My Sisters And Me

by Lisa Dickenson

  ‘Do you know when you’ll next be back down?’ Jared asked, braver than her, like he always had been.

  ‘Really soon,’ she replied honestly. ‘I want to make a lot more effort to visit Mum from now on, whenever she’s not off on her trips. And, um, I don’t know if you’d want to meet up again when I’m next down, but that would be quite cool too.’

  ‘I really would,’ he answered, and Emmy felt quite simply happy. He meant a lot to her, he made her life better, more fulfilled. Time would tell if that would be because of anything romantic, or just because he was a true friend.

  ‘I got you a present,’ he said all of a sudden, handing her his coffee to hold while he reached into his coat pocket. ‘You’ve had a lot to focus on since being back, and there’ve been some bumpy times, and also, some really nice times.’ He sneaked her cheeky smile. ‘So I thought – and disagree if you want, but only if you still make it sound flattering because I’m quite sensitive – I thought maybe before we try and make any kind of decisions about long-distance or whatever, we could start out by just aiming to stay in touch more. You know, breaking down the problem and solving it piece by piece.’ He handed over the gift.

  Inside was a pink plastic phone case. Garish and childish. She looked up at him and laughed. ‘Thank you?’

  ‘This way, you can pretend it’s all just a fun game of Dream Phone, until we’re ready to become, I don’t know, grown-ups.’

  Emmy grinned at the phone case. What a thoughtful gift. Who was she kidding, she knew what she wanted, she was just so used to hiding behind indecision, and hiding her feelings in general. She wanted this – friendship – with Jared. And she wanted that to work long-distance. And if it did, she wanted him. Not just because of the boy he once was, but because of the man he was now. Funny. Kind. Courageous. And he didn’t want to change her one bit.

  ‘So you’ll call me sometime?’ he asked.

  ‘I’ll call you all the time.’

  That night, the Lake sisters sat around their fireplace with their mother. The new sofas were comfortable and cosy, and the carpet was as clean as it would ever be, with four bags of crisps being passed around and wine glasses threatening to topple over at any minute.

  They were passing between them photo albums that chronicled their childhoods. Emmy aged five, fast asleep in the den with a cardboard box on her head. Noelle’s first day at secondary school, the highest ponytail you’d ever seen. Rae in the school play, not joining in with the dance routine.

  Willow laughed and held up the photo album she was browsing. ‘Look at this one – do you remember your dad building you that tree house? I took it down the next day because Noelle had fallen from it, and Rae was so angry at me.’

  Rae chuckled. ‘We had a pretty great childhood growing up in this house, didn’t we? We were actually very lucky.’

  There had been tough times – there still were – but they wouldn’t change their family for the world, because it was who they were. They’d all found an awful lot of happy in this hopeless place.

  It was leaving day, and it had come way, way too soon. Willow helped them move their belongings to their cars, trying to load them up with things from the fridge (or things from the attic).

  Before they left the house for the last time, Rae, Emmy and Noelle huddled together in Emmy’s old bedroom. They embraced each other in turn. ‘We did it,’ said Rae. ‘It was a tough road but we did it.’

  ‘I’m so glad we did,’ Emmy agreed. ‘I was so nervous coming down here, but it’s been the best couple of months ever.’

  ‘Better than sitting in your lab?’ asked Rae.

  ‘Better than if I was flying to the moon,’ she confirmed.

  Noelle breathed in the room. ‘I feel… light.’

  ‘You always feel light, hippy,’ Rae teased. ‘But I do know what you mean. I feel like layers upon layers of heavy, shitting armour have finally fallen off.’

  ‘What would we have done without you and your smart mouth, Rae?’ said Emmy.

  ‘What would I have done without you two?’ she replied.

  Emmy wanted to tell her sisters about something she’d been thinking about. Something she might have benefited from when she was growing up. ‘I’m going to join a mentoring scheme with the Women’s Engineering Society. I’m going to help more young girls get into this profession.’

  ‘That’s amazing!’ Noelle cried, and they all squeezed in for one more hug, before they broke apart and joined Willow out on the decking.

