Chapter Fifteen
For the next few days, it looked as though Jack was going to toe the line. He’d come home the night of the argument reasonably early — though he’d crashed and banged his way upstairs to make his presence known. But he’d been up early for work the next day and contributed to the washing-up that evening, though he refused to learn to cook. To everyone else it looked as though he’d taken their father’s words to heart, but Anna couldn’t help noticing the hostile looks he threw at her whenever he got the chance. This wasn’t over yet. She did her best to avoid being alone with him.
Her father was the one who had surprised her most. He seemed to take to cooking instantly and had gone to the supermarket with her early on Saturday, after they’d discussed the menu for the week. This had left her plenty of time for photography during the rest of the day. During their shopping trip, he’d talked about taking a cookery course and had started coming home from work early each night, rather than going to the pub, eager to start cooking the evening meal.
Work was busy too. Daniel had been booked by Fashionista Magazine to do an extensive shoot at London Fashion Week, both in front of the catwalk and behind the scenes, and they were busy organising the various photoshoots that would take place before and during the four days of the event. He’d also been asked to contribute to a book that was being written by a retired fashion designer, on fashion through the ages, and was searching through his archives for fashion photographs from the noughties. And when they weren’t concentrating on that, Daniel was helping her get together the photographs for her exhibition.
With work being so busy she was beginning to worry that she wouldn’t be ready for her own exhibition, which was rapidly approaching on 1 July. Charlotte had found a venue, although she was keeping where it was going to be under wraps, building up to a big reveal nearer the time. When Anna pressed her to tell her where she had booked, all she would answer was that it was unique and perfect to showcase Anna’s debut. This not only frustrated Anna but also made her very nervous. She decided that all she could do was concentrate on the actual photographs and hope that the rest would fall into place.
* * *
Daniel was puzzling over the photographs he’d collected and printed so far for his section of the book on fashion. Preferring to see things in actual format, he’d laid them all out on the large table he used when he was selecting photographs.
‘What’s the problem?’ Anna came to stand next to him.
‘I’m just struggling to make a decision on what to include,’ he said, taking in how close Anna was to him and the way her floral perfume was tantalising him. Although they were growing closer each day that they worked together, and Daniel couldn’t wish for a better assistant, he was growing increasingly aware of how attractive he found her. That wasn’t something he was comfortable with at all. In fact, these days he was finding it very difficult not to reach out and touch her — he was experiencing such lurid dreams about her that he found it hard to act normally when she was standing in such close proximity.
He moved around to the other side of the table, anything to take away the temptation of wanting to reach out, take her in his arms and kiss those soft lips. He shook the thoughts away. ‘This period was all about cropped tops and cargo pants or bootleg trousers, which looks great on these models but it’s certainly not as extravagant as, say, the seventies or the eighties.’ He showed her some of the photographs the author had collated so far. ‘I might struggle to make my section stand out.’
‘Hmm, I see what you mean.’ She leaned across him as she selected some of the photos, too close to him for comfort. ‘I think this period was more about attitude, though. Look at the women in these pictures. They’re almost saying “I’m going to be me and I don’t care what you think of me.” You’ve certainly captured it here.’
‘Do you think?’
‘Definitely. They’re so expressive, you’ll easily stand out.’
He began to shuffle the photographs back into one pile, feeling his face growing pink at both her praise and her proximity to him. ‘Oh let’s forget this for today,’ he said. ‘I’ll have another think about it when I’m feeling a little less jaded. Now, why don’t you show me the photos for the exhibition you’ve been working on?’ He breathed a sigh of relief as she moved away to switch her laptop on. He’d have to find a way to keep his distance from her in the future.
* * *
As Anna walked home, she contemplated Daniel’s embarrassment earlier, when she’d praised his photographs. Why did he suddenly seem so shy around her? His behaviour was very different to the Daniel she had first started working for. She was still puzzling this when she opened the front door and made her way into the kitchen. The house was quiet, so maybe no one was home. She liked it when no one else was here. It was much more relaxing. Maybe she’d even run herself a bath and have a good long soak in the peace and quiet.
She stopped short when she saw Jack sitting alone at the kitchen table, a can of lager in his hand and several empty cans on the table.
‘Hello, big sister,’ he said with a snarl. She turned to go upstairs, anything to avoid being alone with him. ‘Oh, don’t run away,’ he continued. ‘Come on and sit down. It’s ages since we’ve had a proper catch up.’
‘I’m not sure we have much to say to each other.’ She turned her back to him and tried not to show her fear.
‘Well, I’ve definitely got a lot to say to you. Come and sit down.’
‘I’d rather stand. Where is everyone?’
He shrugged. ‘Dad’s gone off somewhere on some kind of secret mission and who knows where Harry is. Probably at the library again.’
