AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Nice you remembered.’
She frowned. ‘Of course I remembered. Honestly, Rori, you seem to forget that I looked after you for –’
‘Yes, yes. The first seven years of my life.’ I grinned. ‘The thing is, I wasn’t into coffee back then.’
‘Ah, yes. You were a Ribena girl. I’m surprised all your teeth haven’t fallen out.’
‘Charming!’
She glanced towards the window, her smile vanishing. ‘What time does the newsagent’s open?’
I glanced at my watch. ‘In... exactly seven minutes.’
She nodded, took a gulp of coffee and left the room with it. Next thing, I heard the woosh of the shower, and five minutes after that, she came back into the kitchen wearing my parka, which had been hanging on a peg in the hall. It looked a bit weird teamed with her heels and pink Prada bag slung over her shoulder. ‘Don’tIlook gorgeous?’ she said, crossing her eyes at me. ‘You don’t mind, do you? My coat’s got that fetching black oil stain on the sleeve.’
I grinned. ‘Yes, how on earth didthathappen?’
‘Tripped over a raised paving slab and fell in a puddle on my way here last night.’
‘Ah, right. Well, don’t tell Ada. Otherwise she’ll be straight down to the council offices, chaining herself to the railings in protest at the shocking pedestrian surfaces.’
Skye gave a half-laugh, half-snort. ‘The longer I can avoidAdathe better.’
‘I was going to invite her and Blossom over for dinner tomorrow night?’
She looked horrified. ‘Please don’t. I need to be in arobustframe of mind to see our mother.’
‘And Blossom?’
She pursed her lips, her face darkening. ‘I suppose she’s still hooking up with the wrong guys and getting her heart broken? As per usual.’
‘Well, you can hardly expect me to criticise her for that aftermyterrible judgement of men!’ I snapped, while thinking that actually Skye was quite right. Blossom’s latest romance with that gardening scumbag had ended in disaster.
‘At least you’ve got aproper job, Rori. You went to uni and worked hard and forged a dream career. Blossom didn’t even bother going to college. She just left school and started cutting next door’s lawn.’
‘I wouldn’t call it a “dream career”. And anyway, gardeningisa proper job.’
‘It might be a job but it’s not a career. What are the prospects for advancement?’ She shook her head in frustration. ‘Let’s face it, she’s never going to be able to afford to get on the property ladder on the kind of money she’s making right now, is she? The only chance she has of being a property-owner is if Ada leaves her the house in her will.’ She gave a bitter snort. ‘Which actually is highly likely since Blossom’s been the favourite daughter since the day she was born.’
‘Not everyone wants to go far in their career and earn pots of money, you know!’ I was on Blossom’s side in this as I listened yet again to Skye’s frustrated rant about our youngest sister and her failings. ‘Blossom is popular because she’s so sunny-natured and she’s perfectly happy being a gardener. More than happy. She loves what she does. And not everyone can saythatabout their job, can they?’
‘I suppose.’ Skye shrugged listlessly. ‘I have to say, there are times I feel like jacking the whole acting thing in. It’s so bloody exhausting going to auditions and being told you don’t have the right “look” or you’re too old or too young for the part.’ She gavea weary sigh. ‘Honestly, Rori, I’m not sure how long I can carry on. The business can be really grim as you start getting older.’
I gazed at her, taken aback by her weary confession. I’d never seen her look so vulnerable and it worried me, but for her sake, I tried to laugh it off. ‘Yeah, and you’rereallyold, at forty-one, Skye. Practically eligible for your free bus pass, in fact. Shall we spend the afternoon looking at stairlifts online?’
She gave a weary smile. ‘The things I’ve been through, Rori, I wake up sometimes feeling eighty, never mind forty. And now everyone knows I got angry in a pub and clocked someone. Who thoroughly deserved it, by the way.’
‘Everyone?I think you might be exaggerating a bit. You’re not that well-known.’
‘Thanks!’ she snapped, glancing at her watch.
‘So who was she, anyway? This woman you “lamped”?’
‘Audrey? Oh, she’s a total psycho. She and her similarly deranged boyfriend kept my friend, Rachel, a prisoner for three days... locked her in their garage without food or water.’
‘What? Butwhy?’
‘Oh, well, Rachel had started seeing Audrey’s ex, and Audrey wasn’t very pleased about it.’