  ‘Mum, I finish at work on the twenty-first of December, so I’ll come down the next morning,’ Emmy said, wanting to get Christmas locked down. ‘Rae has a Christmas Eve performance so she and Finn will be driving down on Christmas morning, is that right, Rae?’

  ‘Finn’ll be driving; I’ll be probably wrapping your presents on the back seat.’

  Noelle pushed a box into her car. ‘I think I finish on the twenty-first too, Em, so let me know closer to the time if you’re still okay to pick me up.’

  ‘Thank you again, girls,’ Willow said, coming to a stop. ‘I can’t say it enough. I almost feel bad that I’m not going away again until January and nobody else gets to enjoy this house.’

  ‘It was our pleasure,’ Rae said, going into her mum for a final hug, of this trip at least. ‘Despite everything,’ she laughed, ‘it really was.’

  ‘Wait!’ Emmy yelped. ‘We need to take a photo of us with the house, for Bonnie’s article!’

  ‘Actually, I’d like a copy of that too; good idea,’ said Noelle.

  ‘I’ve got the perfect idea… We just need to get a couple of things down from the loft.’

  And then, after ten minutes of faffing around in the loft, ten minutes of faffing around inside the house, and another ten minutes trying to get Emmy’s phone to balance in a suitable position to get both them and the house in the shot, they were ready.

  ‘This is going to make such a lovely photo,’ Emmy said, jiggling about with excitement.

  ‘Is the timer on?’ Rae screeched as Emmy ran back to the group.

  ‘Yes, stop talking!’ Emmy took her position and they held their pose, the laughter spilling out of them without governance, for three… two… one…

  They say a picture can tell a thousand words. This one told of a thousand blissful memories.

  Epilogue

  Bonnie was pretty chuffed with her article. She was tweaking and rewording and thesaurusing it to perfection, when an email notification flashed up on her phone.

  It was from Emmy Lake, with the subject line, ‘Here’s the photo!’ Bonnie opened up the attachment with excitement, and nearly spat out her Diet Coke (laced with a tiny splosh of whisky).

  The photo that filled the screen was flawless. Two generations of Lake women – Willow, Rae, Emmy and Noelle – stood facing the camera outside the house in the woods. Noelle in an awful tie-dyed dress covered in plastic mirrors; Emmy wearing a ‘Girl Power’ crop top with pride; Rae with masses of eyeliner on, her tongue out and holding her leg up in the air, ancient-looking Dr. Martens on her feet; Willow, stark naked, concealing her lady parts skilfully with foliage.

  And all four women of Maplewood were laughing, holding up their middle fingers, with their heads held high.

  Acknowledgements

  Hello! Thanks for reading until the end; much appreciated. For being such a bloody good person, you can have the first thank-you, reader. I hope you had fun hanging out in Maplewood with the Lake sisters. Come back soon; watch out for the Hairy Hands.

  Thank you to the big scrumptious team at Sphere: Jennie, Thalia, Clara, Amy, Bella, Bekki and Lucy who designed the cover, and all the others in Sales, Production, Rights – the list goes on. And most of all thank you to my first and second Sphere wives (editors), Manpreet and Viola. I think I’m actually in love with both of you DON’T FREAK OUT but I think we’re all going to be best friends for ever.

  My next giant thank-you must go to the lady with the lovely hair, who is probably sick to dea
th with me banging on about her hair, Hannah Fergalicious (Ferguson), my fantastic agent. She and the crew at Hardman & Swainson are such a joy to work with – thanks for letting me be part of the family!

  An agent and an editor are a flippin’ dream team, I tell you. I wish they would organise and advise my whole life.

  I’ve got a dog! And I’m going to thank him next, because he’s just inspired my next book. Thanks Kodi-Bear, you humongous Bernese Mountain Dog.

  Thanks Phil! Thanks Mum! Thanks Dad! Thanks family and friends!

  Thanks to Devon for being the bestest county and for holding some fabulous writer pals in your bosom – Emma, Holly and Belinda, here’s looking at you, kids.

  Thanks TV and pizza. I love you.

  Thank you to all my sisters around the globe who make us laugh, make us strong, and make the world a better place.