Free Almost Perfect by Dianne Blacklock Page A

girl!’ he greeted her.
    â€˜Don’t you ever get sick of saying that?’ she said as she sauntered over to him, tossing her bag on the couch as she passed.
    â€˜You’d think so, wouldn’t you?’ He gave her a hug. ‘Happy Birthday, though I refuse to accept that my baby sister is thirty-three years old.’
    â€˜So does she,’ said Louise, coming through the doorway.
    â€˜What’s that?’
    â€˜I’ve decided not to be thirty-three this year,’ Georgie said plainly.
    Nick went to say something but Louise interrupted. ‘Don’t ask, you don’t want to wade into that one,’ she assured him. ‘Where are the girls?’
    â€˜In the sandpit.’
    She sighed. ‘Not having their baths?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜Because they’re in the sandpit.’
    She sighed again, more loudly this time.
    â€˜Ah,’ said Nick, coming towards her. ‘The sigh of disdain, followed by the groan of contempt.’ He pulled her into his arms but she didn’t protest. ‘Yes, the girls are still in the sandpit, but dinner is in the oven, the birthday cake is baked, three loads of washing have been hung out, brought in and put away, and our two small daughters, as yet unbathed in water, have however been bathed in the light of paternal devotion all day. I didn’t even catch The Bold and the Beautiful .’ He dipped Louise back, holding her steady. ‘So now, don’t I deserve the kiss of unconditional love and affection?’
    She smiled as he bent to kiss her. Georgie watched them enviously. Well, not really enviously, Nick was her brother after all, and Louise her lifelong friend. Growing up, Louise had spent more time at their house than she had at her own. She came over even when Georgie was out. Georgie was apparently the last one to realise that Louise and Nick’s fondness for one another was much more than platonic. Meantime Zan met Jules and finallyunderstood why she’d never enjoyed dating men. She and Jules had been together ever since and were deeply committed to each other. So Zan clung to Jules, Nick clung to Louise, and Georgie clung to them all.
    Not that Georgie didn’t want someone for herself. She did, at times with a longing so powerful it would engulf her in a depression that had been known to last for days. She had a series of disappointing relationships behind her, though Louise often pointed out that two weeks did not a relationship make. And so Georgie found herself, at thirty-three years of age, single, living with a spoiled, unemployed goodtime girl who in addition to treating the place like it was a drop-in centre for her friends, had contributed the grand total of $237 towards rent and expenses in the seven months since she’d moved in.
    Needless to say Georgie was not living the life she had thought she would be by her age. She should have had a couple of kids and a reasonable-looking, affable husband who could make her laugh and sit beside her on the lounge at night watching telly, maybe rub her feet when she’d had a long day. It didn’t seem too much to ask. But as each year ticked by Georgie knew it was getting further and further out of her reach. She’d heard the line about a woman her age having more chance of getting hit by a space shuttle than getting married, or something like that, but worse, she’d read the stats. Georgie was part of an emerging generation destined to remain single and childless. She didn’t know how she’d ended up in thisparticular demographic, and it was becoming increasingly obvious there was no way out.
    Molly appeared in the doorway and gasped with shock, opening her eyes wide and holding both hands to her face. She deservedly held the title of drama queen of the family. ‘Daddy, you didn’t say Georgie got here! What about the surprise?’ she added in a loud whisper.
    â€˜What surprise?’