Page 68 of The Bookshop at the Cornish Cove

‘He didn’t know where you were, my love.’

‘Mum could have told him.’

‘You told me not to.’

‘Just because I told you not to, didn’t mean that you couldn’t have.’

‘Hang on, lady. You can’t pin this on me. I asked you many times to talk to him, but no, Little Miss High-and-Mighty knew better when all the while Vi and I were saying that you should just speak to each other and sort things out. Love doesn’t always run smoothly, daughter dear. Sometimes you have to work at it. Sometimes you have to compromise. Give or take. Like me and your dad. He gives, I take.’

We all laughed. It was just what we needed to lighten the mood.

‘I wish I’d have let him explain, Vi.’

‘And I’m sure he wishes he hadn’t given up so easily.’

‘Why don’t you just take this time that he’s away to see how you feel with him out of the picture? Maybe it’ll all be OK. Sometimes things have a habit of working themselves out in the end.’

I hoped she was right, more than anything in the whole wide world.

44

We had decided as a family that it would be better for Dan to go and get his things from his old house as soon as possible. Easier for all concerned if he just got it over and done with. I know he was dreading it and originally he said he wanted to go alone but this morning, he crept into my room around seven and said he was dreading it. When I offered again to go with him, he said he’d love me to be there as his backup in case he weakened.

‘You won’t though, will you?’

‘God, I hope not. She’s just so bloody manipulative. You know that.’

I did and it was one of the many things that I hated about her.

When we arrived at Dan’s house, I agreed to wait in the car, and had the window open so I could hear if everything was OK.

‘Stay strong, buddy. You’ve got this!’

He blew air out of his cheeks and nodded, bravely steeling himself as he walked towards the house.

I could see he was in trouble the moment the front door opened. Sabrina flung her arms around him and started to wail. I could hear her begging him not to leave her. And her empty promises of changing, which we’d all heard a million timesbefore. He unravelled her arms from around his neck and turned towards me, not really knowing what to do.

Within seconds I was by his side.

‘Hi, Sabrina. I hear you’ve already put things into boxes for him. Can we come in and get them please?’

‘Oh, Danny, you didn’t need to bring backup surely.’ Her true colours would be coming out any time now. We just had to wait. ‘Little Miss Do-Gooder come with you to do your dirty work for you, has she?’

And there it was.

‘Don’t call her that please. She’s my sister and she’s come to help me.’

She rubbed at her eyes and made a fake baby crying noise. ‘Oh, Sabrina,’ she began. ‘I love you, can I come back? I can’t believe you just asked me that. No, you fucking can’t, Dan. Oh wait, maybe you can. I can’t quite decide. Give me a moment.’

She put her finger on her lip and looked up to the sky, pretending to consider it.

Dan turned to me, not quite believing that she’d turned so quickly. The penny was finally starting to drop with him and he was seeing her for the absolute horror that she was. He’d never really seen her ability to switch personalities so quickly even though we’d tried to point it out to him time and time again.

‘I’ve tried so hard over the years to like you, Sabrina, and I promised Dan that I’d come with him here today and not say a thing. But…’ I turned to Dan. ‘Sorry, bro, but I have to have my say. You…’ I prodded Sabrina in the arm ‘…are a narcissistic controlling cow. And it’s gone on for long enough. He…’ I pointed to Dan ‘…isn’t going to take it from you any longer.’

Her face changed, the penny finally dropping. Dan had finally seen sense and was moving out.

She pouted. ‘You won’t get better than me, Dan.’

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