Free With All My Love by Patricia Scanlan Page A

said flatly.
    ‘I thought you babysat on Fridays.’ He eyed her suspiciously.
    ‘Her sister’s going to a wedding.’
    ‘Go on,’ he grunted, turning his attention back to his magazine.
    Valerie walked out into the kitchen, feeling strangely dejected. She should have been on a high; it had all gone so smoothly. But for one brief moment she’d felt her da was like every other dad she knew when he’d handed her the coins. Her heart had actually lifted. There’d been a rare, fleeting moment of happiness and then he’d ruined it all and she felt a fool for thinking anything had changed.
    ‘Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling,’ the crowd sang lustily with Freddie Mercury urging them on and Brian May giving it wellie on the guitar. Jeff and Valerie grinned at each other as they bopped exuberantly and sang their hearts out. From the moment the lights had dimmed and the roar of welcome from the crowd had nearly lifted the roof off the pavilion as the Pizza Oven stage rig exploded into light, Valerie had been in heaven. Freddie Mercury was almost within touching distance as he started the show with ‘Let Me Entertain You’ and then belted out ‘We Will Rock You’.
    At first she’d been shy about joining in the singing but as the band played all those songs that she sang and danced to at the disco in Hanlon’s, she gave herself up to the music, and forgot her inhibitions. She was glad she’d worn her good jeans and a glittery boob tube. It was a perfect look for the concert, she and Lizzie had decided, after much trying on and discarding of outfits. Lizzie had done her make-up for her, in the school loo, and packed her school uniform neatly in a plastic bag before transforming her into a disco diva. Jeff had told her that a private bus was going from Wicklow. It would be leaving after the concert and would stop at Rockland’s on the journey back so she’d booked a ticket, delighted that there would be no hassle in getting to and from the venue.
    Jeff had met her off the bus and they had gobbled down a pizza, which she had insisted on paying for, before joining the queue. The doors opened at seven and they surged through. Jeff had his arm around her as they made their way to their assigned area and when they got there, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek and pulled her closer, and she was secretly thrilled until she realized he was putting on a show for his mates from college, who also had tickets for the same section, and whom Ursula would have known. They had all been coming to the concert as a group.
    It dawned on Valerie that Jeff was pretending she was his new girlfriend, and to good effect. One scrawny blonde with purple eye shadow, tight black jeans that hugged her pipe-cleaner legs, and a bright green halter-neck top that showed off her bony shoulders, was giving her daggers looks. A friend of Ursula’s, Valerie instantly deduced. Jeff clearly had an agenda and she was his pawn, she thought in dismay. Even though it was the kind of thing girls did all the time, she’d never thought that boys would be hurt enough to try and make a girl jealous.
    ‘So I guess word will get back to Ursula that you were seen at Queen with a new girl,’ she shouted into his ear amid the din, determined to let him know that she had him sussed.
    ‘What?’ He looked down at her, startled.
    ‘That blonde girl just over there that keeps giving me dirty looks – is she one of Ursula’s friends? That’s why you brought me, wasn’t it, to make Ursula jealous?’
    A dull red foamed up over his shirt collar, rising to his hairline, and she knew she had mortified him. Good, she thought viciously. He had just proved her point. All men were bastards.
    ‘Look . . . er . . . yeah. I did ask you to make her jealous, but I don’t care now. I’m having fun and I’m glad you’re with me. I could have sold the ticket but when I saw you in the chipper that day I thought I’d ask you. It was a spur-of-the-moment