The Sisters (34 page)

‘You’re a beautiful mummy. In fact a yummy mummy.’ Beatrice laughed.

‘I don’t feel like one. It’s bloody hard going back to work, dealing with dad and his cancer, you and Jess fighting, then Jess being in rehab, the twins, Jake and I feel fat. It’s all too much.’

‘God, maybe we should have been the ones who went to rehab.’ The sisters said nothing for a while as the waiter arrived with their burgers. Automatically, Beatrice removed her pickles and placed them on Lucinda’s plate whilst Lucinda repeated the gift by handing over her onions.

‘They never listen. I hate onions.’

‘You don’t know what you’re missing,’ Beatrice replied as she placed a slice of onion into her mouth.

‘That’s disgusting. So how are you feeling now?’

‘Better. When Jake came home last night, he handed me a box of leftover pizza and half a bottle of red wine and I sat in the living room on my own and watched old episodes of Sex in the City. I woke up late with a bit of a hangover. So you coming here today has helped a lot.’

‘I’m glad,’ Lucinda said as she mixed together her mayonnaise and ketchup and dunked in a chunky chip.

‘So what’s your explanation? You said you never told me why you came home. So, why did you come home?’

‘I came home because I’m broke.’

‘You’re what? How can you be broke? Hold on.’ Beatrice ducked her head under the table.

‘Hey,’ Lucinda said as she felt Beatrice lifting up her left foot.

‘You’re wearing Chanel ballet flats and your bag is Prada. How the hell can you be broke?’

‘It’s a long story,’ Lucinda said as she bit into her burger whilst Beatrice looked at her astounded.

‘Jake said that there was something going on with you. I told him that he was being overdramatic as per usual. Right, I better call work and tell them that I’ll be running late. I hope you can afford to pay for that burger,’ Beatrice said as she reached into her bag and pulled out her phone.

‘HELLO EMS.’

Emma stopped walking at the sound of his voice even though every muscle in her body was screaming at her to keep on moving.

‘You haven’t returned any of my calls or my texts messages,’ Daniel said as he waved his phone in front of her. Emma moved to the side as a courier on a pushbike cycled past her and silently chastised herself for making the decision to cut through Soho Square. He pushed up his Ray Bans to the top of his head. As he smiled, a few wrinkles arrived at the corner of his eyes, which did nothing more than make him appear more distinguished. Despite standing 5ft 10 with the help of her heels, Emma still had to look up to Daniel. It was one of the things that had attracted her to him. He was 6 foot four and had the sort of body that was made for bespoke suits. He’d always turned heads when he walked into a room, which was not something that had gone unnoticed by him.

‘So how have you been?’

‘What do you want?’ Emma asked as she folded her arms defensively in front of her.

‘Oh come on, Ems. It’s been so long. I wanted to see how you were. I thought it’d be good to catch up. You know, for old time’s sake.’

‘You didn’t return any of my calls or texts. You dropped me like a hot stone and now you’re standing here telling me that you want to catch up for old time’s sake.’

‘Don’t be like that, Emma. Come on, a lot has happened since then,’ Daniel said as he took long strides to catch up with Emma who had turned and began to walk quickly towards Dean Street. ‘Emma hold up,’ Daniel said as he grabbed hold of her arm.

‘Get off me. I can’t believe you. Why can’t you just leave me alone?’

‘Why would I want to do that? We were close once.’

‘So close that you lied to me and then completely blanked me when I told you about the pregnancy.’

‘Come on. You know it wasn’t like that. You make it sound like I dumped you as soon as you told me you were pregnant. Bloody hell, you didn’t even know until you lost it.’

‘That’s not the point.’

‘And you understood my situation and you had your family,’ Daniel replied.

‘What situation? I was supposed to be your situation.’

‘You knew why I couldn’t be there, Ems. Come on; don’t make me out to be the bad guy. You knew my situation.’

Emma looked down at Daniel’s hand seeing for the first time that his ring finger was now bare. The calls. the texts. It all made sense now why he was suddenly interested in making contact. ‘So, what happened? Did you leave her or did she finally see the light and get rid of you?’

