“Good, thanks, Dad. Nice to catch up with old friends.”
“I won’t keep you. We just had a question about sending you some money. Mum wants to pay you back our half of the shop you did last week.” Chloe did an internal eye roll. Her parents were sticklers for paying her back any time she spent money.
“Dad, I’m living with you for free, the least I can do is pay for the occasional shop.”
“No, no, we insist. It wasn’t even a Tesco’s shop, it was a Waitrose one. You bought all that fancy ham, and the marmalade Mum likes. Waitrose thick-cut is almost a day’s wages.”
“Dad, it was nine pounds.”
“Extortionate!” he cried. “Anyway, we won’t be arguing about it, I’m going to get you cash. Is that okay?”
“Dad, no. Do not go to the bank to get money out for me. You know you can do this at the click of a button on your phone now? You just log on to online banking, or Revolut me.” Chloebriefly closed her eyes. There was no world where her parents were going to trust Revolut.
“We don’t want you spending your hard-earned wages on our luxury marmalade and cashews. Cashews might as well be caviar, the price of them these days.”
“What’s going on? Why are you insisting on giving me money all of a sudden?” she asked suspiciously.
Her dad paused, then cleared his throat. “Mum opened a bill addressed to you. It was a mistake, she thought it was for one of her magazines.”
Chloe felt her chest constrict. She wasn’t expecting any bills.
“What bill? Who from?”
Her dad cleared his throat. “I’m putting your mother on.”
“Darling, we’re not here to judge you,” said her mum. “What you choose to spend your money on is your business. We know you’ve been lonely since things ended with Peter.”
Chloe closed her eyes, pausing in the street to lean against some railings. “Sorry, who was this bill from?”
“Perfect Partners,” her mother said. “We looked them up.”Oh no.
Chloe’s mind raced. Why would Perfect Partners be sending her a bill? She was on a free trial. And how had her parents looked them up when there was nothing about them online?
“These sex lines just want you to stay on the phone as long as possible, darling, that’s how they get your money,” her mother hissed down the phone.
“Tell her about the porn,” she heard her father whisper in the background.
“Porn? What porn?” Chloe muttered.
“Not that we know about these things, darling. But Tim Ridgway at number nine says there’s a lot of free pornographyyou can access on the internet. All sorts of things, catering for women as well as men. You know, rather than having to pay a premium for it.”
Chloe covered her face with a hand, feeling she must be beetroot. “Okay, I have not been paying for sex lines or premium porn, Mum. I think you must be confused with Perfect Partnerz with a ‘Z’; this is with an ‘S,’ and it’s an introduction service. Nothing” she searched for the right word “racy.” Though as she said it, she realized it wasn’t exactly true. Rob was designed to be very racy if she wanted him to be.
“Oh thank goodness,” her mum said. “We were worried you might have developed an addiction.”
“How much is the bill for?” Chloe asked, having to put aside her mortification for long enough to get some answers.
“Four hundred pounds,” her mother said. “I hope you get introduced to an awful lot of men for that.”
“Tell her about the addicts’ group in Richmond community center,” she heard her father say.
“She says she’s not an addict. She says it’s an introduction service.”
“Mum, Dad, I have to go. The bill must be a mistake, I’ll have to call and find out what’s happened. Thanks for letting me know, and please,pleasedo not go to the bank to get me marmalade money.”
As soon as she’d hung up, she dialed Avery’s number.
“Hello,” Avery said. “Everything okay, Chloe?”
