Page 69 of Good Sisters

‘I swear.’

I dried her face with a towel. ‘Are you absolutely sure? Think for a moment. You’re pretty drunk, pet, so are you really sure?’

‘Julie, are you mad! We did not have sex. I would never do that. I know I’m too young and I also know that Mum would actually kill me.’

‘Thank Christ for that,’ I said, and hugged her. ‘I was so worried. Now you need to listen to me, okay? Sebastian is a nasty piece of work. Please stay away from him. He is trouble. He should never, ever have brought you up here so drunk and locked the door. The fact that he did says a lot about him. And you should not have come up here with him. You need to take care of yourself, Jess. I’m asking you to stay away from him and do not drink. Alcohol leads to bad decisions. Do you hear me?’

Jess’s eyes filled with tears. ‘But I really like him, Julie. Just … please, please, please don’t tell my mum. She’ll kill me if she finds out and she’ll ground me for ever.’

She’ll kill me first, I thought. I was supposed to be looking out for Jess, but I’d got distracted with the guests. I had never in my wildest dreams imagined she’d sneak upstairs with Sebastian. Sophie would lose her mind if she knew what had happened. I was not looking forward to telling her. She might never forgive me for not looking after Jess properly. But, then, Jess had just been a bit silly and nothing had actually happened. We didn’t need the morning-after pill or anything like that, so maybe it was best if Sophie didn’t know.

I could see Jess watching me intently as I went back and forth in my mind, trying to figure out the best course of action. I was completely conflicted. If I told Sophie, she would probably never let Jess out or trust her again, and she would be disgusted with me and would probably never trust me again either. Did I want to hurt my niece, fall out with my sister and really upset her? Or should I just contain this, let Jess learn from the experience and not involve her parents? I mean, we all made mistakes when were young and the most important thing was that Jess didn’t seem to be traumatized or hurt in any way. Plus, Jess could talk to me about it at any time. She knew I had her back.

I nodded to myself, thinking that was the best thing to do. I wouldn’t tell my sister. It would only upset her and she already had so much stress in her life, with Pippa and Robert. She’d have a breakdown if I loaded more on her plate.

‘Jess, I’m not going to tell on you this time – you get one free pass, but that’s it. Your actions have put me in a really difficult position. I hope you understand that. You did this in my house, on my watch, and I’m furious with you. As for that cocky little shit Sebastian, he doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near you. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you’ll break all contact with him.’

Jess bit her lip. ‘Do I have to, Julie?’ she said quietly.

‘One hundred per cent, Jess, or I’ll drive you home now and we can both face your mother with the truth.’

She held up her hands. ‘God, no, please. I promise I’ll do it.’

‘Okay. Now you’re going to have a shower, drink lots of water and coffee and get yourself sorted. I’ll call Sophie and tell her I’ll drop you home in an hour. You need to be ready by then.’

I hated the idea of lying to Sophie. I couldn’t think of atime when I’d lied to my sisters about something big. This wasn’t exactly lying, though. I was just omitting to share information. But it still didn’t sit well with me. I just had to focus on what was best for Sophie, and right now she didn’t need another major situation on her hands. It didn’t feel good, but it was for the best. What Sophie didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. Right?

17. Louise

I sat in front of Ross Moore, the company HR manager, and tried very hard not to lose my temper.

Ross pulled up a file on his computer and began to read: ‘Zoë said, and I quote, “I feel that Louise has no empathy. She is very cold and difficult to communicate with. She doesn’t show any compassion for my social anxiety. She dismisses my issues as if they’re not real.”’

I remained silent.

‘Louise, this is the second serious complaint we’ve had from Zoë.’

I exhaled deeply in an attempt to control my rage. Thankfully, this could be quickly cleared up with some honest facts.

‘Zoë has taken eight days off in the last two months for “mental-health” issues,’ I said. ‘The other – hard-working and uncomplaining – young interns have to pick up the slack when she decides not to come to work, which is unfair on them. When she does bother to show up, she is usually late, hung-over and unapologetic. It’s total and utter bullshit, not to put too fine a point on it.’

Ross took off his glasses. ‘I understand your frustration, Louise, but we have to be very careful around our employees and the area of mental health.’

‘What about my mental health? She’s wrecking my head and wasting my precious time with her never-ending bullshit and her made-up migraines that she only ever seems to get on a Monday morning after going on a bender all weekend. She’s too stupid to make her Instagram account private, soeveryone can see her partying on Sunday night and pulling the migraine excuse on Monday.’

‘Look, she’s Walter’s goddaughter and he’s asked me to keep an eye on her and make sure that she’s happy here. I know it’s not easy and she doesn’t seem particularly cut out for the law, but we need to tread very carefully. Perhaps if she felt that you were a little more sympathetic and encouraging, she might be more productive in work.’

I was so sick of Zoë and her crap – and of my colleagues trying to put the ball in my court constantly, as if my behaviour were the problem and not hers.

‘I am well aware of her relationship with Walter, which she uses constantly as her get-out-of-jail-free card. For someone with self-diagnosed social anxiety she never misses Friday-night drinks, client lunches or any excuse to have fun. Her anxiety only seems to kick in when she’s late delivering notes, files or contracts.’

Ross chose his words carefully. ‘We’re living in different times from when we started our careers, Louise. Young people now are more open and in tune with their issues and anxieties and, in the main, that’s a good thing. You, me and all the senior employees here must adjust and be more conscious of the emotional wellbeing of all our employees.’

I had real issues and anxieties, lots of them. I knew what it was like to lie awake at night panicking about life. I worried constantly about Clara and her future. I barely slept for months after her diagnosis, but I still gave my all at work. I was struggling with the grief of losing my mother, the person who cared most about Clara after me; I was sleep-deprived because I was lying awake at night worrying about Clara’s father – going back and forth over the pros and cons of looking for him and finding him, what it would mean, how I would control it … My head was melted, butI still got up every day, went to work and behaved like a professional.

I had sympathy for people with actual mental-health problems, but Zoë was an overindulged, spoiled princess who chose her mental-health days strategically. I couldn’t stand that kind of deception.

I stood up. ‘Ross, I have a daughter with additional needs. She suffers from real anxiety, off-the-charts anxiety, yet she gets up every day and does her best to try to fit into a world that makes no sense to her. I cannot deal with Zoë’s bullshit. You need to move her to another department before I throw something at her.’

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