Free Rainy Day Sisters by Kate Hewitt Page B

think Juliet is more than half-inclined to boot me out.”
    â€œWhy? What happened?”
    â€œIt’s . . . just a feeling,” Lucy said, knowing she was being lame. On the screen Chloe’s image had unfrozen and then frozen again, so she was stuck in mid–eye roll. She should have known better than to expect unquestioning sympathy from Chloe. “It’ll get better, I suppose,” she said with absolutely no conviction.
    â€œIt will if you try,” Chloe said. “Maybe this is a chance for you to get to know your sister properly.”
    â€œI thought that when I came, but honestly, Chloe, she’s not—”
    â€œGet to the bottom of what happened between you two—”
    â€œNothing
happened
. Before I came here, we had maybe five conversations total.”
    â€œAnd why was that?” Chloe pressed, and Lucy slumped back against the bed, a pillow clutched to her chest.
    â€œBecause I don’t think Juliet was ever interested in knowing me.”
    â€œBut she invited you, so something must have changed. Maybe there’s some tension, but there’s also opportunity.”
    Chloe always saw opportunity. They’d been friends since they were eighteen and as the years had gone on, Lucy had fallen further and further behind in the opportunity stakes. Chloe had graduated from Boston University summa cum laude; Lucy had barely scraped a 3.0. Chloe had gone to grad school; Lucy had started as a barista. And now Chloe had some high-flying job in marketing and her own office, and Lucy had . . .
    A temporary job and a sister who hated her.
    â€œAll I’m saying,” Chloe persevered, “is try to see the bright side—”
    â€œI’ve been seeing the bright side my whole life,” Lucy cut across her. “You
know
that. But maybe there isn’t one here. Maybe I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere, England, with a sister and a boss who both hate me. And it’s freezing here, by the way. And it rains. Constantly.”
    Chloe cocked her head. “Finished?”
    â€œNo, I haven’t mentioned the wind. It is so windy I am doomed to have a bad hair day for the next four months.”
    â€œNow,
that
sucks.”
    Lucy let out a little laugh. She couldn’t hold on to her self-pity for long. “Yes, it does suck. Majorly.”
    Chloe was silent for a moment, and Lucy wasn’t sure it was due to the lag in the Internet connection. “You don’t think things could get better with Juliet?” she finally asked.
    â€œI don’t know if I want to try.” Chloe’s image had unfrozen again and she saw her glance at her watch. Lucy straightened and tossed the pillow she’d been clutching back on the bed. “I know you have to go. Thanks for listening.”
    â€œOkay. Hang in there. Skype me on Saturday. I’ll only be at the office until lunchtime.”
    â€œRight.” When the call had ended and Chloe’s image faded to black, Lucy felt the silent emptiness of the house around her once more. She hugged her knees to her chest as she considered, reluctantly, what Chloe had suggested.
    Could she talk to Juliet about what had happened with their mother? Should she apologize?
    For what? Being born?
    She felt a surge of anger, a sudden white-hot flare of feeling, because it wasn’t her fault that Fiona had decided to go the sperm donor route and have another baby. Juliet shouldn’t blame her for their mother’s choices, but she had no idea how to make her feel otherwise. How did you reconcile with someone who resented your very existence?
    Lucy fell asleep sometime towards ten; she’d heard Juliet come in and the sound of her bedroom door closing, but she didn’t move from her bed. She just wriggled out of her bra, peeled back the duvet, and snuggled down, content to let the world slip away.
    She woke up to the shocking reality of bright sunshine pouring