‘… No, you may not.’
‘I see.’ And with that he was gone.
Gabbi jumped up. ‘Right then, what can I do to help?’
As much as a small part of her hated to admit it, Emmy found that, with the extra hands provided by Finn and Gabbi, the house was looking back to pre-party state in no time. In fact, it looked better. It was like a new house, a holiday house. The windows were crystal clear, new curtains were up and each room was a stark contrast, colour-scheme-wise, to its previous incarnation.
While they worked together to pivot the sofa out through the hallway and the front door, the three sisters were a little more quiet and reflective than normal.
‘Ready to try and put Dad’s chair in the car?’ Rae asked Emmy as they walked back inside, leaving the sofa sat in front of the house.
‘You don’t have to…’
‘Let’s try it.’
It was a strange feeling, moving something that so linked a parent to a home out of that home for ever. ‘Are we getting rid of Dad’s memory?’ Emmy asked all of a sudden, grasping at a reason not to move the chair.
‘No,’ Noelle said. ‘You’re keeping it. It’ll be closer to you now.’
‘But what if he wouldn’t have wanted that?’ She paused, trying to find the words. ‘I didn’t come home often enough; I wasn’t a very good daughter. I think he would want his chair to stay here.’
Noelle and Rae lowered the chair and came over to Emmy. ‘Where’s this coming from?’ Rae asked.
‘It’s just… Dad’s gone, and Mum no longer needs this family home to feel like a family home any more, and we stopped being a family.’
‘But we’re back here now. We’re together again,’ Noelle soothed.
‘But Dad’s gone,’ Emmy repeated. ‘It’s too late. I thought everyone else was to blame for my defences always being up, but I’m the one that ran away and cut Mum and Dad virtually out of my life, and I’m the one who’s left it too late.’
Noelle sat Emmy down in the chair. ‘Em, kids move away after school. That’s life. And Mum and Dad more than anyone wanted us to fly free and be happy. Remember they were hippies,’ she smiled.
Emmy nodded. ‘I just miss Dad. And I wish I’d spent more time here after I left. I wish I knew him more as a grown-up.’
Rae knelt down next to her sister. ‘None of us knew them completely, at least not until we saw that naked photo. But we’re getting to know them now. It’s only been a year, kiddo, it’s okay to be grieving.’
‘My walls have all been knocked down since coming back to Maplewood,’ Emmy said, feeling deflated.
‘I think being here is helping you. With the grief.’
Emmy nodded at her older sister’s words. She let some tears flow for a little bit, and Noelle and Rae joined her.
A short while later, Finn walked by, holding a paintbrush. ‘Oh no, the chair didn’t fit in the car?’
Emmy stood up and mopped her eyes. ‘Nope. I think it’ll go in the car just fine. Let’s go.’
Chapter 23
The house seemed quiet the following morning without Rae, which she would have hated to hear. While Gabbi was scrubbing herself, again, in the shower, Noelle was pottering about humming to herself, a sweet sound that was peppered with large rips as she brandished a Stanley knife and pulled up strips of carpet. Emmy wandered into the living room with a cup of tea for her.
‘They’ll do all of that for us, you know.’
Noelle wiped her brow. ‘I know, but the less they have to do the faster they’ll be done. I’m hoping they’ll be able to get the whole house re-carpeted in one day, so I’m just doing what I can to help. Plus, it’s very, very therapeutic.’ She held out the Stanley knife.
Emmy took it and positioned it against the old threadbare carpet and pushed down, drawing a long line. She then stood one foot on one side of the carpet and yanked the other, and rrrriiiiippppp. ‘That is fun!’
‘I told you! It’s been helping me work through my thoughts about Jenny.’
‘Uh-oh. Are you two not in a happy place?’
Noelle took the knife back from Emmy for another go. ‘Actually, we are. I really like her, because she was such a big and important part of my life. Seeing her again, and apologising, and… you know… feels like that chapter got the ending it needed.’
‘Does it have to be the ending?’ Emmy challenged.