‘What does it matter? It’s over and you know full well that it was over for a long time. Look, Emma, instead of us discussing our business on the street why don’t we go somewhere and grab a coffee? We can have a proper chat and talk about moving things forward with us.’

‘You have got to be joking. I don’t want to see you and I don’t want to speak to you. You nearly broke me. Thank God I had my family. The next time you see me on the street you better walk away but if you ever touch me again, or ever try and contact me again I’m calling the police, do you understand? You’re a despicable human being. I don’t know what I ever saw in you.’ Daniel didn’t respond as he saw the steely determination of a woman who had finally recognised her own strength. ‘Do you know something else though? I could have maybe found it in my heart to forgive you but not once did you act like a man. You didn’t even have the guts to tell me to my face that it was over. In a way, I’m glad I lost the baby because at least there’s no reason for you to ever be in my life.’

Jessica listened to the sounds of her heels on the tiles as she walked into the oncology ward at St Thomas’ Hospital and headed towards treatment room number four. This was the place where her father had been visiting every three weeks for his chemotherapy and now radiotherapy treatments. She’d made a promise to herself to be more present in not only her life but also the lives of her family. Beatrice’s verbal onslaught had done more to sober her up then her time in rehab. It had forced her to really take a look at herself, especially as she started from scratch to rebuild her relationship with her daughter and tried to slowly rebuild her relationship with Lucinda. As Jessica walked along the corridor she couldn’t ignore the feeling that all eyes were on her, despite the fact that the headlines of her alleged drug use had now fallen away to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s secret wedding, and Emma’s client Amaya Summer revealing all about her holiday fling with a politician. This was her second visit and she knew her father was a creature of habit and would be in his usual bed next to the window, most likely thinking of ways to plot his escape. There were six other chairs in the room, all of them occupied with patients of varying ages, sex and race. Walking into the treatment room just reinforced how indiscriminate cancer was. It simply didn’t care who it attached itself to. Whether you were three, twenty-eight or seventy years old. Black, white, Chinese or Indian, it held no prejudice.

A sixteen-year-old girl, whose head was wrapped with a brightly covered scarf concealing the fact that she had lost her hair, waved at Jessica as she walked into the room. The first time that Jessica had come, she’d arrived before Richard and had spent half an hour talking to this over excitable teenage girl who had been diagnosed with Leukaemia. She knew that it was the fact that this young girl was the same age as her daughter which had tugged at her heart, especially after she’d spoken to Freya’s father, Liam, who was now a single father after Freya’s own mother died of breast cancer at the pathetically young age of 38. Jessica couldn’t imagine the pain of that loss.

‘Hi Jess. You look better than you did the last time I saw you,’ Freya said as she put down her iPad and took off her headphones.

‘Thank you very much. I decided it was time to sort myself out. How are you doing today?’

‘I’m alright I suppose. It’s just so boring but I’ve got one more session and then they think I should be able to start college in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait.’

‘That’s good news. Really good news. I’m not staying for long today but I’ve brought some things for you.’ Jessica handed over the blue gift bag that she’d been carrying. Freya gasped as she pulled out several bottles of Ciate nail polish. ‘O. M. G. Is this real?’ Freya said as she pulled out an Alexander McQueen scarf with the familiar skulls motifs. The last time Jessica had visited, Freya hadn’t been able to take her eyes off Jessica’s own red and black scarf and had confessed her own ambitions to become a fashion designer.

‘Of course it’s real. I thought that the white and green would suit you better,’ Jessica said as Freya put the scarf around her neck and continued to pull out magazines and then Freya’s mouth dropped open when she pulled out the CD.

‘It’s The Junction’s new album. This isn’t out for another month and they’ve signed it.’

‘Well I told them how special you were.’ Jessica hadn’t told Freya that The Junction were on her client list and the lead singer, Heath, had attended the same school as Lena and was actually one of her closest friends before he and his two cousins and best friend had decided to audition for Britain’s got Talent only two years ago. Their popularity now rivalled that of One Direction and they’d been more than happy to comply with Jessica’s request.

‘They actually touched this and signed it. They wrote my name,’ Freya said as she held the CD close to her chest and then looked it again. ‘Thank you so much.’

