Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams
Page 84

Tina nodded. ‘I know. He went off to York, got into finance. He’s done really well for himself. I suppose … I didn’t know what I wanted, not really. I just kind of bobbed along, played it safe.’
‘With the gobstoppers and the shrimps,’ said Lilian. ‘One hard, one soft. Covering both bases.’
‘Yes, I suppose so,’ said Tina, smiling. ‘Just to be on the safe side, you know?’
Lilian nodded. ‘I do.’
‘Married the first guy that came along … Mind you, he gave me Kent and Emily. I’m happy about that.’
‘And they like sweets?’
‘Of course. Emily is just like me. She gets Hello Kitty flumps and a Chupa Chups lolly so she has a bit of everything. Kent wants to try whatever is the latest thing.’
‘Funny,’ mused Lilian. Then, catching Rosie glancing at her watch, she said, ‘All right, all right. I like her.’
Upstairs in the bedroom, Tina opened the bag she’d brought with her.
‘Oh my God!’ said Rosie, her eyes hungrily taking in the logos – Zara, Topshop, even Reiss – and pretty fabrics and colours. ‘Look at all your amazing clothes!’
‘My amazing clothes I never wear,’ said Tina. ‘Since I had the twins I dress exactly like them. Jeans, T-shirt, flat shoes.’
‘You always look immaculate though,’ said Rosie loyally.
‘I’m a mother, not a slipper-wearing invalid,’ said Tina, smiling. ‘OK. Dive in!’
‘Nothing you have will fit me!’
‘Of course it will,’ said Tina. ‘Well, the tops will.’
‘OK, OK.’
Tina came back to the invite. ‘But look at this!’ She’d carried it upstairs.
Rosie shrugged. ‘I just assumed everyone got invited.’
‘Everyone does not get invited. Why do you think Lilian has it on the mantelpiece to impress people? Lady Lipton’s hunt ball is like the talk of the county.’
‘The whole county?’
‘Yeah, yeah, very sarcastic. But it’s like all the landowners and aristocracy from all around, and she does the place up and makes it all fancy …’ Tina’s voice trailed off. ‘I kind of hoped … well, it’s silly. But last year when I broke up with Todd, I wanted to go so badly.’
‘Maybe Jake will be going.’
Tina snorted. ‘Yeah, to park the cars maybe.’
‘Really?’ said Rosie. ‘Well, actually it sounds a bit shit now, the way you’re talking about it.’
‘It’s the only time of the year the house is open, apart from tours in the summer and weddings and stuff,’ said Tina, her eyes gleaming. ‘They light the driveway so you can see it from all over the village, and you can hear them all night. Plus there’s always some posh loony who drives his Land Rover into someone’s house on his way home.’
‘It sounds awful,’ said Rosie. ‘I’m not going.’
Tina gave her a knowing look. ‘Not even to see your patient?’
‘I haven’t heard hide nor hair of my ex-patient in weeks,’ said Rosie, realising as she said it how irritating this was. She had thought they were becoming … well, maybe not close. Stephen didn’t seem to do close. Intense, and often irritating, he could manage. But not a line, not a phone call, not even a proper thank you. Would a bunch of flowers have been out of the question? It stiffened her resolve.
‘I don’t think I really want to go to some poshos-throwing-themselves-about thing,’ she said. ‘Plus I don’t know those weird dances they do. I won’t know anyone except Stephen, who will probably be sulking, and she’s not inviting any of my friends and anyway she’s totally rude to me all the time.’
‘She’s only rude to people she likes,’ said Tina. ‘Everyone else she’s just kind of distractedly polite. You should be flattered.’
‘And yet I’m not,’ said Rosie. ‘Argh!’ She was trying to do up a dusty-pink sleeveless party dress at the back. It was beautiful, but clearly wasn’t going to fit. ‘Bum, this is annoying. Running a sweetshop is doing nothing for me.’
‘It’s still pretty,’ said Tina. ‘Try this.’
And she handed over a top in the same colour, which did fit, and made Rosie’s dark hair and pale skin look like Snow White.
‘Gorgeous,’ said Tina. ‘Although you’ll need some lippy.’
‘Always,’ said Rosie. ‘Where do you get all this stuff?’
‘Mail order!’ said Tina. ‘It arrives off the internet. It’s like somebody sending you a present.’
There was a silence.
‘Does that make me sound really lonely?’ she said.
‘No,’ said Rosie immediately.
‘Well, that’s good,’ said Tina. ‘I am really lonely though.’
Rosie glanced out at the moon rising in her window.
‘Oh sugar,’ she said. ‘Me too.’
The two girls dissolved in laughter.
‘Come on, let’s go out and get a bit pished up,’ said Rosie. ‘I believe it’s medically necessary.’
She reached under her bed. Tina’s eyes widened as she pulled out two packets of Refreshers, some sherbet and a large bottle of vodka.
‘What the hell is that?’ she said.
‘Aha,’ said Rosie. She’d already put ice cubes in her sink, with two cocktail glasses. She dissolved the sherbet in the vodka, added ice cubes and sugar syrup and topped it off with a Refresher.
‘You’re joking me,’ said Tina. ‘Sweetie cocktails?’
‘Fabulous, no?’ said Rosie. ‘I just made it up. If it weren’t so goshdarn illegal I’d sell them in the shop.’ The girls giggled and chinked glasses, then sipped slowly.
‘The thing is,’ said Rosie, ‘the first sip is a bit weird. But the second is amazing.’
‘If I have a third,’ said Tina, ‘I’m going to fall out the window.’
Rosie shrugged on a dark red bolero over the ruched pink top.
‘Ooh,’ she said. ‘What do you think? Too much of the sexy señorita? Should I be holding a rose in my teeth?’
‘I think what Lipton needs is a sexy señorita,’ said Tina. ‘That is the only thing lacking in this town.’