‘You know, I think it does. She was my “then”, and being with her takes me back, like a sweet drink of nostalgia. And I will always care about her a huge amount. I want us to stay in touch, stay close, but I don’t think either of us need to recreate what we had so that we’re each other’s “now”.’ Rrrriiiiippppp.
‘That’s very grown-up sounding. Are you being a martyr or do you really feel that way?’
‘No, I really do. I’m happy. I’m happy she’s happy.’
‘So Jenny feels the same?’
‘Yes, she does. I made sure this time – we’re on exactly the same page, and it feels really good.’
Emmy took back the knife and had another few hacks at the carpet.
Eventually, Noelle said, ‘I’ve just realised how insensitive this all sounds. What’s going on with you and Jared? I didn’t mean to imply relationships from the past weren’t worth exploring again —’
‘No, I know you didn’t. To be honest, I haven’t figured out what we’re doing yet, and neither’s he. I guess we’ll just see how the next week goes. God, it’s only just over a week until we leave.’
‘What do you want to happen with him?’
Emmy shrugged. ‘Right now, I just want to enjoy living in the moment. I know that sounds stupid, because he’s a blast from my past, but perhaps what I should say is I want to enjoy enjoying myself, back here. In conclusion,’ rrrriiiiippppp. ‘I’m procrastinating.’
‘Do you know what he wants?’ Noelle asked.
‘I do not. Hopefully once the carpets are in and a certain someone is no longer under our feet, he and I can get together and make awkward small talk until one of us admits our feelings.’
Speaking of which… Gabbi’s voice rang out over the bannisters. ‘Noelle? Emmy? Do either of you have any knickers I could borrow?’
‘Okay, nope,’ said Emmy, putting down the knife and walking into the hallway. She looked up at Gabbi. ‘Nope, nope, nope. Gabbi, you have got to go home.’
‘But my face! I can’t go out there yet.’
‘Then you at least have to go and get some of your own things. There’s a reason I’m thirty-one and live on my own and not twenty and living in uni halls any more. And that reason is that this girl,’ she pointed at herself, ‘does not share underwear. Maybe a bra, with one of my sisters, but not knickers. Nope.’
‘Noelle?’ Gabbi looked hopeful.
‘I’m with her, sorry. You need to go and get yourself some pants.’
‘How about if I stay here and you go and buy me some new ones? I’ll throw in an extra tenner for you to keep?’
Emmy shook her head. ‘As much as being tipped for buying someone else’s knick-knacks for them isn’t at all insulting, you have to get out of hiding. Not least because there are going to be carpet fitters in here all day anyway, so we – all of us – need to be out of the way. Go on, get dressed, and we’ll drive you over.’
‘But what if someone sees me?’
‘You’re the mayor – tell them to avert their eyes or something.’
A short while later and they were all leaving the house, Gabbi in a hat, scarf and with large plasters on her cheeks and nose. She looked like a botched-plastic-surgery patient.
As Noelle drove them across town to the mayor’s house, Gabbi stayed low in the seat. ‘You are going to take us back to your house afterwards, aren’t you?’ she asked Emmy from the back seat.
‘That was the plan, but if you think you’d be more comfortable in your own bed…?’
‘No, no, Rae’s bed is pretty comfortable.’
‘We won’t be of
fended.’
‘I think I’ll just come back with you.’
‘But our house is so messy, don’t you miss your own… teabags?’
‘I like your house.’
She wasn’t giving in. Emmy tried a different tack. ‘How good is Netflix, huh? That’s something I miss about our mum’s house.’
‘I actually don’t watch a lot of TV,’ Gabbi replied.
Who doesn’t watch TV? Emmy thought with exasperation. ‘Let’s see how you’re feeling when we’re back at your house. I think you should consider staying back there.’
‘But I’m afraid to be there on my own – the police haven’t caught the person who vandalised my house.’
Now Emmy felt like a prime meanie.
‘They broke my window, and my door was left hanging open,’ Gabbi continued. ‘I don’t know how they got in. I’m just scared, that’s all, but if you’d like me to get out of your way so you can finish painting Rae’s skirting boards I’ll understand.’
Emmy and Noelle stole a glance at each other.
