“And as I say, we’re on a budget,” says Luke in implacable tones. “I’m sure you’d agree that successful budgeting is the first rule of a happy marriage, Jane?”
“Yes, yes, of course…” says Mum, looking distracted. Suddenly her face brightens. “The Greenlows!”
The who?
“Your cousins in Australia! They sent a check for your wedding present! I’ve been meaning to give it to you. It’s in Australian dollars… but even so, it’s quite a lot… ” She roots around in a drawer and pulls it out. “Here we are! Five hundred Australian dollars!”
“Fantastic!” I take the check from her and examine it.
“So now you can treat yourself and Jess to something nice!” Mum squeezes my arm with a smile.
“You see?” I say in triumph.
“OK. You win. This time.” Luke rolls his eyes.
Suddenly excited, I hurry into the living room.
“Hi, Jess!” I say. “D’you want to go out somewhere? Like to the shops?”
“Oh.” Jess looks taken aback. “Well…”
“Go on, love!” says Mum, coming in behind me. “Have a little spree!”
“We can go and have lunch somewhere… really get to know each other… What do you think?”
“Well… OK,” she says at last.
“Excellent!”
I feel a zing of anticipation. My first-ever shopping trip with my sister! This is so thrilling!
“I’ll go and get ready.”
“Wait,” says Jess. “Just before you go. I brought you something too. It’s not much, but…”
She goes over to her rucksack, opens it, and takes out a parcel wrapped up in paper printed all over with the words happy new year 1999.
That is so cool!
“I love kitsch wrapping paper!” I say, admiring it. “Where did you find it?”
“It was free from the bank,” says Jess.
“Oh,” I say in surprise. “Er… excellent!”
I rip off the wrapping and find a plastic box, divided into three compartments.
“Wow!” I exclaim at once. “That’s fantastic! Thank you so much! It’s just what I wanted!” I fling an arm round Jess’s neck and give her a kiss.
“What is it, love?” Mum asks, looking at it with interest.
To be honest, I’m not actually quite sure.
“It’s a food saver,” explains Jess. “You can keep leftovers in it, and they all stay separate. Rice… casserole… whatever. I couldn’t live without mine.”
As I start to feed the parking meter, I go through all the options in my head. We should definitely get a free makeover, and check out that new underwear shop Mum was talking about…
“How long exactly are we planning to stay here?” Jess asks as I shove in my sixth pound coin.
“This should take us up to six o’clock… and after that, parking’s free!”
“Six o’clock?” She looks a bit stunned.
“Don’t worry!” I say reassuringly. “The shops don’t close at six. They’ll be open till at least eight.”