Read Getting a Life for Free Online Page A

our cocoa. Get on with it or it will be cold. I said to your father, should I ...'
    'Mum. Please.' If she hadn't interrupted, they'd have reached Christmas Eve before she got the message. 'Of course I'm coming. But it will be a bit later than usual.'
    'Oh dear. Your father will be disappointed. You know how he likes his little rituals.'
    'I'd like to bring a friend.' Silence followed. After a moment or two, she could hear a muffled conversation going on. Obviously, the message was being relayed to her father.
    'Are you still there?' Mum asked.
    'Of course.'
    'So who is it? This friend?'
    'His name's Mike. He's, well, he's in one of my groups. And we've been seeing each other.'
    'A student?' she said in the same tone as Lady Bracknell asked about handbags.
    'He's a mature. Almost the same age as me,' she lied.
    'I see. What's he like? And why haven't you mentioned him before?'
    Wearily, she tried to give the requisite information in summary form and failed miserably.
    Saturday was great fun, if somewhat crowded. Along with all the other last minute shoppers, they fought their way round, trying to decide what to get for the various family members.
    'I'll pick you up about four on Christmas Eve, if that's OK,' Mike suggested as they were parting. 'I can't get away any earlier than that.'
    'Fine. Mrs Whatsit from number six will have to manage without me for once.'
    He kissed her, not like before but much more like two old friends parting. She felt disappointed but knew he needed to work. As always, she found it sickening to think of him with someone else, albeit a client, just as she had been. What had he said?
Don't get serious about me.
She was obsessing about him, she knew it. But he was coming home with her for Christmas. That had to mean something, didn't it? What ever had happened to him to make him so obviously frightened of being involved?
    It was a long, dreary evening. She wrapped the presents and wrote cards for them. She was mooching in front of the television when the advert came on.
    'What have you bought for your man this Christmas?' the sexy woman was saying suggestively.
    'Certainly not what you're suggesting,' she told the screen. She froze. She hadn't bought him anything. What on earth could she buy for him? She realised just how little she knew about him. She didn't know what music he liked. What clothes he liked or his size. Had he got a watch? She thought of calling Trisha to ask for her advice. Then, out of the blue, her friend rang. To Joanne's surprise, Trisha asked if she could come over for coffee. A unique request, in their history. When she arrived, she was ill at ease and Jo knew she had something to say. She sat Trisha down with coffee and eventually, asked straight out what the matter was. She assumed she'd had another row with her bloke. They were always rowing.
    'I don't know how to break this to you. Not without hurting your feelings.' Trisha could be very nice at times but she was distinctly nosy.
    'Go on,' Joanne prompted.
    'It's about Mike. Just how serious are you two?'
    'What do you mean?'
    'Well, I saw him last night. We had dinner at that new place down the main road. I'm sorry love, but he was there. With someone. It was a party of four but he was definitely with one of the women. A rather good looking redhead, actually. He seemed very attentive and well, just as attentive to you at the college dinner thing.'
    Joanne sat nonplussed. She simply didn't know what to say, not without admitting the truth about how they'd met. Her friend took it that she was dreadfully upset to discover she was being two-timed. It wasn't like that, of course.
    'There's more. He was using a false name. They were calling him Rudy. I thought that was distinctly odd. At the end, we were all leaving around the same time. I saw him driving her in a huge great car, Really expensive looking. I'm so sorry Joanne. But I thought you should know before you got into anything ... well ... too deep.' She didn't know whether