‘Of course not,’ Emmy relented. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. It’s just that our house isn’t finished so it’s not the most comfortable right now, for anyone.’
‘The carpets will make a big difference,’ Noelle contributed, and at that point signalled left and turned into Mayor Reynold’s driveway.
‘Bugger,’ Gabbi mumbled. The house came into view and looked as good as new. The broken plant pots had been replaced with shiny blue-lacquered ones, a new window had been fitted, already, and was sparkling clean, there was no silly string in sight and not a scrap of loo roll, apart from one short length high up in a tree, waving in the breeze. And coming out of the mayor’s front door carrying a bin liner was the scrawny chap that worked with Gabbi, whom they’d seen her with the first time they ran into her.
‘That’s my assistant, Sid,’ said Gabbi. ‘What’s he doing here?’
‘What a nice guy, it looks like he’s been cleaning up for you,’ said Noelle, parking in front of the house.
‘I don’t want him to see me.’
‘Too late.’
Sid put down the bin liner and waved at the car, a huge beam taking over his skinny face.
‘You’re back!’ he cried, opening up the rear car door and reaching in for Gabbi, like she was an OAP who needed assistance.
‘No, I’m not.’ She lowered her head, looking at the ground. ‘I’m staying with my friends for a few days, I’ve just come back to pick up a few things.’
‘Are you okay, Mayor Reynold? Is your face all right?’
‘I’m fine, Sid, just a bit under the weather.’
Sid looked up and narrowed his eyes at Noelle and Emmy. ‘Did you do this to her?’
‘Did we do what?’ Emmy replied.
‘Did you do something to her face after you kidnapped her, is that why you’re forcing her to stay with you?’
If Rae were here she would have been quite impressed with the surprising size of this guy’s balls. As for Emmy, she went into goldfish mode and struggled for words, so Noelle stepped in. ‘Nobody is forcing the mayor to do anything, and no, we did nothing to her face. Now you remember her telling you, several times I believe, that she’s just under the weather?’
Gabbi stayed silent, but nodded.
‘Fine,’ said Sid. ‘If that’s true, then Mayor Reynold and I will go inside and collect her things. And you two can stay out here.’ He added quietly to Gabbi, ‘Then you can tell me what’s really going on.’
Gabbi looked at Noelle and Emmy fearfully. Why did she have to look so fearful? For crying out loud, she couldn’t make them look more like abductors if she tried.
‘I’m sure Mayor Reynold can pick out her own knickers,’ Noelle said to Sid.
Finally, Gabbi spoke. ‘Yes. I’ll go on my own. Thank you, Sid.’
‘Everybody knows you three are responsible for this, you know, for what happened to her house,’ Sid said when Gabbi was out of earshot. ‘I don’t know why she’s protecting you all, or whatever it is you have on her, but she’s a nice woman. A great mayor. And she’s one of our own, she grew up here, so we won’t let you get away with this.’
Emmy found her voice. ‘One of your own? We’re one of your own! We grew up here as well! So don’t you dare lecture us like we’re outlaws who’ve ridden into town to cause trouble. We had nothing to do with the house, we had nothing to do with Gabbi’s… appearance… and no, we do not have anything “on her”.’
Sid folded his arms. ‘Well, I’ve heard a lot of rumours about your family. It must be costing a pretty penny to do all those renovations on that house. Money the mayor might have access to.’
‘We’re grown-ups – we have careers and bank accounts and savings, and my father died last year so we also have his inheritance, if you must know. We don’t need anything from the mayor, other than for her to get better and go home.’
Gabbi stepped out of the front door. ‘Okay, stop arguing please,’ she said, and threw her bag in the back seat. ‘Goodbye, Sid, I’ll be back at work as soon as possible. Believe me.’ She climbed into the car, and Emmy felt herself die a little.
Noelle walked over to the driver’s seat, and called back to Sid, ‘And none of our family – neither my sisters nor our mother need anything from the people in this town.’
Back in the car, Emmy turned around to look at Gabbi. ‘I didn’t mean that – you can stay as long as you need. I was just trying to make the point to your assistant that we weren’t holding you hostage as some kind of money scam.’
