Just My Luck(15)

‘Hey, if you need to ask, you can’t afford it and as we can afford anything, you don’t need to ask.’ He grins at me. His irrepressible, charming grin. Normally I find it overpowering, today I manage to remain focused.

‘How much?’

‘Well, this model is from one hundred and ninety-five thousand pounds, but we’re getting a convertible and they are a smidge more.’

‘Two hundred thousand pounds for a car!’

‘Ours will be nearer two hundred and thirty.’ Jake sounds proud.

‘You can buy a house for that.’

‘Yeah, if you want to,’ he agrees, obviously not getting my point. ‘Maximum speed is 205.1 mph.’

‘That’s an illegal speed.’

‘Well, I won’t ever actually travel that fast of course, it’s just there as an option.’

‘Isn’t it stunning!’ chips in Emily. ‘Although I think Dad should have gone for British racing green with a red interior. I’ve just been looking at the colourways online.’

‘Why aren’t you at school? What’s wrong with you exactly?’ My tone is harsher than I intended, Emily looks to the ground. Bringing the shutters down.

‘Period pain,’ she mutters grumpily. ‘Or maybe a stomach bug?’ She then shoots her father a look. I’m too busy processing the fact a car can cost over two hundred thousand pounds to notice if Emily’s expression is one of embarrassment or one pleading for secrecy. It’s shifty. She’s obviously just skiving.

I don’t want to throw cold water when Jake is so buoyant. He loves cars and I did expect him to buy a new one with our winnings. Of course. Throughout our marriage we’ve made do with reliable second-hand hatchbacks. This was bound to be a moment for him. I just hadn’t expected him to select one so quickly. And so expensive. But in the spirit of keeping the show on the road, I say, ‘I treated myself too. I bought Teapigs teabags.’

Jake and Emily burst out laughing. Emily recovers first when she realises I’m not joking. ‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ she offers.

‘No need, I have champagne on ice,’ said Jake. ‘It’s Crystal. It cost two hundred quid a bottle.’

‘I don’t want champagne. I want a cuppa,’ I say.

‘Yeah but when the lottery lady gets here, she might want a glass,’ says Jake. With a sigh, I accept this might be true.





9


Emily


I don’t know if it’s just because Dad is jazzed about his new car or if he has actually forgotten, but I’m massively relieved that he obviously doesn’t feel the need to tell Mum the details of why I am home.

I walked out of school. It was as simple as that. Then I texted Dad. I don’t want to be here.

Coming, princess. Wait until you see my chariot!

The car is awesome. It’s just like this great big daffodil-coloured pile of perfection. You can see it a mile off and hear it from even further away. Dad sat at the school gates revving the engine. Since I was skipping lessons, I should have been keeping a low profile, that would have been the wise thing to do, but it was pretty cool to see kids with mouths hanging wide open. Ridley was one of them. I pretended not to see him but I could feel his glare on my back. I flicked my hair over my shoulder and then Dad zoomed away. It cheered me up a bit after my fallout with Ridley and Megan. I just can’t believe the way they acted! It was like we’d never been friends! Like we weren’t a thing! So jealous.

‘Did you see their faces, did you?’ I asked Dad as we sped away.

‘Sure did.’ Dad started to give me lots of info about the car then. I didn’t take much of it in. I got the gist. Bottom line, the car is fast and expensive. We drove around for a bit, neither of us wanted to go straight home, we drove past Ridley’s house and Megan’s house. Not like on purpose, that’s just the way home, although I think the revving outside their homes was deliberate. Dad is definitely being more crazy since we won the lottery. I think I saw someone at the window at Ridley’s house. Probably Jennifer, she’s usually at home. We decided to drive on the big A road.

‘Just to let her open up a bit,’ said Dad.

It wasn’t just school kids who turned to look our way, every other driver stared enviously, tongues lolling. He didn’t say anything for a bit, we just drove enjoying the warm feeling that comes from knowing you have it better than anyone else. Then he turned to me and asked, ‘So what was up at school?’ I should have known I’d get grilled. Yeah, Dad is the fun parent but he’s still a parent and so always wants to know what’s going on in my life.

‘It sucks,’ I muttered.

‘I thought you liked school.’

‘Nope.’

‘You used to.’

I shrugged. ‘Ridley and I had a row. Megan too.’

‘About the lottery win?’

I shrugged again because technically I wasn’t supposed to talk about the lottery win but on the other hand Dad has just driven a great big, bold Ferrari up their street. Not exactly subtle.

‘I know you won’t believe me now, but you are young and there will be other boys, other best friends.’ I looked out the window. He’s wrong. Every emotion I have ever felt wanted to explode out of my body, right then. I am like obviously really, really happy we are so rich but I just can’t believe Ridley and Megan! How could they act like that?! It feels like they’ve punched me. I can’t explain it. Even if I could, Dad wouldn’t get it. He’s too old. Because I didn’t say anything he carried on, ‘And maybe it’s for the best. You are going to be busy in the next few months.’