Page 20 of Good Sisters

Jack shrugged. ‘Give your phone to your mum and go up and do your homework. I’ll be up to you later.’

Jess smacked her phone into the palm of my hand and flounced off, muttering under her breath about what a psycho mother she had.

‘To hell with coffee,’ Jack said. He clicked the kettle off, opened the fridge and poured himself a glass of wine.

‘I’ll have one, thanks.’

He poured it for me and handed it to me in silence.

‘What, Jack? Spit it out.’

He took a long swig of wine and sat down opposite me. ‘Sophie, it’s been nine years since I lost everything and we had to move in with your parents. It was a horrible time in all our lives and one I prefer not to think about or dwell on. I’ve worked my bollocks off to rebuild my life and my career. I’m in a really good place, we’re back together, and life is great again.’

‘I know that.’

‘Well, why do you insist on bringing up the past all the time? It happened, Sophie. It was hell, but we survived it and we’re happy now. Can you please stop harking back to it? It drives me nuts.’

I bristled. ‘I’m not harking back to it. I just need Jess to know that life can be tough and she has to be able to rely on herself.’

‘And not a useless man who will let her down?’ Jack drank deeply.

‘That’s not what I said, Jack. I completely respect you for turning everything around, but I was stupid, naïve and lazy. I don’t want that for Jess. If I hadn’t sat back and let you earn all the money, we could have used my salary when things went belly-up. But I was an idiot, and I will not let my daughter make the same mistakes I did.’ I felt myself begin to get emotional. It still stung that I had been so foolish. The memories of having lost everything overnight still woke me up at night in a cold sweat. Mum used to say to me, ‘When you’ve fully settled back into your relationship with Jack, the past won’t haunt you any more.’ But it did. The fear never fully went away.

‘You weren’t stupid or selfish. You were a great wife and mother, through everything.’

‘Were?’

Jack smiled. ‘Are. But I do think you’re hard on Jess. She’s a good kid.’

‘I know that, but if I don’t stay on her, she’ll fall behind. Believe it or not, Jess, your perfect princess, can be lazy. I want the best for her and we both know that takes work. I want her to understand that effort equals reward and you get nothing from life if you don’t invest in yourself.’

Jack reached over and squeezed my hand. ‘I know. Just go easy on her, please. We want a happy home life as well as a hard-working daughter. There has to be balance.’ He stood up and kissed the top of my head. ‘I’ll go and check on Robert.’

I nodded at him to keep the peace, but I had no intention of going easy on Jess. Over my dead body was she going to fail in school. She would not make the stupid mistakes I had. Absolutely no way.

7. Julie

Harry thundered up the stairs, shouting, ‘Julieeeeeee!’ He burst into the bedroom. My heart leaped in my chest.

‘Is it Dad? Is he dead too?’ I cried.

Harry came to an abrupt halt. ‘What? No. No, nothing like that, darling. It’s good news.’

‘Jesus, you nearly gave me a heart attack.’

‘Sorry. No, it’s the boys. They’ve all been picked for the Junior Cup rugby team. All three of them, Julie!’ Harry’s face was a picture of pure, radiant happiness.

‘Oh, great. That’s a relief.’

‘Great? Julie! This is momentous. This is a huge deal. This is historic. The school has never had three brothers on the team at the same time.’

I was about to say that was because they’d probably never had triplets in the school before, but I decided not to ruin Harry’s buzz, and I was delighted for the boys.

‘Brilliant!’ I tried to ramp up my enthusiasm.

Harry paced the room. ‘It’s incredible. I was worried about Leo. He was the one I felt was on the edge of the squad, but he’s on. The three brothers, together, representing Castle Academy.’

I was thrilled for the boys, and for Harry, but I also knew that our lives would now be completely ruled by rugby. Harry was already obsessing about it, but this would bring him to a whole new level.

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