Page 46 of Good Sisters

‘Yes, please,’ I said, and Louise accepted gratefully.

Harry had bought a brasserie-style machine that made the nicest coffee.

While Harry frothed milk I turned to my sisters. ‘Brace yourselves for who Jess is chatting to online.’

‘Who?’

I looked at Julie.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Please no.’

‘Yes.’

‘For God’s sake, who?’ Louise’s patience ran out – it never lasted long.

‘Sebastian Carter-Mills.’

‘Is he that awful woman’s son?’

‘Yes,’ Julie and I answered at once.

‘Are you absolutely sure? How did you find out?’ Julie asked.

I told them how I’d suspected Jess was flirting with someone on the phone, so I’d checked her Instagram DMs and had just found out it was Sebastian. ‘Why?’ I said, putting my head in my hands. ‘Of all the hundreds of boys out there, thousands, why does she have to be attracted to him? What am I going to do? How do I stop this? There is no way in hell my Jess can go out with Victoria’s son.’

‘No way,’ Julie agreed.

‘Well, you can’t order her not to see him,’ Louise said, ‘because that will only make her even more determined.’

‘True.’

‘All you can do is watch her like a hawk.’

‘Remember when Mum told you to stay away from Freddy Finlay?’ Julie reminded me.

‘Who’s Freddy Finlay?’ Harry said. ‘Was he a bad boy?’

I laughed. ‘I suppose he was. Freddy was a stoner and known for it. It was all very brief and I wasn’t really that into him, but then Mum went nuts and forbade me to see him. I was about to break up with him because he was always stoned and really boring, but when Mum ordered me to dump him, I refused and went out with him for longer than I actually wanted to just to defy her. Mum ordering me to break up with him totally backfired,’ I told Harry.

‘Could we ask the triplets to suss it out from their end?’ Julie suggested. ‘Maybe they could casually ask Sebastian if he’s seeing anyone or has his eye on anyone or whatever.’

Harry shook his head. ‘That won’t work. Boys don’t chat the way girls do.’

‘True,’ Julie said, sighing. ‘All they seem to talk about is food, weight training and rugby. But, look, I’ll ask them. They might be able to find out something.’

‘Okay,’ I said – anything that might help was worth trying. ‘But tell them to be super-casual about it. If it gets back to Jess, I’m dead.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Julie said. ‘I want him as far away from Jess as you do.’

Harry handed us perfectly made lattes.

‘I know Victoria is a pain, but maybe Sebastian isn’t so bad,’ he said. ‘You know, don’t judge the child for the sins of the parents.’

‘He’s got her DNA, Harry. He has no hope,’ I said.

‘And he was awful to our boys when they first went to Castle Academy,’ Julie reminded him.

‘I know, but he was young and stupid then. We all are at that age.’

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