The Wildwood Sisters Read Online Free PDF Page B

had to find a way to do just that—let it go. Venturing back there would give her an opportunity to cut the ropes that bound her to her long-ago life. Not that she wanted to forget it all—there were many happy memories there too, ones she’d never get the chance to have again with her sister.
    Come on Reni, don’t be a party pooper. Let’s climb up on the roof and pretend we can fly. You know, like they did on the Titanic.
    We’ll break our legs if we fall, sis!
    Only if we miss the trampoline.
    My God, Scarlet, Dad will kill us if he catches us.
    He’s not going to catch us, me and you are too clever for that…
    Two hours later her dad was wrapping her sprained ankle up tightly with a bandage, and reminding both her and Scarlet, very sternly, how dangerous their little attempt at flying had been. Her mind floating away to another time and place, Renee jumped as Kat rubbed up against her ugg boots, purring softly. She leant over and picked her feline mate up, cuddling her as she massaged behind her ears. Kat pushed her head further into Renee’s fingers and purred louder.
    â€˜I gather you’re ready for breakfast?’
    Kat meowed, her dark green eyes wide.
    Renee smiled. ‘Righto then, duck and barramundi in jus it is. You think you can handle that?’
    Kat meowed once again.
    Renee emptied the can of gourmet cat food into a ceramic bowl that Tia had given Kat for Christmas last year—which read ‘world’s most spoilt cat’—then placed it down on the laundry floor, shaking her head as she watched Kat pick the food up with her claws and then delicately put it in her mouth. It never ceased to amaze her how she ate. She certainly was a moggy unto her own.
    Wandering back into the kitchen, Renee sculled the last of her fourth black coffee for the morning, screwing up her face because it was cold, and then tugged her unruly hair into a messy ponytail. She felt like death warmed up after spending the night chasing her pillow around the bed. She’d be lucky to have got an hour’s sleep, and even when she had slept, she’d been tormented by dreams of a faceless person chasing her with a knife dripping with her sister’s blood. She had awoken from the nightmare in a pool of sweat, her heart trying to bash its way out of her rib cage, but she was determined to not let her apprehension beat her. She’d had enough of living in fear. It was about time she stopped balancing on the edge of the cliff, and jumped. Who knew, maybe the cliff was only a few metres high, and not this menacing drop as she had always imagined it to be. There was only one way to find out. Grabbing her mobile from the kitchen bench, she dialled Tia’s number. This was it. She was finally going to do it. No more procrastinating.
    After six rings the call rang out and went to message bank. And she remembered it was Sunday morning. Damn it! In her mental haze she’d forgotten Tia would have only crawled into bed an hour ago after pulling back-to-back shifts at the hospital. As Tia had told her countless times, the emergency room was always rife with drug overdoses, bar fight casualties and car accident victims on a Saturday night. She hoped she hadn’t woken Tia up. ‘Hey honey, it’s Renee. Call me back as soon as you get this message. It’s really urgent. Sorry if I woke you…’
    Renee hung up, wondering why she’d just whispered—seeing as Tia couldn’t hear her leaving a message—and then began to pace the kitchen once more while chewing on the corner of an already short fingernail. She shouldn’t have had that last cuppa, especially on an empty stomach; the caffeine was making her extra jittery. Grabbing a loaf of chia spelt bread from the freezer, she placed two pieces into the toaster and then pulled a jar of crunchy peanut butter from the cupboard. She had to eat something before her stomach ate itself.
    Two minutes