Page 101 of Not So Very Sensible

“Why don’t you have her details?”

“I did, and then I lost my Instagram account. It locked me out.”

She rolled her eyes. “You have always been pretty bad at technology.”

“I have,” he agreed. “Which is why I want your help to find Ellie.”

“You didn’t get her phone number?”

“We were communicating via Instagram.” Hadn’t he made that clear? “So as soon as you tell me where you found her, I’ll get out of your hair and you can get on with the rest of your day.”

She frowned again. “Hm. I can’t quite remember.”

“That’s weird. Oh well, I guess I’m gonna have to go stay at your holiday house until I find her.”

“What? No. You can’t do that.”

“I think you’ll find I can.” He folded his arms. “Of course, it would be a heck of a lot easier if you just told me the truth.”

“Fine then.” She shrugged. “She worked for some landscaping company. I can’t remember the name.”

He doubted that very much. “And where was that landscaping company based?”

She waved a hand. “Somewhere in the Southern Highlands. I don’t remember exactly where.”

He blew out a breath. Surely there had to be fewer landscaping companies than there were cafés. Maybe he could just call them all and see. His latest Google search had gotten nowhere.

He studied his sister. “Francine, why do you hate me?”

“What? That’s not true.”

He shrugged. “You seemed determined to spoil my happiness. I just don’t understand what I’ve done wrong to upset you so much that you would want to do this.”

She glanced away, her mouth a flat line. Shook her head.

“What?”

She heaved out a breath. “You’ve always had it easy. You never understood what Rob and I had to go through.”

“Had to go through? You make it sound like you grew up in poverty instead of having a fantastically blessed life.”

“Blessed.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you know what it was like having to be Dad’s perfect little daughter?”

“No. But I know what it’s like to feel I’ve needed to be Dad’s perfect little son.”

She continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “Always having to smile. Having to play the game. Make the connections. Do the parties. Get the money. Get the donations. I’ve done that all my life.”

“I know. I have too.”

She shook her head. “No. You don’t. You seem to operate on this different plane. Like none of this matters to you. And I don’t understand that. And it freaks me out and makes me jealous because I don’t want to have to care about this either. And yet I feel like I’m stuck in this situation where I have to constantly do whatever Dad wants so he’ll be pleased with me.”

Wow. He stepped back, studying his sister with new eyes. He hadn’t realised just how self-aware she was.

Maybe she hadn’t intended to spill quite so much truth either, as she looked shocked at her admission. “Forget I said that.”

“I will never forget you said that. Because that is the truth, isn’t it?” He leaned forward and did something he had never done before. He grasped her hands.

“What are you doing?”