She placed a cold hand on his sleeve. ‘He just couldn’t cope. Mum’s accident almost killed him too. She was his whole world.’ Sage tried to be understanding, but it hurt her as well, even after sixteen years. ‘I wish he could have been there for us but … He couldn’t. Now, I think it’s too hard for him to find his way back,though the fact that he got in touch shows he’s still thinking about us.’
‘At least we have each other. I mean it. I’m here now. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you more.’
‘Me too, Cas.’ She squeezed his hand back.
Casper reached for her hand, grasping it tightly.
CHAPTER THREE
A house is built of logs and stone,of tiles and posts and piers;a home is built of loving deedsthat stand a thousand years.
Victor Hugo, ‘House and Home’
Sage jerked awake when the engine stopped. Straightening herself, she gingerly massaged her cricked neck. Peering out of the window, she was surprised to see a large, modern, red-brick house with a small walled garden. It was definitely not their grandparents’ home.
‘Where are we?’
Casper had already got out and was opening Hal’s door.
‘Morning, Rip Van Winkle!’ he said, laughing gently as he unbuckled Hal. He took his hand as the child climbed out of his seat. He had always felt an affinity with the little boy and added to it now was a new overwhelming protectiveness. ‘I’ve got you, champ. Come on – there’s someone I’d like you both to meet.’
‘Where are we, Cas?’ Sage asked again, more forcefully this time.
Casper did not want to leave Sage alone in the car, even if this meeting might be a little prickly. ‘My girlfriend, Isabel’s, house. Come and say hi. I left Scamp here this morning by mistake and need to get him or I will be inserioustrouble. Shebarely tolerates animals!’ He walked around and opened the door for her.
‘Girlfriend? You are a dark horse, Cas.’ Wondering what kind of person this could possibly be, Sage got out of the car.
Casper let himself in through a side gate. Hal gave a howl of delight as his uncle tossed him high in the air and pretended to drop him.
Sage followed them, feeling strangely anxious. Casper had never mentioned a girlfriend, despite their speaking regularly. It was so like Casper to leave out such fundamentally important news but spend ages giving her the details of his latest race. Sighing inwardly, she approached the house. She hoped Isabel would like her. In the past there had been girlfriends who were jealous of their sibling bond. The only one who had understood them was Dolly, who had not felt at all resentful of their relationship, but she had been special; she was Sage’s very best friend in the world. She and Casper had broken up though, and Sage had mourned the fact ever since, frequently wondering why they had not been able to work it out. The two of them had always seemed so right for each other, but Dolly never told her why it ended and Sage had decided not to pry. It had been far too long since she and Dolly had spoken – another relationship she’d allowed Santiago to get in the way of.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, she closed the gate behind her and followed the sound of voices to where Casper was taking off his boots at the door to a large, double-glazed conservatory.
‘I’m not allowed to use the front door,’ he said, laughing wryly. ‘I bring the dirt in, apparently. Scamp is barely tolerated and even then, he’s only allowed in this bit of the house.’
As Casper spoke, a black-and-white Jack Russell with brown ears started to bounce up and down joyfully at the glass door, yapping and yapping in the hope of escape. His stubby tail beata merry staccato so hard that his entire body wove from side to side as he leapt in the air. The little dog was clearly determined to make himself understood as he shouted,You forgot me! You forgot me!
Hal leant against the door in fascination, holding his hand flat to the pane, his nose pressed up to it as Scamp tried to lick him from the other side, making the glass wet and smeary.
‘Oh hell,’ Casper groaned, ‘we’ll be in trouble for making a mess before we’ve even gone in.’
Sage looked at her brother quizzically. ‘I can’t tell if you’re joking or not?’
‘Isabel is a neat freak,’ he explained. ‘She hates dirt and chaos.’
Well, she definitely chose the wrong boyfriend, Sage thought with a frown.
Casper, now in his socks, opened the door and a ball of ecstatic terrier hurled itself at him, licking his hands and telling him off for having left it behind.
Hal shouted with glee.
‘Dog!Dog!Can I play, Mumma?’
Before Sage could reply, an ecstatic Scamp had rugby-tackled Hal into an empty flower bed, then chased him back into the house and across the terracotta floor of the conservatory. Both dragged wet, flying sods of earth along with their small feet. A door at the other end of the room opened and a tall, elegant woman appeared. A turban fashioned from a pink towel covered her hair, and she wore a pink silk dressing gown and pink fluffy slippers. Scamp took one look at the open door and, thinking that this was a tremendously fun game, beseeched Hal to follow him as he ran through the horror-struck woman’s legs and into the main house with its acres of thick, white carpets. Hal, not wanting to deny his new friend anything, obediently followed on quick, sure legs, pushing past their hostess and stumping blacksoil through the doorway and into the house. The woman let out a squawk, her hands flapping with disapproval. Her mouth had almost disappeared under tightly pursed lips and shooting a furious look at Casper, she disappeared back into the house, futilely slamming the door behind her.
‘Should we go after them?’ Sage started pulling off her own shoes.
‘I think that’s known as shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.’ Casper was laughing but his face gave away his worry. He sighed. ‘Christ. She isnotgoing to be happy.’
