Things I Want My Daughters to Know_ A Novel - Elizabeth Noble [152]
“A prom dress. Mine’s strapless and black and Dad says it terrifies him, so I know I must look foxy. Guys wear black tie.”
“See, completely different. I remember Lisa once got in terrible trouble with Mum. She wasn’t around—I can’t remember why—and Lisa needed something to wear to the disco, and she got this kilt, which some relative had sent, and which turned out to be a proper one, and dead expensive, and cut, like, fifteen inches off the hem—so it was a mini, really, really mini—all sort of jagged, on purpose, stuck it up with Wundaweb, and wore that. Mum went nuts.”
“Sounds hideous.”
“It was trendy then; at least I’m sure it must have been, or else she wouldn’t have done it. She was always much more into that stuff than I was.”
“Yeah—weren’t you all listening to the Bay City Rollers then? In the Tartan Army?” She was giggling.
“How old do you think I am?”
“I don’t know—about middle-aged?”
“Cheeky monkey. It was a long time after that. This was more an Ant Warrior, Culture Club thing.”
“Equally sad.”
“Fine. Just ten years later. At least give me credit for that.”
“What happened to the kilt?”
“Mum threw it away. She was pretty cross. Not even really because Lisa had cut the kilt up. More because she’d done such a bad job of it, I think!”
“Sounds like Mum. She’d have probably hemmed it with the machine, if Lisa’d just brought it to her.”
“Probably. Anyway, it was almost certainly all Lisa’s fault. She was always the wild one—I was just trying to keep up with her….
“So who are you going with, then, to this prom?” Jennifer knew Hannah wasn’t seeing this Nathan guy anymore. Not that he’d sounded much like a prom date. He’d written to Mark—a short, formal note, clearly written with his father standing behind him, apologizing for his irresponsible actions. The note said the police were pressing charges. He had to be seen to be doing penance. He’d certainly lose his license, he said, probably for five years, and maybe even get a suspended sentence. What an idiot.
“Just Alice and Phoebe. I’m off blokes.”
“Indefinitely?”
“At least for now…Made a right balls-up back there, didn’t I?”
Jennifer reached over and patted Hannah’s shoulder. “Didn’t we all, at some point, Hannah.” More recently than you might think, young Hannah, she thought, draining her glass. “How’s the studying going?”
“Crap.”
“But it’s soon, isn’t it?”
“A couple of weeks ’til the first one.”
“Are you ready?”
“Not according to my mocks results, I’m not.”
“Ah, but they were special circumstances.”
“Hope so.”
“You’ll be fine. You’ve got clever genes.”
“Easy for you to say. Won’t be you sitting them.”
“I’ve sat them.”
“In the olden days…!”
“Exactly! When they were actually difficult. Before they invented A stars, whatever the hell they are.”
“Shouldn’t worry about what they are. I don’t think there’ll be any of those on my list.”
“Stop it, Hannah. You’re going to do great.”
“We’ll see….”
Hannah was saved by the bell. Her phone rang, its ring tone a tune Jennifer recognized vaguely as the hit of the summer, and she turned her back to answer it. Then she got up and lolloped to another part of the garden so that Jennifer couldn’t hear who it was and what she was saying. Jennifer smiled to herself at the secrecy. Still a teenager, then.
WHEN SHE RANG OFF, HANNAH CAME AND SAT DOWN AGAIN. The interruption hung briefly in the air. “I miss her.” Hannah didn’t say that often.
“I miss her, too.”
“I’m lucky, though. I know that. I’ve got Dad, and you and Lisa, and Amanda. I know I don’t always act like I know that’s lucky. But I do, really.”
“We always said, you had four mums. To love you and to nag you.”
“Could do without the nagging.”
“Can’t have one without the other. Did our mum teach you nothing?”
“You weren’t around much, when I was little.”
“You don’t know, you were little. Little people have notoriously unreliable memories.”
“I know,