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‘Yes, it’s me.’ She clutched the phone tighter. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Well,’ came the sighed response. ‘I’m dying to say yes, sis, but I’m kinda in a spot of bother.’
‘Kinda? Either you are or you aren’t. Which is it?’ she demanded, her voice an octave higher and sharper than she’d intended.
‘Goodness, Gids, I knew you’d hit DEFCON Five before I said two words.’
Giada could hear the eye roll in her sister’s response. ‘Gigi, we haven’t spoken for weeks, and you’ve never called me while I’ve been away. I think it’s fair to presume this isn’t a welfare call. Whatever it is, just spit it out.’ She squeezed her eyes shut for another fortifying moment before she blurted, ‘Is it Mum?’
Her sister snorted. ‘Way to lay the guilt trip, sis. And no, it’s not Mum. Last I heard, she was in Rio getting a custom-fit costume done for Carnivale in February.’
‘Please tell me she’s not planning on staying there for Christmas? Or expecting us to join her?’
‘Who knows? Though I think Christmas in Rio might be fun. I haven’t been in ages.’
‘Gigi.’ Exasperation bled through her voice as she imagined a hellish two weeks with her mother and whatever menagerie of friends she’d picked up between London and Rio. She shook her head and zeroed in on what she could control. Like why her sister had called. ‘What did you want to talk to me about?’
‘Hold on,’ Gigi yelled.
Giada gritted her teeth as raucous laughter and clinking glasses echoed down the phone. Then it quieted, indicating her sister had moved to a quieter area. Which disturbed Giada even further. Gigi didn’t usually put much stock on discretion. ‘Okay, first promise me this will stay between us?’
‘What will?’
‘Promise me first, then I’ll tell you,’ Gigi demanded.
‘I’ve never betrayed your confidence.’
Unlike you.
She didn’t add that, mostly because her twin didn’t see anything wrong with blurting Giada’s business to their mother, and also because her anxiety levels were climbing at an alarming rate already. She didn’t need further angst.
‘Yeah. Okay, fine. I may have taken possession of something that didn’t quite belong to me.’
Giada inhaled sharply. ‘Excuse me?’ Her sister was many things, but she wasn’t a thief. Until now apparently.
‘Don’t jump on your judgey horse so fast, Gids. There was a reason for it.’
Giada pulled off her woolly hat, suddenly feeling warm despite the cold dread coursing through her. ‘What did you take? And what do you meanwas?’
Her sister remained silent for several uncomfortable seconds during which Giada’s vow to stay calm frayed badly.
‘I took something important from this guy I was hoping to work for. Something that means a lot to him. And he’s a very powerful guy.’
‘Why?’
Gigi sniffed. ‘Because he deserved it,’ she spat without remorse.
At times like these, Giada wondered how they could be identical when their characters were night from day more often than not. ‘Gigi—’
‘Look, I was a little drunk when it happened, okay? And also, people shouldn’t make promises they don’t intend to keep.’ Giada barely stopped herself from laughing hysterically, then offering the pot and kettle example because how many times had Gigi airily made a promise then promptly broken it? She was glad she didn’t laugh, or she would’ve missed her sister’s less heated, ‘Especially men.’
Thoughts of laughter evaporated. ‘Did he hurt you?’ The memory of their mother’s boyfriend who had ingratiated himself into their lives when they were fifteen and earned their trust only to emotionally abuse them was an unwanted but vivid memory. It was also one of the few times Giada and her sister had bonded in their pain.
If Giada were being meticulous, it was probably that incident that had triggered Gigi’s dissonance with emotional responsibility. Deep down, Giada couldn’t blame her. But it still hurt thatshe’dbeen swept up with the masses. ‘Gigi, what did he do?’ she prompted when her sister remained ominously silent.
‘I met him a few months back and we sort of moved in the same circles for a while. I helped him to get info from someone I knew and he said I could work for him. Then he humiliated me publicly, claimed I was flighty and didn’t have what it takes to be one of his precious team.’
Giada exhaled, her tension easing a touch. ‘So this is about a job? Nothing else?’
