*Maybe they didn't want you to beat people up?' Hammertro suggested, enjoying the brouhaha.

*They should've said. Didn't even want to pay me *cause of the hospital bills.'

Hospital bills? Don't even think about asking what they were for.

*So why did they?'

*I threatened to tell their landlord what they were up to in the bas.e.m.e.nt.'

What a piece of work Carson's sister was.

Hammertro nodded appreciatively. *That's my girl.'

Knowing that I'd put up with Cecily 2 for far longer than I had needed to made my head want to explode.

I held the door open and indicated the stairway with my hand.

Cecily 2 shuffled a couple of feet forward, then stopped again.

*Can I am least take my stuff? If I leave anything here, you'll probably sell it on eBay to pay for your p.o.r.n-flakes.'

I nearly said they weren't called p.o.r.n-flakes, but then saw the looks Hammetro and Cecily 2 were giving each other and decided to leave that topic well alone.

*Fine, just pack your gear as fast as possible.'

Having been given a slight reprieve, Cecily 2 pushed it by making a new demand. *First I want to speak to Carson.'

*Tough.'

Carson is probably busy s.h.a.gging his old girlfriend.

The clock on the wall said 6 p.m. School finished at four. Where was he?

In the end, I packed. It took all of three minutes a Cecily 2's clothes were all made of stretchy nylon or lycra or plastic and didn't require folding.

*Mom will get you for this,' she informed me, as she walked out, dragging her small battered knock-off Vuitton case behind her. *You owe us for that couch fiasco.'

Tough.

Hammertro smiled a sorry little smile, until he noticed that Cecily 2 was going up the stairs, not down them.

*Babe, wait, you want me to call you a cab? s.e.xy momma? Ce-ce?'

Cecily 2 kept walking upwards.

Serves him right.

*Bye Cecily 2,' I said, closing the door on the expletive she spat in response.

Cecily 2 was Hammertro's problem now. I had other issues to deal with.

Including, but not limited to, the fact that Mum was about to learn the extent of my failure.

To say nothing of Carson discovering that I'd lost my job and thanks to s.h.i.+fty Robert Simpson there was no money to make up the shortfall.

All things considered, moving upstairs with Hammertro and Cecily 2 almost seemed like a better alternative.

CHAPTER TEN.

Thursday, December 23 *Our family makes us who we are, acknowledge your part in its development.'

Jocelyn Priestly.

SOD OFF, JOCELYN. Flipping the calendar over, the only thing I was willing to acknowledge was that I needed to speak to Robert about the windows. Deciding that I would complete the job anyway a I had bought all the stuff and paid Uncle Rabbit for his work, so I might as well do the install.

Besides, I guessed that legally, once the windows were completed and photographed, I could at least claim the full amount Robert owed me.

I could ask Carson about my implied contract with Chocolato if we were talking, but having learned his mother-in-law had arrived and his sister had been evicted, he was refusing to speak to me about anything.

Mum happily accompanied me to the shops while I worked, but she was so excited about being in New York for the first time that I was distracted at every turn.

After we'd made the requisite visits to the Empire State, Saks, Bloomingdales and a couple of other tourist traps uptown, I managed to lure her in the direction of the shops and my work.

However, when Robert got wind of my continued labor in his establishments, he called and said he wanted to meet and talk things over.

*The only thing I want to talk about is getting paid.'

*Then meet me, and we can work it out.'

I had thought he might stop me completing the windows by telling me I was trespa.s.sing, but I supposed he figured that if he couldn't have me in a comprising s.e.xual position, he might get some nice store windows for free.

*Why didn't you tell me you owned Chocolato?' I asked, nodding to Mum who was excitedly pointing at the horse and carriage trotting past.

*I didn't want you to know that I was attracted to you.'

b.o.l.l.o.c.ks. He was attracted to the idea of a threesome with a loser housewife who he figured was bored and desperate. I didn't press the issue.

*Look,' I said, *let me finish the job, then pay me. Everyone ends up happy that way.'

*Alright. Meet me in an hour at Starbucks, opposite the midtown store.'

*No, first we meet in front of Chocolato. I want to show you what I've done.'

I wasn't going to have him pester me or stop me from finis.h.i.+ng my work, now. At the very least, I wanted a snapshot of the shop windows before he tore the whole lot out again.

I didn't trust Robert Simpson. Perhaps I never had. Perhaps, deep down, that's why I chose to continue dating Carson instead of taking a chance on the dapper, wealthier Robert?

I had to confess to Mum pretty much straightaway. It was hard to continue the pretence of wealth when the pantry was bare a except for con-flakes.

Mum took it like she's always taken everything a stoically.

*But Scarlet, if you are so unhappy, come back with me, to England. I am sure we can find some s.p.a.ce on the s.h.i.+p for the three of you. I can apply for extra credit on my card; you can pay it back when you find a job. After all, you have a degree.'

