Second Chances Read Online Free PDF

mother from her grave. ‘Shh, Charlie . . . They don’t wear grass skirts over there, Philip. They have excellent schools. Rutherford was a New Zealander. You know, the atom man.’
    ‘Well, hurrah.’
    ‘You’re jealous,’ proclaimed Kit, hitting the bullseye.
    ‘Bollocks, man!’
    Philip’s disgust merely widened Kit’s smile. Sparks quite often flew between the two of them. Kit thought Philip was pompous and self-absorbed, which was undeniable; but it wasn’t the whole picture.
    ‘We’re off to Hawke’s Bay,’ said Kit, ‘where that wine you’re drinking comes from. While you’re shivering in your thermal undies, we’ll be wearing t-shirts and taking little dips just to cool off.’
    ‘What gives you the right to run away?’ Philip turned to me. ‘Martha, where’s your bloody loyalty?’
    I sighed. ‘Look. We’re really going to miss you, but we rats just want out of the race.’
    ‘Sacha!’ he exploded, slapping his knee. ‘You’re surely not going to turn that wonderful girl’s world upside down?’
    ‘She can’t stay at her present school, anyway. We can’t afford the fees.’
    ‘So move her. Don’t cart her off to a third world country.’
    ‘Philip! It’s not a . . . Look. I’ve sussed out the schools where we’re going, and there’s a choice of several good ones. Their academic year starts in February so she’ll be able to settle in before the sixth form.’
    ‘It’s all a question of balance,’ said Kit. ‘Ouch.’ He’d burned his fingers on the barbecue, and sucked them. ‘We have to balance everybody’s interests.’
    Philip snorted. ‘You mean it’s all right to sacrifice Sacha’s wellbeing if it suits you?’
    ‘No, that’s not what he means,’ I interrupted firmly, before Kit could reply. ‘We think she’ll love it. Skiing, surfing, riding. It’s . . . well, it’s Eden.’
    ‘ Eden. ’ The deckchair groaned as Philip leaned back. ‘Didn’t turn out too well for poor old Adam and Eve, did it? One temptation too many, as I recall. Bit of a cock-up.’
    Kit rolled his eyes.
    ‘Lucky for you she’s got no father,’ persisted Philip. ‘Might jam a spanner in the works. He might even want what’s best for his daughter.’
    That was below the belt, and everyone knew it. There was a moment of charged silence. Louisa froze in the act of lighting another cigarette, her gaze swivelling towards Kit, but he was unruffled.
    ‘She has got a father,’ he responded affably. ‘Me.’
    ‘Where is she, anyway?’ Philip looked around. ‘Where’s my favourite niece? She’s the only one of you with two brain cells to rub together. Sacha! You coming out?’
    Answering voices floated from the house. There was a moment’s cessation of hostilities while we waited. Lou lived underneath the flight path to Heathrow and all day long jets floated majestically overhead, trailing white chalk scribbles on powder blue.
    Fast, light footsteps. Lou’s six-year-old, Lily, whirled out and showed us her sparkly fingernails before charging into the pool. Sacha followed her out of the house, wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a slogan scrawled across the bust: ALL THIS, AND BRAINS, TOO! She was curvy, maybe even carrying an extra pound or two, and it suited her just as it did Lou. Nor did she see the point in pretending she was a modern, androgynous beauty. Around her head dangled several braids, beaded in fluorescent pink. Theo clung to her hip like a baby baboon.
    Instantly the garden was brighter, the sun warmer. No really, it was. Bubbly, dazzling Sacha, my best friend. Only she was refusing to talk to me at the moment.
    She focused cross-eyed on one of the braids. ‘Lily did my hair.’
    ‘Sacha.’ Philip patted the empty chair beside him. ‘Sit. We need a bit of sanity.’
    Putting Theo down, she flopped gracefully into the seat, long legs stretched out—I envied her those legs—glowing with youth.
    ‘That’s unusual.’ Lou leaned across and fingered a silver oval