Amy had enjoyed showing her two friends the new clothes her mother had bought her. It was always good when her mother had money spare and she grudgingly admitted to herself that she had Cliff to thank for that. She and her friends were playing around with some makeup Brooke had bought for her birthday when Loretta called upstairs letting them know the buffet was ready.
They dashed down to the kitchen and Amy was thrilled to see all the food laid out on the table: sandwiches, sausage rolls, cocktail sausages, coleslaw, pickled onions, pizza and chicken legs and, at the end of the table, a strawberry gateaux and some chocolate biscuits.
‘Wow! Thanks, Mum,’ said Amy walking over to her mother and hugging her.
The three girls and Nathan sat down at the table to eat but Loretta didn’t join them. Instead, she took a bottle of wine from one of the cupboards and poured herself a drink. Amy presumed it was her first glass of the day as it was a new bottle and she didn’t seem tipsy yet. She was thankful for that and hoped her friends would be gone before her mother became drunk.
Amy was so busy enjoying herself, laughing and chatting with her friends and tucking into the delicious food, that she didn’t notice her mother’s constant eye on the clock. She hadn’t realised her mother was expecting a visitor till she heard the doorbell ring.
‘I’ll get it,’ Loretta said.
She left the room, and Amy was disturbed to find that when she returned, she was accompanied by Cliff. She turned to see him walk into the kitchen with a smarmy grin on his face, eying the girls appreciatively. Then he grinned lasciviously at Amy.
‘Happy birthday to my favourite girl. You are looking all grown up,’ he announced. ‘I’ve got something special for you.’
‘Thanks,’ said Amy, turning back to her friends, and subconsciously putting a hand over her face to hide her embarrassment.
For a while he remained transfixed, frozen to the spot, and Amy could feel his eyes roaming all over her. It was Loretta who broke the tension in the room.
‘Well, aren’t you gonna tell us what it is?’ she prompted.
Cliff’s grin grew wider as he withdrew a present from his pocket and handed it to Amy.
‘Thanks,’ she repeated, keeping her eyes downwards as she took the small package and placed it on the table.
‘Aren’t you gonna open it?’ asked Loretta.
‘Yeah,’ said Cliff. ‘I’m dying to see your little face light up when you see what it is.’
Amy reluctantly picked up the box and removed the packaging with a sense of déjà vu when she revealed the small box inside. It reminded her of the one that had contained the silver charm bracelet he’d previously bought for her, and she knew it was going to be jewellery.
But she was still unprepared for the exquisite gift inside the box. It was a gold chain fitted with gold lettering in the centre that formed the word ‘Amy’ in a fancy scroll.
‘Wow!’ said Amy’s friends in unison and Amy’s jaw dropped as she held the necklace and examined it.
‘Bloody hell!’ exclaimed Loretta. ‘Those don’t come cheap. You are good to us, Cliff.’ Then she turned to her daughter. ‘What do you say, Amy?’
‘Thanks,’ said Amy for the third time, resisting a smile. She was thrilled with the gift but not with the giver.
He laughed. ‘I’m bloody glad it’s only a short name anyway. Here, let me put it on for you,’ he said to Amy, and before she could protest, he had taken it out of the box and was trying to find the clasp.
Amy felt a shudder of revulsion as he draped it around her neck and fiddled with the fastening. Then he reached in front, running his hand over the letters as though smoothing them down, his fingers lingering on her décolletage. She sat, stiff as a sentinel, wishing he would go away.
‘Stand up, let’s have a look at you,’ he said, and Amy obliged while he stood back and admired his handiwork. ‘Perfect,’ he uttered, and Amy sat down as quickly as possible, noticing the uncomfortable expression on Brooke’s face.
Once he had finished making a fuss of Amy, Cliff joined her mother at the other side of the kitchen, and she handed him a glass of wine. As he stood chatting with her mother, she could still feel his eyes on her and, despite the extravagant present, she couldn’t wait to escape the table and go back to her room.
Rachel seemed to toy with her food for ages and Amy was glad when she had finally put the last morsel into her mouth. ‘Come on, let’s go up to my room,’ she said, getting up from the table and dashing to the door without waiting for her friends’ response.
The girls followed her, and they were soon seated on Amy’s bed again.
‘Wow!’ Rachel repeated. ‘Your necklace is gorgeous. Isn’t your uncle nice?’
Amy was thankful at not having to answer when Brooke chipped in. ‘I think he’s creepy,’ she said.
As Brooke spoke her eyes were fixed on Amy who could feel her face burning with shame. She could see Brooke scrutinising her for what seemed like an age as though she knew her dirty little secret and was challenging her to confess.
Her blushes were saved when Rachel reached towards the necklace and held up the lettering. ‘Can I try it on?’ she asked, and Amy willingly agreed, relieved that the focus had now shifted from her to Rachel.
For the rest of that evening Amy couldn’t relax, worried that Cliff would do something else inappropriate or that her mother would become drunk and embarrassing. She was relieved
