Free Changing Places by Colette Caddle Page B

sister irritating the hell out of her. As usual, after just a couple of cocktails, Anna was
tipsy, giggly and bumping into everyone. But with a toss of her pretty head and a wide smile she’d sing ‘Sorry!’ and receive the inevitable indulgent smile and a
‘That’s okay.’ Anna could do no wrong.
    Jill bopped her heart out with her two cousins, sang along to all the lyrics and watched Rachel watch Anna. Her envy was understandable, she supposed. Anna could get away with anything simply
because it was clear that all she was doing was having fun. Rachel looked so like her, but her grim face and distant manner meant she was nowhere near as attractive as her sister. What, Jill
wondered, would it take to put the smile back on to her face?
    Anna sat back in the taxi and closed her eyes. She was feeling pleasantly woozy from the cocktails and footsore from dancing in her high shoes but it had been a good night,
much better than she’d been expecting. While Rachel hadn’t exactly let herself go, they’d had a few laughs and relations had definitely improved. And when Anna got out of the taxi
to say goodbye to her sister, Rachel hadn’t even pulled away when, on impulse, Anna had hugged her. Maybe a few more nights out was exactly what they needed.
    Rachel definitely needed to loosen up. She had been spot on when she’d said she looked older than her sister and cousin. Her solemn manner and clothes made her look closer to forty than
thirty. Anna had seen her in the same clothes on several occasions and those black trousers were positively shiny at this stage. Rachel could well afford to buy clothes but she just didn’t
seem interested.
    Anna remembered the wonderful Saturday shopping sprees the three girls used to enjoy before Rachel got married. They rarely came home without a new outfit. But Rachel had stopped meeting them
after she married Gary. In fact, everything had really changed once Gary came along.
    Rachel had been dating a mad, charismatic, slightly unpredictable guy before she met her husband. Bridie was a bit concerned about the relationship because Eric didn’t seem the most
reliable sort of boyfriend, but he was a lovable rogue and even she couldn’t resist him for long. When he decided to throw in his job and move to the States, Bridie and Shay were terrified
that their twenty-year-old youngest daughter would go with him. But they didn’t have to worry about that because it soon became clear that Rachel didn’t figure in Eric’s plan.
    Rachel was devastated. Anna and Jill did their best to cheer her up but nothing worked. They were all amazed and delighted a couple of months later when Rachel announced she’d met someone
and was going on a date. Gary Hanlon was not what they were expecting. He was as different from Eric as it was possible to be. Older than Rachel by three years, Gary was serious, conservative and
very ambitious. When he proposed just six months after they met and Rachel accepted, her family were stunned. But she seemed happy so they wished her well and it all seemed to have worked out for
the best.
    When Alex came along a year after the wedding, he had adoring, delighted grandparents in Bridie and Shay and a thrilled Aunty Anna, only too eager to babysit. Life went on, but Rachel had
assumed a new role and didn’t have the same time or interest for shopping or girly nights out. Anna and Jill had continued their weekly shopping expeditions for a while but the junkets had
petered out a couple of years ago when Jill moved in with one of her boyfriends who liked to spend Saturdays in bed. It hadn’t bothered Anna too much. She’d continued to shop, sometimes
dragging her mum along too but now even she was gone.
    ‘Right, love, where will I drop you?’
    With a start, Anna realized that the taxi had just turned into her road. ‘Number five, the one on the right with the white wall.’ After paying the man, Anna climbed out and started
to rummage in her bag for her