No Dress Rehearsal Read Free Page B

awake, yet hestill felt like he was in the middle of a horrible nightmare. When he went to the kitchen to boil the kettle, he found he couldn’t bear being alone in the flat. Especially because he didn’t really feel alone. Not after he’d found a fresh butt in the ashtray. Who had smoked that? Neil didn’t smoke. Neither did Lizzie. Lately, anyway. So who’d smoked it?
    Suddenly all his neck hairs were standing on end and he was pulling on clothes and racing back to her parents.
    Lizzie knew none of this. All she could see was that he was gone again. Misery wrapped itself around her like a heavy, grey cloak. Things were much worse than she’d realised. He’d never behaved like this before.
    Panic rose in her throat. She had to talk to him. This had to be sorted out once and for all. She decided to ringhim at work as soon as she got in herself.
    Half-heartedly she got ready for work. Then she did her daily ritual of standing on the weighing scales. This was to see if the cycling was having any effect. But instead of whizzing up to nearly ten stone, the needle on the scales didn’t budge. Even when she bounced up and down, it stayed stuck at nought. Broken, she thought, like everything else in my life.

CHAPTER SIX
    Neil and Lizzie weren’t the only ones who’d had a bad night’s sleep.
    Sinead had spent eighty-nine minutes between three and five a.m. worrying about all the work she had to do the next day. She got back to sleep but awoke exhausted.
    By eight o’clock she was at work. The phone rang at ten past. Who could be ringing so early? Ginger probably. Telling her he couldn’t remember how to breathe. Or asking her what side he parted his hair on. But it wasn’tGinger. It was Neil. What did he want?
    â€œI’ve some bad news,” he said.
    Now what could that be? Had someone scraped the side of his car? Had Man U lost last night?
    â€œIt’s Lizzie,” he said. And immediately Sinead stopped her sarcastic thoughts. She felt a sudden and terrible fear.
    â€œShe was in an accident yesterday,” Neil said.
    â€œWhere is she?” Sinead was already pawing for her bag. “Which hospital? I’ll go now.”
    â€œNo.” Neil said. “You can’t.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause … because she’s …”
    Dead. What a funny word it was, Sinead thought, calmly. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. It was a good word for dead. Because it sounded so dead.
    Neil was mumbling into her ear about removals, funerals. But she wasn’t really listening. Her gaze was drawn to the floor beneath a filing cabinet. Look at how dusty it was. Thick with it. I suppose there wasn’t enough space to get a brush beneath it. That’d be why it’s so dusty, she thought.
    â€œI’m at her parents,” Neil said.
    â€œI’m coming over.”
    As she was leaving, Ginger was just arriving.
    â€œWhere are you going?” he asked in alarm.
    â€œLizzie died,” she said, trying out the new and strange words. Then she decided to try it another way to see if it felt any more real. “Lizzie is dead.”
    Ginger stared at her. “But where are you going?”
    â€œTo see her mammy and daddy. Tohelp them and Neil with the arrangements.”
    â€œWhen will you be back? We’ve that big load of ball-bearings coming in today.”
    Carefully Sinead repeated, “Lizzie is dead. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
    â€œEr, right. Make sure you have your mobile on.” Then, too late, Ginger remembered his manners. “Sorry for your trouble,” he muttered.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    The morning was very misty as Lizzie cycled to work. She had to swerve more than once to avoid hitting people. They kept stepping out into her path, as if they couldn’t see her. Puzzled, she put it down to the mist.
    At the office she said a gloomy “Good morning” to Harry the