Read New York Valentine for Free Online

hotfooted it to the top of the house.
    ‘Lana!’ she called out again.
    She tapped on Lana’s door and when no reply came, she pushed it open.
    ‘Lana, what’s burn—?’ Annie asked, but she could see immediately what was causing the smell.
    Lana was lying on her bed, headphones on, eyes closed, mouthing to the music. In her hands was a fat cigarette.
    Was she out of her mind? Was she on drugs?! Was this some kind of cry for help?!
    Annie stomped over and yanked the headphones lead out of the iPod. Lana opened her eyes and looked at her mum in surprise.
    ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Annie demanded, ‘you are lying on your bed SMOKING! What’s going on? Have you gone stark, staring, raving mad?’
    Before Lana could even get a word out, Annie, hands on hips, went on: ‘Is that what I think it is? Are you on drugs? Here? In your own bedroom?’
    Lana rolled her eyes.
    Then she leaned over and dropped the cigarette into the half-drunk mug of coffee at the side of her bed.
    It fizzled and sank, making an even more horrible smell.
    ‘Well?!’
    ‘Calm down. It’s herbal. And horrible. I’m not going to bother lighting up another one. OK? Happy now? Greta sent it to me, from Morocco.’
    Lana pushed a package across the bed towards her mum. Annie unfolded the pages covered in Greta’s tiny handwriting, and a bundle of photos and packet of herbal cigarettes tumbled out.
    ‘She wrote a letter and sent you pictures? That’s very twentieth century.’
    ‘No internet where she’s working, not even enough electricity to charge up her laptop. It’s pretty far out.’
    Annie looked at the photos and saw small boys and girls smiling, dressed in tatty, bleached-out clothes. In the background was a wood and mud hut. No, laptops didn’t really fit in with this scene.
    ‘I thought she was in the jungle … with yetis?’
    Lana rolled her eyes again.
    ‘She’s in the Moroccan countryside, teaching English to schoolchildren. Suzie’s the one in the Amazon. Planting trees. No one is doing anything with yetis.’
    Greta had left in the second week of the summer holidays and, to be honest, Lana hadn’t really cheered up since then.
    ‘Do you wish you’d done something like this?’ Annie asked gently.
    Lana nodded slowly, and gave a great sigh: ‘Well, you know why I didn’t, because I still have to sort out what I’m going to do next. I have to read prospectuses and fill out application forms and go for interviews and try to decide what the hell it is I am going to do with my life.’
    She sank back against her pillows as if just the thought of it was exhausting her.
    ‘Lana …’ Annie began gently, ‘I’m really sorry the TV job has come to an end. Not just for me but also for you.’
    Lana scowled.
    ‘No, I have been thinking about you too, honestly.’
    Lana had already spent most of the past three days hiding in her bedroom in a gloomier mood than ever, causing Annie a great deal of worry.
    ‘We’re both out of work right now,’ Annie told her. She risked taking hold of her daughter’s hand and patting it gently, ‘I’m sorry darlin’, you’ve not been through anything like this before. But I have. The worst thing you can do is lie on your bed and get depressed. You’ve got to get out there, keep busy. Why don’t you go and see some of your friends who are still in town?’
    ‘Ha! Everyone is either abroad working or so busy with their jobs here that they can’t even see me on a Saturday, let alone an afternoon right in the middle of the week.’
    ‘Well, there are still evenings, babes. Don’t make it out to be totally bleak.’
    ‘I haven’t got any money to go out in the evenings anyway,’ Lana huffed.
    ‘I’ll give you some money … maybe Owen will give you some money. He’s the only one in the house who seems to have endless amounts of cash,’ she joked. ‘Maybe Owen would let you help on his—’
    ‘Muuuuum,’ Lana growled. Obviously doing any kind of work with her