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“Who’s having what?” her mum whispered conspiratorially across the wooden table as she smiled broadly at her daughters, trying to appease everyone again. “Isn’t this fun? We’re lucky that your dad brought us here for lunch.”
“It’s a waste of money,” her dad grumbled as he poked at minuscule crumbs that he’d revealed when he lifted thelaminated menu from the Formica tabletop. Sun reflected off the plastic as he wafted it around. “As if I’m not paying enough for a weekend at the expensive holiday village. We could be having sandwiches in the car, but instead, I’m forking out for this.”
Emma rolled her eyes and reached for the menu, but their dad whipped it away quickly.
“You don’t need the menu. I’ll tell you what you’re having, and it will be the cheapest thing,” he grunted. Due to his obsession with money, he’d picked the holiday village that was the closest, less than a ninety-minute drive away. He smugly told them it was so he could work in the morning and not pay too much for petrol. The real reason they stopped for lunch was because he hadn’t allowed them time to eat at home or for their mum to prepare anything. Instead, he’d shouted at them to leave when he was ready.
“But, Dad,” she cried out as he continued to hold it out of her reach.
Lucie sat with her hands folded in her lap as the father-daughter battle continued. Why did Emma fight him even though he always got his way?
“Behave, Emma. You’re not with your friends now,” he said with the pointed stare he usually gave to end an argument. The skin around his eyes tightened, and he puckered his lips. Finally, he popped the menu back in its Perspex stand, officially closing the matter.
Emma winked at Lucie and mouthed, “Take it,” behind her hand so that only Lucy could see. Lucie was sitting right next to the menu now, and it wouldn’t take much to grab it. Lucie shook her head briefly, but Emma nodded in the direction of it again. Her smile and the light in her eyes made Lucie want to be the sister who had fun and went to parties. And after her dressing down, she wanted to best her dad too. Slowly she slid her hand across the table. She sucked her lips into her mouth nervously.Her heart beat a little faster, and she held her breath as her fingers pinched the corner of the menu.
She whipped it up quickly, smiling broadly at Emma.
But her joy was short-lived. Her dad nudged her, and the menu slipped out of her hand to the floor.
“What a surprise. Clumsy Lucie shows us up in public again,” he shouted as a droopy-mouthed and sighing waitress in a bright red apron appeared at their table.
The familiar heat that filled Lucie’s cheeks when her dad insisted on embarrassing her in public burnt her face. She glanced at her mum, who gave a wincing smile before inspecting her skirt.
“Pick it up then,” her dad insisted. “This lovely woman is here to do her job, and you’re getting in the way as usual.”
Lucie scampered to her feet and picked up the menu, placing it in the Perspex holder so quickly that she knocked it again and grabbed it before it fell off the table. Unfortunately, it banged against the wooden sides before she righted it.
“Lucie, stop,” he commanded with disdain as she sat down, dropping her head quickly but not before she caught the waitress’s pitying face.
Lucie usually kept her hands in her lap to avoid knocking anything or doing anything clumsy. Why had she tried to outdo her dad?
Their dad ordered tap water and cheese and ham toasties for all of them before the waitress walked away.
“I want the toilet,” Emma announced loudly. “Come on, Lucie, I need you.” Lucie skittered to her feet.
“It doesn’t take both of you to go to the toilet. Sit down before you break something, Lucie.” Their dad nodded at her chair to enforce his point.
“I need help because I’m on my period, Dad. I wasn’t expecting it today, and Lucie is my older sister, and she mighthave things to help,” Emma replied before dragging Lucie in the direction of the loos.
Emma pulled her into the cubicle before forcing the seat down and sitting Lucie on it. She flipped the lock and then took both of Lucie’s hands in hers. Where Emma’s fingers were delicate, Lucie’s were stubby.
“No wonder I’m the clumsy one. I don’t glide; I waddle,” she mumbled.
“Lucie, look at me,” Emma implored her while squeezing her hands as she talked. “You are not clumsy. You don’t get in the way, and you have nothing to be embarrassed about. He is the problem and not you. You’re kind and caring.”
Lucie took a deep breath, her hands trembling as she gazed into her sister’s eyes. How did Emma see her as that person when she couldn’t see it in herself?
Lucie closed her eyes and took another breath as Emma continued, “You’re amazing, and every day I remind myself how lucky I am that you’re my sister. Okay?”
“Okay,” she squeaked in response.
“That’s a start. Now, what shall we do to kill time so that we don’t have to listen to any more of Dad’s droning?”
Chapter Five
Back in the car after an awkward meal where the waitress got their order wrong and ended up comping their meal, Lucie was still trying to behave. She silently sat up straight with her hands folded in her lap. But it didn’t matter what her posture was like or how quiet she could be because her dad was offering his wisdom again, as he called it, or lecturing her, as everyone else called it.
“And the hard work won’t stop after this year. You’ll have to focus and achieve beyond expectations from day one of university, and that’s the first degree. Those days were impossible, but I excelled. Hopefully, you will come close to achieving half as brilliantly as I did. Eventually, you will join my firm, where I’ll work you twice as hard,” he finished with a chuckle that no one shared.
