Free Sapphire by Katie Price Page B

Sapphire made a quick goodbye to her friends and grabbed a taxi to her mum’s house.
    Her mum never exactly looked like the life and soul of the party but even so Sapphire was shocked at her appearance when she opened the door. She seemed to have aged ten years, her skin looked sallow and she had dark circles under her eyes. As soon as she saw Sapphire her face crumpled and she broke down in tears. Sapphire hugged her. ‘Hey Mum, what’s the matter?’
    ‘I’m so sorry, Sapphire,’ was all she could say as Sapphire led her through into the kitchen. Sapphire hadn’t seen her mum in this state since her dad died; she couldn’t imagine what had caused it.
    ‘Okay, Mum, sit down and tell me what’s wrong, you’re freaking me out.’
    Her mum slumped at the kitchen table and picked at a thread in her jumper.
    ‘Sorry,’ she said again.
    ‘
Mum
– please, tell me what’s up!’ Sapphire repeated, growing more and apprehensive.
    Without saying anything her mum reached across to the pile of mail on the kitchen table and handed Sapphire three letters. Sapphire read the first one with a feeling of complete disbelief. Her mum’s overdraft stood at five thousand pounds and the bank wanted to know when she was going to pay it off. They were threatening to take her to court. Sapphire didn’t even realise her mum had an overdraft. She knew her mum wasn’t exactly rolling in it but she thought that she had enough to live fairly comfortably. The other two letters were from credit card companies – she owed a further five grand on her cards. What the hell had she been spending her money on?
    ‘I don’t understand, Mum, how on earth did you get into this much debt?’
    There was a pause where her mum seemed to slump still further into her seat. ‘I’ve been playing poker,’ she said quietly.
    ‘What? At the casino?’ Sapphire said incredulously; her mum rarely went out and if she did it was with one of her friends to see a film or go for dinner. She simply couldn’t imagine her mum in a casino.
    Christine shook her head and in a barely audible voice said, ‘I’ve been playing online.’
    ‘Jesus Christ, Mum!’ Sapphire slammed her hand onthe table, causing Christine to wince. ‘What the fuck possessed you!’
    Christine winced again at the language but Sapphire was having none of it.
    ‘You’ve just burnt ten grand, I’m allowed to say fuck!’
    She couldn’t believe that her mum had got into this situation. How could she have been so foolish? Tears continued to slide down her mum’s cheeks. Sapphire suddenly felt sorry about her outburst, her mum looked so upset. However shocked she was by this bombshell, she was going to have to pull herself together and take control.
    ‘Okay, I’m sorry, I really wasn’t expecting this. Why don’t I make us a cup of tea and we can talk this through.’
    Christine nodded. Sapphire tried to collect her thoughts together as she went to put the kettle on and reached for the mugs. She suddenly had a splitting headache. For the millionth time she wished she had a sibling to share the responsibility that pressed down on her so relentlessly. She set the mugs of tea on the table and added a generous teaspoon of sugar to each, ‘But I don’t take sugar!’ Christine protested.
    ‘It’s good for shock,’ Sapphire said grimly, ‘Now I want you to tell me from the beginning what happened.’
    Christine reached out for her cigarettes, lit one with a trembling hand and then began to speak. The gambling had all been a bit of fun to begin with, she was lonely on her own, didn’t Sapphire realise that? At first she won, three thousand pounds in fact. She was going to suggest that she and Sapphire went on holiday somewhere really nice. But then she thought she could make more money if she gambled with the three grand. And then she started losing heavily. And the more she lost the more she bet, convinced like so many gamblers before her that she just needed one win to make