Somewhere In-Between Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘downright insanity.’ It took Jessie’s pretence that she had no one to stay with her five- and eight-year-old daughters—Emily and Amanda—while she and her husband, Barry, helped Julie and Ian with the move, to convince their mother not to come.
    Julie appreciates what a sacrifice it is for Jessie, who hates to leave her girls behind whenever she travels. The truth is that there is no need for anyone to help. They have hired professional movers. Except for the sorting of personal things, which Julie refuses to allow anyone else to go through, there is little to do. Still, Jessie had insisted. And Julie has to admit that having her sister and her husband here these last two days has been wonderful. Right now Ian and Barry are out inspecting the ranch before the lawyer releases the funds this afternoon. Julie didn’t bother trying to assure Ian that an inspection was totally unnecessary, that in her experience German clients, with few exceptions, left their properties in good condition, their houses eat-off-the-floor clean. She knows the trip was just an excuse to show off the place to Barry. From the moment they had a solid contract of purchase and sale, Ian found similar pretences each week to run out there. Neither Elke Woell, nor the realtor assured of his commission, objected. Today Julie is glad they are gone. It allows her time alone with her sister.
    â€œWill you miss it?” Jessie asks over the rim of her teacup. “This house? Town?”
    Julie sets her cup down in the saucer. “You know, I felt like a fish out of water when we left Vancouver and moved to Waverley Creek, twenty, no, twenty-one years ago. God, has it been that long? Anyway, I couldn’t stop hearing Mom calling it an ‘overgrown cow-town in the middle of nowhere.’ And for the first year, I never enjoyed working at Ian’s accounting firm. But after I got my real estate licence and started working with people instead of numbers, this town started to grow on me. I felt at home. By the time Darla was born,” she hesitated, looked down at her hands for a moment before continuing, “I knew I wanted to raise her here. When we bought this house twelve years ago, I thought it would be our last. I imagined her growing up here, graduating, marrying…” her voice cracks and she swallows. “So I guess the answer is yes, and no.”
    She picks up her teacup. “At any rate, it’s too late to even think about that. The truth is right now I’m just following Ian’s lead.” She holds up a hand. “I know, don’t say it. Mom already did. That I’m just letting life happen to me now, not making it happen. She says this move is all about what Ian needs. What Ian wants.”
    â€œYeah, well Mother never liked him too much from the beginning, did she?” Jessie asks. “Remember all those ridiculous predictions she made about your marriage? None of which materialized.”
    Julie lowers her eyes, unwilling at this point to let her sister, who knows her so well, read the truth in her eyes.
    Back in the family room she feels like a fraud as she wipes down the cabinet shelves. Yes, this move is all Ian’s idea; he believes it will be their last. For him, perhaps it will. She is less committed to it, to anything right now. Her mother’s right. She is like a leaf on the water, allowing the undercurrents to carry her along at will. Still, she will go along with it right now, see where it leads. Why not? She has nothing but time now.
    Her cloth brushes over a thick paper on the bottom shelf. She reaches in and slides out the unframed portrait. Wiping the dust away, she studies her twenty-two-year-old face, smiling so brightly in spite of the agony caused by the six-inch high heels hidden beneath the satin gown. On her wedding day Julie had believed that the spike heels, the puffed-up back-combed hair and tiara made her look so tall and sophisticated