Keeping Mum

Keeping Mum
Kate Lawson

Can YOU keep a secret? Find out in this riotous romantic comedy about secrets and lies, mothers and daughters and growing older but certainly no wiser…When Cass Palmer's mother announces she needs to move in with her - along with her sexy toyboy Rocco - forty-something Cass is horrified. The last time they lived together Cass was a tearaway teen, but now the tables have turned and mother Nita is the one behaving badly. Soon, Cass finds herself despairing of her mother's wild nights out, re-organisation of the entire household - from de-cluttering the cupboards to restocking the fridge - and worst of all, the sounds of her energetic love life!It's the last thing Cass needs after the return of old school chum and drama queen extraordinaire Fiona. Stretching their friendship to the limit, Fiona asks Cass to spy on her boyfriend Andy, whom she suspects of having an affair. With the subterfuge, living with her uninhibited mother and fending off her own unwanted admirers, Cass has just about reached her limit…A much-needed break in Cyprus should spell welcome relief. But with Nita left home alone, the truth about Andy's secret liaisons emerging and Fiona deciding if you can't beat them then join them, it's when the real fun and games begin…A riotously funny read about swapping roles and keeping secrets, for fans of Linda Kelsey and Jane Fallon.

KATE LAWSON

Keeping Mum

Copyright (#ubbfe2cc8-34b5-5753-b6ca-521d9140aa28)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

AVON

A division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2009

Copyright © Kate Lawson 2009

Kate Lawson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9781847560537

Ebook Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780007328956

Version: 2018-05-31

To my lovely man, Phil, my beautiful boys, Ben, James, Joe and Sam, and my dog Beau, and also the Fabulous Fish ladies on Downham Market’s market.

Table of Contents

Cover (#u193e93fc-fa5d-50e0-9a6f-bdca8cc153d0)

Title Page (#u0c200d73-eb3a-51dc-8882-5b9247c3b928)

Copyright (#u1e73d393-e2a6-5203-9787-d5dcce4f904f)

Chapter One (#u3edb003c-09e4-5791-b06d-864297831395)

Chapter Two (#ua11806b9-7d0e-5ad2-b6c2-cf293c8871c8)

Chapter Three (#u234add31-462d-54ec-ab1a-eb5d90b97e0b)

Chapter Four (#ufd37a7f0-5cf0-52be-b7f7-113d4148f54c)

Chapter Five (#uf137d2c8-3c6e-53d1-a9e2-0ce89e629e96)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise for Kate Lawson (#litres_trial_promo)

By the Same Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#ubbfe2cc8-34b5-5753-b6ca-521d9140aa28)

‘Blonde wig, sunglasses…’ Cass tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and looked herself up and down in the ornate mirror currently leaning up against the wall in the spare room. She turned left and right to gauge the full effect and then shook her head. ‘Fiona, I can’t go out dressed in this. I look like a hooker.’

‘No, you don’t. Of course you don’t,’ Fiona said briskly, tugging Cass’s wig down at the back. ‘You look…’ She hesitated. It was obvious that it was a struggle to find the right words.

‘Conspicuous and very dodgy?’ suggested Cass. ‘Let’s be honest, Fee, that’s the last thing you want from a spy.’

Fiona’s expression hardened. ‘Spy is a very emotive word,’ she snapped, handing Cass a trench coat and rolled black umbrella.