Free Changing Places by Colette Caddle Page A

me. You could do no wrong.’
    Anna looked incredulous. ‘That’s rich! You were always nicking my stuff and listening in when I was talking to my friends. You don’t know how lucky you were, Jill, being an
only child.’
    ‘I had you two instead though, didn’t I? Telling tales on each other, playing tricks on each other.’
    ‘We weren’t that bad,’ Anna protested, looking at her sister for support.
    ‘Not at all!’ Rachel confirmed. ‘Family rows are what prepare you for going out into the big bad world.’
    ‘So how did
I
cope?’ Jill asked.
    Anna winked at her. ‘Like you said, You had us!’
    ‘Ah right, I see. Are you still drinking water, Rachel?’ Jill signalled to a waiter.
    Rachel made a face. ‘No, get me one of those alcohol-free beers.’
    ‘They’re disgusting,’ Anna said, wrinkling her nose.
    ‘I know, but there’s only so much water I can drink.’
    ‘What about an alcohol-free cocktail?’ Jill suggested.
    ‘Oh, yes!’ Rachel looked hopefully at the waiter.
    ‘We have a selection,’ he told her. ‘I’ll bring you the list.’
    The cocktail list was impressive and Anna and Jill decided to try one too. ‘Plenty of alcohol in mine,’ Jill warned the waiter.
    ‘Yes, madam.’ He smiled and left.
    Jill stared after him. ‘Madam? God, do I look old enough to be a madam?’ She leaned forward to examine her reflection in the glass table. ‘That new cream isn’t working.
Look at all the lines around my mouth.’
    ‘They’re scratches on the table,’ Anna told her. ‘And you look gorgeous as always.’
    Jill was wearing a very sexy wrap top that emphasized her cleavage, and a short tight black skirt that showed off her wonderful legs.
    ‘I need a lot more than face cream,’ Rachel complained. ‘I’m the youngest and I look the oldest.’ Anna, three years her senior, was looking impossibly young and beautiful in powder-blue cotton cut-offs and a tiny strappy top that revealed her toned, tanned midriff.
    ‘Of course you don’t.’ Anna waved an impatient hand at her sister.
    ‘It’s true,’ Rachel insisted. ‘I’ve let myself go. I’m sure Gary thinks so.’
    Jill and Anna exchanged glances. ‘Why do you say that?’ Anna asked.
    ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Rachel shrugged, relieved that the waiter chose that moment to deliver their elaborate cocktails. She took a sip of her drink and smiled in delight.
‘This is gorgeous!’
    ‘Mine’s lovely too,’ Jill agreed, allowing Rachel to dismiss the comment, but she knew it hadn’t been an idle one. She saw Anna open her mouth to question her sister and
shot her a warning look.
    ‘So when are you going to tell him?’ Anna said instead.
    Rachel spiked a piece of strawberry with her cocktail stick. ‘Tell him what?’
    ‘You know what.’
    Rachel abandoned the strawberry and sat back in her seat. ‘Probably tonight.’
    ‘Really? That’s great!’
    ‘He’ll be very happy, Rachel,’ Jill added.
    ‘Yes, of course he will.’ Anna’s smile was encouraging.
    ‘I know.’ Rachel forced a smile and then excused herself to go in search of the loo.
    ‘Do you think she’s okay?’ Anna asked Jill when they were alone.
    ‘Yeah, but I don’t think she’d planned on having another child, at least not yet.’
    ‘I don’t understand that. It’s not as if she has anything else to do. Now that Alex is at school you’d think she’d be delighted. I mean, what does she do all
day?’
    Jill shook her head, laughing. ‘Oh, please don’t say that to her.’
    ‘Of course I won’t. I’m not completely insensitive, you know! But I’d go nuts at home all day on my own. It seems so, so . . .’ Anna searched for the right word
‘. . . boring. She certainly doesn’t look like she’s enjoying herself, does she?’
    ‘Shush, she’s coming,’ Jill hissed and smiled broadly as Rachel returned. ‘So, girls, how about a dance?’
    As the evening wore on, Rachel relaxed a little although it didn’t stop her