Break Point by Kate Rigby Page A

friendly prod. "Go on, Tash. You're on cooking tonight,
aren't you?"
    Tash slopes
off to the kitchen in an undercurrent.
    "I'm here for
a reason," I say, not looking at any of Babs too long. Her sweeping
brown eyes, that gelled black stubble, those solid thighs under the
pinstripe of her trousers. "It's about the old woman I'm working
for." I start telling her all about Gwen and Rosemary and the old
letters and photos. Her mouth is hanging open. You could drive a
bus through it. The Number 25!
    "You're
working for Gwen McMahon ? Oh my god! How can you
stick it?"
    "I know she
can be a bit bolshie sometimes - "
    "A bit? She's
an embittered old shrew."
    "Who is?" Tash
wanders in with apron and spatula.
    "No
one."
    Tash storms
off in an even bigger undercurrent and slams the door. Unfazed,
Babs says, "Does she know you know me? No. Daft question. She
wouldn't have you in the same house if she did."
    "You had a
thing with Rosemary years ago, right? I know she's not had contact
with Rosemary for years ... "
    Babs lowers
her voice. "I still get the odd card from Rosie ... she was in Hove
when she last wrote."
    "When was
that?"
    "Last
Christmas, I think. Why?"
    "Well, that's
why I came over. I thought you might have her address. Gwen wants
to get in touch with her."
    "Oh, she does,
does she?" Babses eyes are reeling. "Poor Rosie's better off
without her."
    "I think
Gwen's ready to patch things up ... "
    "You haven't
heard Rosie's side of things."
    "No, I don't
know much about her at all. Except that she's done a bit of
teaching."
    Babs leans
towards me. "Rosie told me she had to fight to leave home to do her
teacher training and she did manage to teach for a number of years
but then her mother got so ill - " Babs makes quote marks in the
air when she says the word ill - "that Rosie had to give it all up
to look after her. There was nothing wrong with her. Well, not her
body anyway. But then if Rosie hadn't have come home I wouldn't
have met her."
    "So Gwen knew
about you and Rosie?"
    "Oh she was
pure poison." Babs runs her fingers through her stubble. "I was
working at a children's home at the time and she told one of the
trustees, who just happened to be a personal friend of hers, all
about me. How I shouldn't be working with vulnerable young people
who I might corrupt. That sort of thing."
    "They didn't
bin you off, did they?"
    "As good as. I
resigned. They made my position untenable. I mean, you need the
support of your colleagues, don't you, but they were all very
traditional and when push comes to shove ... but the point is I
liked my job and I was bloody good at it." She lowers her voice
again. "Anyway I'd rather change the subject before Tash comes in.
No point in fuelling the fire, eh? But here, I'll give you Rosie's
address. I'm only thinking of Rosie, mind. I can't let it stand in
the way, just because I detest her mother."
    "Whose
mother?" Tash hands us a plate each of stodgy risotto.
    "Ah Tash,
darling. You're an angel. Get stuck in, Bobbie. I was wondering,
have you heard from June at all?"
    "She rang our
Elliot's the other day. She's going to ring me at Gwen's this
weekend he said."
    "What did you
want, Bobbie?" Tash is looking at me. Well, I think she is. It's
hard to tell the way the light's shining off her
glasses.
    "I just needed
someone to talk to. About this old lady I've been working for." I
start telling Tash about Gwen, but editing it, so she doesn't get
to hear about Rosie. Two old flames in one night would be too much
for Tash. Too much for anyone.
    As soon as I
can, I get up to leave. I don't know who to look at as I say
goodbye. I can feel Babs watching me, dead intense. I want to feel
her hand on my leg, and her finger tracing under the crotch of me
jeans. I want her to snog me stupid but Tash is watching where my
eyes land, so I look from one to the other, and then turn
away.
    *
    It's late in
the evening and the heat in my thighs is burning up. It stayed all
through the Wimbledon highlights which Shari and