Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“And my sister has already done all of those things, and nothing has changed.”
“Ah, but she didn’t go far, did she? My sister moved halfway across the country, and she barely saw our parents unless it was a break. Hazel, if I remember correctly, stayed within driving distance each weekend.”
That was true. “Mm, I suppose. And our parents didn’t move abroad until she’d graduated.”
Emily nodded slowly. “Exactly. And after that, I bet she called you for every little thing, didn’t she?”
I paused, pressing my lips into a grim line. “Something like that.”
Exactly like that.
I’d always been the one to get her out of jail. Every time something went wrong, Hazel called me, and I was always there to pick up the pieces of her life.
“Let me guess,” Emily continued softly, gazing around. “You’ve reached your limit. You give and give and give to her, but she can’t—or chooses not to—do the same thing for you. And now you’re tired of being the one who fixes everything.”
I swallowed hard. Her words hit me right in the gut, coiling into a guilty knot of emotion that sat heavily. “I’m her big sister,” I said quietly. “It’s always—”
“Never been your job.” Emily sighed, pressing her arm against mine as she leant in. “Let me tell you something: there’s only one person you have any obligation to take care of, and that’s yourself. Especially when you neglect your own wellbeing for the sake of other people.”
“Even when you have kids?”
“Even when you have kids. What, you think you can be a good parent if you don’t take care of you? Children are products of their environment. If a daughter sees her mother taking care of herself, what does she learn? That she should take care of herself—that she should love herself before all else.”
“What about a son?”
“I’d like to think a son sees his mother caring for herself and thinks he should leave her alone, but eh.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Boys are a whole other breed of needy little bastards.”
The thought of a young Thomas trailing after a facemask-clad Emily made me laugh.
“Seriously, though, I would like to believe I’ve raised a fairly solid young man,” she said after a moment, her voice low, her tone careful. “One who sees it for what it is: a few moments of self-love in a world that is increasingly telling us that we aren’t good enough.”
I looked down at my feet as we walked, a small smile creeping onto my face. “Yeah. I think that’s exactly what he sees. Then he’d probably kiss your cheek and tell you that you’re pretty.”
“Ah, I think that’s something he reserves for you.”
“Pretty annoying, pretty mouthy, pretty snarky…”
She reached over and wrapped her arm around me, pulling me in close, and let out a small laugh. “At least he tells you that you’re pretty. You can simply choose not to hear the rest of it, you know.”
“Good thinking. I’ll do that next time.”
She kissed the side of my head as her phone pinged. “That’ll be the drinks order. Come on. I’ll make sure your sister has disappeared by the time we get back, then we’ll make the best of a bad situation.”
I sighed. “I’m not going back in there if she’s there, or I’m going to spend Christmas in jail.”
“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll make sure you have a nice Christmas dinner, wherever you are.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT – THOMAS
Sylvie was nowhere to be found.
She wasn’t at the old town hall—in fact, nobody was, and she wasn’t answering her fucking phone.
How could she have disappeared just like that? How was it possible that she’d suddenly gone missing?
Rationally, I knew there was an explanation. An emergency somewhere. Something that needed fixing right now. She always answered her phone, and it was completely impossible for her to just disappear into thin air.
But my heart wasn’t rational. Neither was the part of my brain it controlled.
In the last five minutes alone, she’d been in a car accident, broken down somewhere with no signal, been attacked by crows, and was being kept captive in someone’s wine cellar.
Then again, she might be grateful for the break in a wine cellar this close to the wedding.
I took a deep breath and called Hazel. “Do you know—”
“If you’re calling to ask about my sister, then I don’t care,” Hazel snapped. “The answer is no, whatever it is you want.”
Beep beep.
Did she just hang up on me?
I blinked at my screen. Yep. She hung up. She didn’t even let me finish my sentence.
What the fuck was that? Had they not made up after they fell out last night? Had they fought again?
Julian’s name flashed on my screen, and I dragged the green circle up before hitting the speakerphone button. “Hey,” I said.
“Hey, sorry about that just now.” The sound of a door closing echoed down the line. “It’s been a long day. What did you call Hazel for?”