why don’t you go and play in your room to help pass the time?’

‘No, I want to wait here. I won’t be able to see them from my room.’

It was only the third time Yvette had arranged a visit in the few months since Amy and her family had moved house. Amy had been to visit Maisie just once and when she’d asked her mother why they couldn’t go more often, she had told her that they had to wait to be invited.

‘What if I ask Maisie’s mum if we can visit?’ she had asked.

But Loretta hadn’t been very receptive to her suggestion. ‘No, Amy. You mustn’t do that; it’s bad manners to ask. You have to wait to be invited.’

Although Amy would have loved to visit Maisie’s nice big house again, in some ways she had found that one visit strange. She had seen her own old house, which had looked different somehow. The front garden had different plants in pots on gravel with tiny stepping stones and, although it looked good, it didn’t look like their garden anymore.

Somebody had also painted the front door green. Amy didn’t like green but when she’d complained to her mother, Loretta had told her there was nothing they could do about it as they didn’t live there anymore. Her mother had looked sad when she said that, so Amy hadn’t pressed her any further.

Amy loved it when Maisie came to visit. She was her best friend in the whole world, and she didn’t like anybody else as much. Amy’s mother had encouraged her to make other friends at her new school and she had made a few but they weren’t as nice as Maisie.

When Yvette pulled up in her car, Amy was elated. She raced across the room, shouting as she did so, ‘They’re here, Mummy. They’re here.’

She was already at the front door by the time her mother came through to the hall from the kitchen. ‘Quick, Mummy. Open the door,’ she said.

Her mother chuckled as she grabbed her keys from the hook on the wall. ‘Be patient, Amy. They haven’t even knocked at the door yet.’

Once Maisie and Yvette had parked the car, they walked up the garden path to find Amy and Loretta standing outside the front door. Amy dashed down the path as soon as she saw her friend. ‘Maisie, let’s go to my room and play!’

Amy took Maisie’s hand and led her towards the front door. Loretta laughed again. ‘Hang on, give her a chance. Would any of you girls like a drink and a biscuit first?’

‘Yes please,’ the girls sang in unison.

They ate the biscuits straightaway then took their drinks with them up to Amy’s room where they played for a while. The time seemed to fly by, and it wasn’t long before Loretta was shouting up to let them know it was time for Maisie to go home.

Amy appeared at the top of the stairs. ‘Aw, Mum. Can’t Maisie stay a bit longer?’

‘I’m sorry, love, but Maisie’s mum is a very busy lady and she’s got other things to do.’

Amy returned reluctantly to her bedroom where Maisie was still playing. She looked at her friend, ‘My mum says you’ve got to go.’

Maisie put down the doll she had been playing with. ‘OK,’ she said.

‘Will you be able to come again soon?’

Maisie shrugged but she looked upset. ‘I don’t know. Mummy didn’t want to bring me today, but I kept asking her till she let me come. She says it’s too far away and that I’ve got plenty of friends nearer to where I live.’

Amy didn’t say anything. She could feel herself getting upset but was trying to be brave. She followed Maisie down the stairs and watched while she and her mother got inside the car and drove away. Once they were gone Amy gave in to her tears and cried freely.

‘Amy, whatever’s the matter?’ asked Loretta when she noticed her daughter had burst into tears. ‘Maisie hasn’t done something to upset you, has she?’ Amy shook her head but seemed too upset to speak. ‘Come on, let’s go and sit down. Then you can tell me all about it.’

Loretta took Amy through to the living room, sat her on her knee and cuddled her while she waited for her to calm down. Nathan looked up from the puzzle he was doing. ‘Amy cry,’ he stated before returning to the puzzle, his three-year-old brain more interested in slotting the wooden animals into the relevant gaps.

Eventually Amy calmed down and told Loretta what Maisie had said. Loretta wasn’t surprised really; she’d had the feeling for a while that Yvette visited them reluctantly. She knew Yvette’s excuses about being busy were lies as she was a full-time mum who employed a cleaner and spent her days looking after Maisie or socialising with friends when Maisie was at school.

Yvette had seemed such