Free Musical Star by Rowan Coleman

fly.”
    “No,” Jeremy said glancing at my mum. “It’s not about work, it’s more about…home. I wanted to ask both of you if you thought it would be OK…by which I mean a good idea, if I were to move back to London permanently?”
    “Really?” My mum clasped her hands together. “You’d be living in London?”
    “Yes, if you’re amenable to the idea,” Jeremy said, beaming at my mother who was clearly about as amenable as a person possibly could be. “I’m tired of film making and I miss the buzz of live theatre. I’ve been offered the post of creative director at the Harlequin in the West End. I’m going to take it. I’ll bring Augusto, Marie and David with me too, of course. And best of all, I’ll be near all of the people I care about,” he looked at me. “By which I mean you and your mother, Ruby.”
    “Oh, Jeremy, that’s wonderful news,” Mum said happily.
    “It’s great,” I said. “And of course we will.”
    “Of course you will what?” Jeremy asked me.
    “Help you buy a house!” I told him. “How much money have you got? Do you want a ballroom because those houses are quite pricey, we’ll need to know how many loos, bedrooms, a swimming pool…”
    “Oh, right,” Jeremy said. “I see, I hadn’t thought – what do you think?”
    “I think a ballroom is really handy for parties,” I told him. “And at your age you need all the exercise you can get, so a swimming pool is a must.”
    “I’m going to be in Hungary for the next few weeks,” Jeremy told me, “so I think I’ll leave the details up to you. Just find me a house somewhere near here that both of you really like. Because if you like it, then it truly will be a home.”
    “Oh, Jeremy,” Mum sighed.
    “That was so corny,” I said. “Is that a line from a film?” And we all laughed, except Everest, who was still searching for Jeremy’s mints.
    Later that evening, after Jeremy had made us all lasagne for tea and I was lying on my bed trying to do my maths homework, Mum came up to see me.
    “Ruby?” she called my name quietly on the other side of my bedroom door.
    “Come in,” I said, glad of an excuse to put my books away for a minute.
    “How’s it going?” Mum said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
    “Fine,” I said. “Maths, you know. Bleugh.”
    “I didn’t mean with you homework…” Mum hesitated. “I meant with you. Are you OK about everything?”
    I blinked at her and sat up. “Yes,” I said, and then just to be on the safe side. “OK about what?”
    “It’s just the last time I thought you were really happy and fine about things, I got it completely wrong and you ran away in the middle of the night and put yourself in terrible danger. So I just wanted to check, to see if you’re worried anything. About Jeremy moving to London. About me and Jeremy becoming closer. If any of that makes you feel uncomfortable, sad or angry, then I want you to tell me so that we can talk about it.”
    I made a note to myself to never EVER run away in middle of night after stealing my mum’s credit cards to book flight across the Atlantic ever EVER again. All it really achieved was Mum worrying about me far too much, far too often, and when she really didn’t have to. And a lot of intense conversations while she tried to workout if I was having a nervous breakdown or not.
    “Do you mean am I upset that Jeremy is moving to London to be closer to you?” I asked. Mum nodded, a frown slotted between her brows.
    “No, of course not,” I told her. “I’m glad he’ll be around more. You and he might be…you know, a couple and that, but he’s my friend too, Mum. Don’t forget he was my friend before you two even got together. And it will be cool to see David again, the scrawny mutt. Plus when Jeremy’s around, you’re all happy and shiny and I get away with a lot more stuff.”
    “Like what?” My mum asked me laughing.
    “Like being able to wear just a tiny bit of clear lip-gloss to school in the