‘That’s okay,’ the mayor smiled, though it hurt her nose to do so. ‘I will be out of your hair soon, though. Hopefully the make-up will arrive today, and everything can go back to normal.’
Emmy faced forward and looked at the streets of Maplewood rush past, thoughts of Jared, the house in the woods, her home in Harwell, new carpets, her job, her sisters, her teenage self all running through her mind. And she wondered, what would normal be, after this trip?
Chapter 24
The next day rolled in and still Gabbi was hiding out in the Lakes’ house, her make-up kit unarrived. But the carpets were in and looking fresh and beautiful, just like the day itself, which was full of bright November sunshine.
Emmy was waiting for the delivery of new mattresses, and taking a breather. From decorating, packing, Gabbi, everything. She’d found her old bicycle in the garage – with its basket and its stickers and its Spokey Dokeys that came out of cereal boxes – and was riding up and down the driveway; long, lazy rides in the unnatural squat position of an adult on a child’s bike.
She’d had a phone call from Bonnie that morning, filling her in on the gossip levels at The Wooden Café, which were through the roof, apparently. Talk of the sisters had gone from sniggering ‘do you remember when’s to nastier, accusatory ‘I always knew’s and ‘since they came back’s.
Bullying. It sounded like a childish term, something that happened to children and broke the hearts of those that loved them. Not to adults; that was usually given more grown-up terms, like abuse, trolling, gaslighting. But Emmy was sure this constant undermining, this repetitive negativity, this attempt to storytell her family’s lives based on nothing but prejudice, surely came under the umbrella of bullying, right? Was it something she could only get away from once and for all if she erased herself from this place altogether?
Up and down she rode, circling the leaves and the trees, until she heard a voice.
‘Looking comfy over there, lady,’ Jared said, appearing around the end of the driveway.
She stopped cycling and put her feet down, a warm smile spreading across her face. ‘Hey, you.’
‘Nice wheels – are those Spokey Dokeys glow-in-the-dark?’
‘Um, of course. What are you doing here?’
He stepped towards her, and she wondered if they were about to have their first kiss since the morning after the party. Should she use tongues? He was coming, snap
decision time!
Peck. Okay, no tongues. She was okay with that, though it was a little too close to how she used to practise kissing on her hand, and a little too removed from the big fat make-out session she really felt she could do with.
‘I have the day off today, so wondered if you might need a rugged man to help you with anything with your house?’ he asked.
‘Nah.’ Emmy put her feet back on the pedals and circled him. ‘We don’t need no man, we’re rugged enough on our own. Although, actually, there is a little of the clear-out that still needs to be done. And I don’t want to take the boxes up into the attic.’
‘All right, can you give me a ride?’
She laughed. ‘Hop on!’
And he did. He climbed on the back of the bike and squidged in close to her, wrapping his arms around her waist while she heaved and hauled them both down the driveway. It was wobbly going, but some much needed tears of laughter and only one muddied knee later, they made it to the front of the house.
Emmy pulled to a stop and stood. Before Jared had a chance to do the same she twisted around and kissed him properly, fully, on the lips. She’d needed that.
In the house, Gabbi was lying on the sofa watching TV. She screeched when Jared walked in, and threw a blanket over her face. ‘I’m still poorly!’
‘Relax, Gabbi, we’re going straight upstairs,’ Emmy said.
Noelle was in their mother’s room, cleaning up the space around the window for the stained-glass panel to be fitted tomorrow. They’d gone for a simple design so it could be done relatively quickly, with the Triple Goddess’ three moons coloured in an indigo blue.
‘Noey,’ Emmy said, poking her head around the door. ‘Jared’s here, he’s going to help shift some things up into the loft. Can those boxes on your bedroom floor go up there?’
‘Yep,’ Noelle replied. ‘I’ve done my charity shop runs so all the boxes that are left are keepy-things. Same with the boxes in Rae’s room. Thanks!’
Jared climbed up into the loft and then dangled his upper body down, while Emmy passed him a train of boxes of different shapes and sizes. After a while, Jared removed his sweatshirt, leaving his arms bare. ‘How many more boxes?’ he asked.
My Sisters And Me Page 22