AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She glanced out the window, trying to force his words from her overthinking mind. They were wedged in there anyway, but she wanted one weekend to forget the pressure she was drowning under. Numerous varieties of trees restricted her view of the blue skies that accompanied their journey down the motorway. Chirping filled the air as birds shouted their freedom from the skies. Lucie lowered the window slightly and breathed in the scent of fresh pine. It was a beautiful location, but her dad was ruining it like he ruined all holidays. The queue to get through the forest holiday park snaked out in front and behind them.
“God, give it a rest, Dad. Let her enjoy this weekend. She’s going to be eighteen on Sunday, and she’s spending her birthday with her boring family rather than drinking in town with her mates,” Emma piped up.
As the firstborn, the family business rested on Lucie’s shoulders. Emma didn’t know what she wanted to do withher life besides travel the world. Their dad had abandoned his ambitions for her around the time she swore at his top client before throwing up in the golf bunker at a corporate family picnic. Emma had been seven, and the word she’d shouted was “arse,” but their dad was adamant she’d vomited on purpose. She’d confessed to Lucie that she’d eaten a lot of sweets and was aiming for their dad’s golf shoes when she spewed. As a result, she was off the hook for a career in law. Instead, he focused his attention and drive on Lucie. It was hard being the favourite of a pushy parent.
Emma’s best mate, Jess, and her family would be sharing their lodge that weekend. Jess’s dad was also a lawyer and friends with their dad, which left Lucie hanging around them like a spare part or spending the whole time on her own. She’d even brought schoolbooks with her, but they were worse than last resort. Lucie had been allowed to bring a friend along for the weekend, but there wasn’t anyone. She didn’t fit in at the all-girls private school she went to. The other students didn’t bully her. They didn’t even notice her.
Emma’s phone buzzed, and she guffawed while giving their dad the side-eye with her baby blues. He narrowed his eyes in the rearview mirror.
“That’s it. Hand your phones to your mother now,” he demanded.
“Oh my God. Are you serious?” Emma huffed and puffed as Lucie turned hers off in preparation for the handover.
“You know our holiday rules, darling,” her mum sang out from the front seat. Her mum was beautiful but often quiet. They were a happy family mostly. Her dad could have been a lot worse, and it was good he provided for them. That was what her mum told her. He set many rules and insisted they abide by them, but didn’t every dad do that?
Emma’s moans climbed an octave. “But that’s for when we get to the lodge. This queue could go on for ages, and how can I tell Jess when we’ll get there and—”
“That’s enough, Emma. Pass your phone to your mum. You will get it back at the end of the weekend. This weekend is family time, so no phones,” their dad replied sternly. Lucie handed her phone to their mum, who promptly slipped it into a lockable bag. “Well done, Lucie. Now tell me, Emma, why can’t you be more like your sister?” He turned to glare at Emma as if that would add impetus to his point. Maybe it would have if he didn’t say it to Emma at least once a week.
Sorry, Lucie mouthed to her. Emma shrugged. How could he want Emma to be like her? Unbeknownst to their parents, Emma helped the anxiety symptoms Lucie hid carefully from everyone around her. She wouldn’t have made it through school over the last couple of years without Emma. She was everything Lucie wished she could be.
Lucie petitioned her dad. “My phone doesn’t bother me because I’ve had it a week. Emma should be allowed hers for a little longer. What if Jess and her family get stuck in traffic?” She shifted against her seatbelt, pulling it away from her body. Her body burnt up when she disagreed with her dad. It was like she needed to say it, as her heart beat faster and nausea hit her belly.
Their dad stared at her through the rear view mirror. His thick eyebrows framed his annoyance. “You’ll have to do better than that if you want to get on the debate team this year. You need to act less nervous too. Your body language doesn’t scream confidence.” At the shake of his head, her fingers trembled. Why couldn’t she tell him she didn’t want the future he’d dictated for her? “And don’t forget that you owe me for getting you a new phone after you ruined your last one. You should be on my side.” She’d dropped her phone in the full sink while washing up. He’d walked in as she’d been taking a break, and she’d been soworried he’d tell her off for doing nothing, or because she’d not cleaned the glasses correctly, that it slipped out of her hand and plopped into the water.
“Emma, phone now!” he shouted.
Emma thrust her phone in her mum’s direction. “Fine! Are you going to put yours in now too, then, Dad?”
“Your attitude, young lady.” There was another lecture coming. “It’s disgusting. I blame your friends, but not ones like Jess; she comes from good stock. You’ve been spending time with girls who are on scholarships. I don’t have anything against poor people aiming higher, but what I don’t like is—what’s that man’s problem?”
They all slid forward as their dad slammed on the brakes. It had to be to make a point, as they hadn’t been going more than a couple of miles an hour.
“You can’t stop there to unload,” he grumbled to himself. “He’s in the middle of the road, Kathleen.” He opened the door as he continued his rant, but in his haste, he’d forgotten his seatbelt. Suddenly he was yanked back against his seat, much to the amusement of his daughters.
“Girls,” their mum reprimanded with a strain in her voice.
“What? We’re coughing,” Emma replied, elbowing her sister in the ribs. “Aren’t we, Lucie? We’ve got a sudden cough, honest.”
Lucie covered her mouth, but Emma’s winks and giggles between fake coughs set her off again.
Finally free of the seatbelt, their dad launched himself out of the car and barrelled up to the stranger. He was no match for the guy, who had muscles that strained the material of his T-shirt.
“He’s like Daniel Craig,” their mum whispered as they all stared at the beefy stranger. Their dad insisted they watched James Bond films at least once a month, although he frequentlyextolled the classics and bemoaned Daniel Craig’s portrayal of his favourite British spy. A couple of years earlier, he’d taken their mum to the cinema to watch Daniel Craig as Bond and then spent the rest of the week telling her why he was an awful choice for the role.
While the stranger now shrugging at their dad resembled a Hollywood muscle man, their dad’s years of an exercise-free existence had taken their toll. He wouldn’t survive the first punch if the argument ended in a fight.
“Quick, put down the windows. I want to hear this,” Emma said gleefully.
Their mum wound down the window, and their dad’s ranting carried on the breeze. “I wish he wouldn’t do things like this,” their mum lamented as their dad pointed his finger at the guy, who smiled calmly in response.
“He needs to practice his debating skills,” Emma joked. Even their mum laughed at that one, although she hid it behind her hand in case their dad turned around.
Suddenly the passenger door of the stranger’s Peugeot 206 opened, and another guy got out. This one was much younger and reminded her of the cute doctor from ER. Her mum made her and Emma watch it with her when their dad was working late. Lucie secretly enjoyed it. Their mum was always so chatty and relaxed during those programmes. The guy appeared the same age or maybe a little older than Lucie. His jeans hung low on his hips, and his fitted T-shirt hinted that he was lean, but maybe that there were muscles there too.
“Dad, our lodge is down there, number ninety-two,” he called out with a hint of a Bristolian accent.
“Okay, Chris,” the man listening to her dad shouted back. Suddenly some squirrels by their dad’s car chattered and barked.