‘He’s in the middle of his exams and at least it’s peaceful there.’
‘I might have known you’d stick up for him. He always was your favourite, wasn’t he? Good, quiet, hard-working Harry.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said.
‘Oh, come off it, Sis. I know you always found me the difficult one, whereas little Harry couldn’t put a foot wrong, could he?’
‘You were just very different personalities and had different needs,’ she said, suddenly realising that jealousy was the root of Jack’s anger towards her.
‘Yes.’ Jack got up from his chair and moved towards her. Too late, she realised the kitchen door had closed behind her, barring her escape. She tried to slowly reach behind her to open the door, but Jack was too quick. Before she had a chance, his hands were on her shoulders, he’d shoved her to the side and she was pinned against the kitchen wall, his beery breath in her face. ‘I needed you to get me out of trouble with the teachers and Harry needed you to pat him on the back.’
‘It was a very difficult time for all of us. People deal with things differently. That doesn’t mean I loved you any less than I did him.’ Anna hoped pacifying him would help her get away. Jack had never been violent towards her in the past, although she’d always felt the threat of it, but now she realised there might be a first time.
‘Bet you do now, though, don’t you?’ Jack gave her a not-so-gentle shove.
‘I still love you, Jack, you’re my brother. It’s just sometimes I don’t like you very much.’
He sneered. ‘Oh, the feeling’s mutual. Although I’d go a bit further than that, because I hate you, and do you know why I hate you?’
Again she tried not to sound threatened by him. ‘I don’t, Jack, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’ She could feel her legs trembling and doubted they would be able to hold her up if it wasn’t for his hands on her shoulders.
‘I certainly am. Do you know how difficult you’ve made life for me recently?’
‘What? Because I’ve asked you to help out a bit more around the house? Hardly a reason for you to hate me.’
‘No. Because you’ve turned Dad against me. Life used to be sweet, but now he’s on at me all the time. And working with him means I can’t get away from him. In fact, he’s worse when we’re at work, always on my case.’
‘What’s going on?’ They’d both been so intent on each other they hadn’t heard Harry come into the house and open the kitchen door.
Jack didn’t take his eyes off Anna. ‘None of your business.’
‘When you’ve got our sister pinned against the wall, I’d say it was very much my business. Get off her, Jack.’
‘Make me.’
Harry sprang across the kitchen and tried to pull Jack off her, but Jack spun round, landing a fist firmly in Harry’s face. Anna gasped in shock as she watched Harry go sprawling away from them, landing on the floor.
‘What the hell is going on here?’ An angry voice came from behind them. Anna turned to see her father in the doorway, his fists clenched at his sides.
‘I’m teaching these two a lesson, that’s all,’ Jack said.
‘A lesson for what?’ Andrew asked.
‘For ruining my life,’ Jack answered.
‘The only person who’s done that is yourself,’ Andrew replied. ‘And I won’t have violence in my house, so you can get out.’
‘What?’ Jack sounded shocked.
‘I said get out. I’ve had just about as much as I can take from you recently. I don’t want you living under my roof. You’ve got fifteen minutes to pack and leave or I’ll be calling the police.’
‘What for?’
‘Assault for one,’ Andrew said. ‘Now get out.’
Jack glared at him. ‘Fine. I don’t want to live here anyway.’
‘And you can find yourself another job while you’re at it. You don’t work for me anymore.’
‘Fine! If that’s the way you want it.’ Jack didn’t even bother to go upstairs to pack, but stomped down the hallway, slamming the front door behind him.
Anna looked at her father. ‘Dad, did you—’
‘Anna, I know you mean well, but you really can’t defend him,’ he said. ‘He hit Harry and it looks like he had a go at you too.’
‘He did, but—’
Harry pulled himself up from the floor, blood seeping from his nose. Anna quickly ran a tea towel under the tap, wrung it out, and began to gently dab Harry’s face.
‘And that’s not the only thing he’s done,’ her father continued. ‘I found out today that he’s stealing from the business.’
‘What?’ Anna asked, pausing in her administrations.
‘It’s true. He’s been overcharging customers, putting the right amount through the books and pocketing the rest. I only found out because someone mentioned their job was more than they were expecting. You know how useless I am with paperwork, but I’ve been going through the accounts. I should never have left it to him without checking it myself, but I trusted him.’
‘Oh, Dad! I’m so sorry.’ Anna left Harry’s side and put her arms around her father.
‘I would never have believed it from one of my own.’ He leaned his head against hers. ‘But he’s a bad apple and now he needs to face life on his own. See how much he likes that.’
‘Maybe he’ll see the error of his ways,’ Harry said.
‘Maybe he will,’ Andrew said. ‘But I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to trust him again. And neither should you. We need to get some ice on that face or you’ll have a right shiner tomorrow.’