Jessica kissed the top of Freya’s head. ‘You’re most welcome sweetheart.’

‘Her father will never forgive you,’ Richard said as Freya waved the CD cover at him.

‘Why?’

‘I still haven’t got over when you got that bloody Bobby Brown album. Every single day you played that album. Over and over again.’

‘I wasn’t that bad.’

‘You were obsessed. So what will Freya be forcing her father to listen to?’

‘The Junction’s new album,’ Jessica said as she sat on the chair next to her father’s bed.

‘When I saw you, my heart collapsed as if the roof came in,
’ Richard began to sing, loud enough to cause Freya to collapse into a fit of giggles, even causing Jessica to laugh.

‘You have no idea how many times Freya has played that song. I’ll probably die with that song in my head.’

‘Dad, don’t be so morbid.’

‘I’m not. Anyway, it’s nice to see you smile. You haven’t done much of that lately. In fact I don’t think any of us have been smiling much.’

‘Well, it’s been hard but it’s going to get better, I promise you.’

‘Does that include your relationship with your sister because I don’t want to leave the planet not knowing if you two have fixed things?’

‘Dad, stop with the death talk. We’re getting there. One step at a time.’

Emma had held it together for as long as she could. She went back to the office and carried on with her work. She calmed down erratic celebrities who weren’t impressed that their spotlight was fading. She talked firmly with journalists and negotiated exclusives. That was one thing about the LeSoeur women. They could put on a face and act as if they could fight the world with their hands tied behind their back and no weapons even though inside they felt that they were sinking in quick sand. The lunch she’d brought herself remained uneaten on her desk. Her stomach had dropped when she’d heard him call her name and her heart had begun to beat so fast that she honestly thought she was about to have a heart attack. Every time her phone had rung since she’d returned to the office she had to stop herself from jumping out of her seat but it hadn’t been him. When the clock struck six-thirty and she found herself to be the only one left in the office she knew she had to leave. After all she couldn’t very well spend the night in the office but she didn’t want to go home even though Daniel had no idea where she lived.

As she walked slowly to Oxford Circus tube station and took the escalator down to the Central line she could feel herself grow cold and begin to shiver, despite the fact that it was at least 34 degrees on the underground and there was a gigantic blue fan circulating hot air into her face. Even though her head told her to grab a hold of herself she stepped onto the Westbound Central line and took the first tube heading to Notting Hill Gate.

LUCINDA HELD onto Emma as she cried. It was the deep convulsing cries that children usually had a talent for. She still didn’t understand what had happened. As soon as Lucinda opened the front door she’d found Emma with tears streaming down her face and visibly shaking. It took fifteen minutes for Emma to calm down and to finally find her voice.

‘Shit, I’ve made a mess of your top,’ Emma said as she pulled out a tissue from the box on her lap and blew her nose. Lucinda looked down at her vest, which was now streaked with mascara and foundation.

‘Don’t worry, it’ll come out in the wash. Do you want anything to drink? I think that I’ve got some Jack Iron in the cupboard.’

‘God no. Not the jack,’ Emma said shaking her head at the thought of the over-proof rum that her dad always smuggled back from Grenada. ‘But I’ll have some wine.’

‘Look, why don’t you go upstairs to my room, have a shower, find something to wear and I’ll sort out something for us to eat and then we’ll talk.’ Emma nodded, suddenly feeling weak and exhausted.

‘I haven’t eaten since breakfast,’ Emma said as she picked up a slice of sesame prawn toast.. They were sitting in the garden sharing a Chinese takeaway and a bottle of red wine. Emma was glad she wasn’t in the confines of her flat with the tiny balcony. At least here in this garden in Notting Hill with the still bright sky and the promises of an Indian summer she felt as though she could breathe.

‘I think that all I’ve done is eat today. I met Beatrice for lunch earlier.’

‘How is she? I’ve been meaning to go and see her. I’ve just been busy.’

‘She’s ok but I think she’d appreciate it if you went to see her. Maybe spoil her a bit. We just have to take the time for each other.’

‘Is she ok?’ Emma asked aware that there something wasn’t being said.

‘Yeah, she’s fine. Just had a bad day that’s all. So are you going to tell me? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.’