Another lie about to be exposed. I choked back tears.

*Darling, what is it?'

*Mum, that was a lie too. Carson is a teacher who barely earns enough to feed us, his family are horrible and no help at all. I flunked out of college, because I was rubbish at fas.h.i.+on design, and the only decent job I've been offered in all the years I've been here was the window display I've been doing. But now I find out I was offered the a.s.signment because the guy wanted a threesome with me, him and a transs.e.xual club singer.'

To my embarra.s.sment, I began to bawl.

Mum held me tight. *Oh my poor darling. Why didn't you say anything?'

*I just couldn't face telling you the truth; that I was living far away from you and it wasn't even worth it.'

Mum pulled my head into her lap. *Nothing ever works out the way you think it does, Scarlet. But the question is, are you happy with Carson as he is? Because if you're not, then you need to do something about it. Lying to me and your dad is one thing, lying to yourself is quite another.'

*I love my kids, Mum. And I think I still love Carson. I'm not completely sure that I trust him, but I love him. Things might be okay if all the rest wasn't so difficult. It's his awful family that really makes things unbearable. They're the real reason I started lying to you in the first place. Like you said, maybe by lying to you, I was lying to myself, telling myself it was okay to put up with people like that.'

*Are they really so bad?' Mum asked, stroking my head.

*You saw Cecily 2 with your own eyes,' I cried. *How is she not so bad? The mother is about ten times worse. She calls me Scarface.'

I felt Mum stiffen. Mental note: do not let Cecily and Mum meet. Ever.

*If you don't have to see them too often, maybe you can forget they exist a at least for long enough to ease the tension.'

What exactly was she saying? I cranked my neck to look at her face, but when I did, I saw she wasn't looking at me, but off out the window, at the mess of buildings on view in the distance.

And there was a solitary tear running down her left cheek.

*Mum,' I said gently. *Do you know?'

I promised myself that if she said *Know what?' I would forget the whole thing about Dad and that woman and make a joke about me going senile.

But she didn't say that.

Instead, she just said, *Yes.'

*Right,' I called to the a.s.sistant in the midtown Chocolato, *switch them on.'

Instantly, a thousand little twinkling lights lit up the navy backdrop of the window. Three huge chunky arks, cleverly created by Uncle Rabbit, hid large blocks of ice in insulating blocks, ensuring that the hundreds of chocolate animals weaving their way around the window on various levels into the ark remained chilled. It had taken me hours to arrange those animals, particularly as they had to sit on insulating bags that had to be placed in the exactly the right positions from the start. If I made a mistake, or wanted to make a change, I had to start the whole placement again.

*Oh Scarlet, you are a genius,' Mum exclaimed, hands thrown up in wonderment.

Since our conversation the night before, Mum and I seemed to have a renewed spring in our respective steps. Having cleared the air of secrets and lies, I was thrilled to have her in New York, and pleased to be able to share my moment of triumph with her.

Immediately, a crowd gathered outside the shop.

*This is as good as that window at LollyBliss,' a young woman in an elegant grey suit told her friend.

*My daughter did that one too,' Mum told her proudly.

*Mum,' I said, embarra.s.sed, but the two women nodded their congratulations before moving on.

Robert marched around the corner. On seeing a tiny, elderly woman with the same frizzy hair as me (only white) Robert skin went paler than his eyes.

*What do you think?' I asked him as he approached. Before he could reply, I turned to Mum. *This is the owner, Mum. He's here to pay me, aren't you Robert?'

If Mum thought my business ac.u.men less than finely honed, she didn't say. Holding out a hand, she waited for Robert to shake it.

*Pleased to meet you a you should be paying her double for this. Look at the crowds!'

Clearly, people had never seen so many chocolate animals heading into an ark before.

*Yes, well, Scarlet is certainly talented. Perhaps we will never know how much.'

What was he implying? I looked at him over the top of Mum's curly grey head. He smiled a a nasty curl of thin lips.

*You know . . .' He took Mum's arm and began leading her towards the nearby coffee shop, *. . . Scarlet and I have become quite close.'

I guess it was to be expected. I could outsmart Robert, but he wasn't a successful banker and entrepreneur for nothing, was he? If I demanded money, he'd tell Mum we were having an affair.

It was nonsense, of course, but given she knew of all my other lies, there was no way Mum wouldn't believe I was s.h.a.gging Robert Simpson.

Not if he told her I was.

Moving quickly, I pulled Mum from Robert, and told him we would get together to discount the issues later. *Mum and I have a pressing engagement?'

*We do?' Mum was baffled by my behavior.

*I'm sure you do,' the nasty smile was still firmly in place.

So that was it.

No money.

But at least Mum didn't think I was a s.l.u.t on top of everything else.