The Alphabet Sisters Read Online Free PDF Page B

seriously. Pop singers, disposable music, remember?”
    She looked out the window at the rain, the sky dark at four P.M . She thought of her flat. Small and cold, about as homely as a bus shelter. She thought of the Christmas just past. She had celebrated with Jessica and her family at their home in Suffolk, keeping her voice bright and cheery on the phone to her parents and Lola in South Australia. She’d felt miserable inside.
    She pictured the travel agent earlier that day. “It’s such a long way to travel for seven days. You’ll have only just recovered and you’ll be on your way back. Are you sure you can’t stay longer?”
    Her words to Lola the day she’d received her fax flashed into her mind. What had she said? That she couldn’t come back to Australia because she had a life here in London? What she had here wasn’t a life. Not the sort of life she wanted anymore, anyway.
    The letters in her head were now in flashing neon. There were shadows and doubts underneath—what she would do for work and where she would live, not to mention the idea of her sisters—but she batted them away. She stared over at Jessica, amazed at what she was about to say, and even more amazed by how sure she felt about it. Do it, Bett, she thought. Quickly. Before you change your mind.
    “Jessica, can you give me Karl’s mobile number?”
    The other woman glanced up from her computer. “You’re going to ring him? That’s taking your life in your hands. Why would you want to do that?”
    Do it, Bett. Be brave. Go home for good. Bett swallowed. “I think I’m about to resign.”
    I n Sydney, Anna Quinlan was finishing her packing. She looked up as her daughter came into the room holding a framed photograph.
    “Should I bring this, Mum?”
    Anna took the photo. It was the two of them, taken twelve months previously, both smiling at the camera, Ellen’s perfect six-year-old face upturned. “Why do you want to take it, Ellie?”
    “So I can show Really-Great-Gran what I used to look like. In case she’s forgotten. In case she decides she doesn’t like me like this either.”
    “Ellie, Lola doesn’t need to see that. She loves you whatever you look like.”
    Ellen’s voice became small. “What if she calls me names, though? Like everyone else does?”
    “Oh, Ellie, she won’t. Don’t think things like that.” Anna tried to keep her voice steady. How was she supposed to handle this? Ask Ellen to hold on a moment while she ran and checked the self-help books? It kept happening—just when Anna thought she had things running smoothly, out of the blue there’d be a question like this. Or a loud child’s voice in the supermarket like yesterday.
    “Mummy, what’s wrong with that girl’s face?”
    “Shh, don’t stare.”
    Anna had at least had experience of that situation and knew the best thing to do. She had coolly answered the child. “It’s a scar. My daughter was attacked by a dog last year.” She was half tempted to carry a photo album with her. “See,” she’d say at times like that, “she was perfect when she was born. But then I foolishly took her to the park one afternoon and someone had a Rottweiler on the loose and the dog thought my little girl was a toy. And by the time I could drag her away from him, his teeth had torn half her face.”
    Anna smoothed back her daughter’s hair. “Ellie, your dad and I and your Really-Great-Gran and your gran and your grandpa love you no matter what you look like.”
    “My aunties, too?”
    Anna’s voice didn’t change. “Your aunties, too. All of us, no matter what you look like, what you’re wearing, how messy your hair is, and how bad you smell, okay?”
    That brought a glimmer of a smile. “Even if I smell really bad and haven’t brushed my hair for a year?”
    “Two years even. Now, put that away and let’s finish your proper packing.”
    Ellen put her hands on her hips. “I have finished. Can we run through our checklist?”
    Our checklist? Anna