Chapter 7 #2
Steph somehow managed to finish school with some qualifications despite her lack of interest and her partying, and she even got a job as a personal assistant locally while Faye trained as a hairdresser.
For a while it seemed that Steph was settling down too, but her life outside her work had so many ups and downs that Faye felt like she was on the roller coaster with her at every single dip.
Steph had been thrown out of a bar in her early twenties after she followed a friend into the toilets where they had sex – their dad had picked her up when the owner of the bar called the emergency contact on Steph’s phone.
Soon after that she made a pass at Faye’s then-boyfriend, Charlie, and Faye had seen that one with her own eyes.
It resulted in an almighty row, radio silence for over a month, and even though Faye had ended things with Charlie for reasons other than her sister, she’d never forgotten the betrayal.
Of course Steph had been remorseful, said it was only a joke to see whether he could tell he was kissing the wrong twin, and she promised she’d do anything to make it up to her, but Faye wasn’t interested.
She was getting used to having a sister who acted first and thought about it later.
When Steph was twenty-one she got caught stealing a lipstick from a department store and because their dad was out on the ocean and uncontactable Faye had taken the call at home.
It was she who called in to work to explain she was dealing with an emergency and she who had gone to see whether she could help.
As she’d pulled up in the car park near the department store she’d wondered whether she should turn right around again.
Perhaps if they came down hard on Steph it might teach her a proper lesson.
When Faye arrived at the office in the department store she’d gone in to see Steph with her red blotched tear-stained cheeks, a wobbly bottom lip and more regret than Faye had ever witnessed.
The manager had given Steph a stern talking-to, Faye had explained that there was trouble at home and their mother had walked out – she didn’t point out that that was almost five years ago.
Steph was let off with a warning, Faye paid the money for the lipstick and apologised profusely, promising it wouldn’t happen again, and they’d left the store in shock.
What shocked Faye more, however, was when Steph began laughing as soon as they were in the car. ‘What a high!’ she’d exclaimed. ‘What a rush!’
Faye tried to distance herself from her sister after that.
It pained her to do so but gradually, with less and less time spent together, Faye realised she had more individuality without Steph in the background.
She wasn’t heaving around her sister’s personality as well as her own, making excuses for her, worrying so much, trying to fix everything.
They saw one another, but Faye stayed away from Steph’s dramas, and it was always a relief when Steph went away to stay with their mother for a while.
At least that was how it had worked until the scandal broke.
Faye smiled when her dad turned off the main road now. ‘This is more like it.’
‘England’s roads, half the width of Aussie ones,’ he said with amusement.
‘And with two-way traffic.’ A tractor was coming towards them and she almost breathed in as it passed. ‘Did it take you a while to get used to these roads again?’
‘You wait until we’re closer to Moreton.’ Moreton was the small village in Dorset where Uncle Frank lived. ‘This road is like the freeway in comparison.’
‘Steph wouldn’t like it.’ Her sister didn’t like driving much at all. She was terrible at parking, and she would never cope with these dinky roads.
‘She’s been driving a ute around at her mother’s. Can you imagine?’
‘Not really.’
‘I think she’s staying on a while longer.’
‘Hiding a while longer you mean.’ Steph never had been one to face the consequences. ‘And rather her than me.’
‘You never were a fan of the outside dunny.’
His remark about the outside toilet at their mother’s house had her lighten up a bit.
There was an inside bathroom but if it was occupied, which it often was with between four and eight people living there on and off, then you had to go out in the elements.
Bad enough that you had to go outside to the toilet anywhere, but in Far North Queensland with its wildlife it was no joke.
‘Dad, would you mind if we took a bit of a detour before we go to Uncle Frank’s?’ Simultaneously they flipped their sun visors down at the change of light now they were trundling towards the Dorset village.
‘Detour?’
She explained about Howard and Driftwick Bay. ‘He never misses a book club, you see, and I’m getting worried about him.’
‘You know where he lives?’
‘Well, no, but he bought the bookshop, Driftwick Bay Books, so if we drive into the town I could pop in.’
Her dad was happy to take the detour and she reprogrammed the satnav as he drove.
She couldn’t wait to see Howard’s face when she walked into the bookshop, took him by surprise.
Meeting her friend in person was something she never thought would happen, but now she was actually going to do it and it would be wonderful.
As they came to a T-junction her dad carefully pulled out to turn right. ‘Your sister is a lot like your mother,’ he said. ‘That may sound harsh, but—’
‘I saw it when Steph was younger. I hoped she’d grow out of it.’
He didn’t seem surprised that she’d realised it all along.
‘You know when your mother and I first started dating, her waywardness was what I was drawn to. I was always calm and organised; I always did the right thing.’ They’d met at Glastonbury one year and perhaps in the same way as he was drawn to her rebelliousness, she liked his assuredness and reliability.
‘Talk about opposites attract,’ said Faye.
‘I think your mum liked the fact that I was a family man.’ He smiled, perhaps remembering fondly the earlier years because they hadn’t all been bad.
When she was little Faye could remember plenty of family outings with all four of them, the journey over to Australia when she was in her early teens, the discovery of beautiful beaches and hidden places in the land down under.
‘Your mum never had stability in her life until she met me. I think losing her parents when she was only six years old had a bigger effect on your mother than she ever admitted. She had nobody to show her what growing up meant and the responsibility that comes with having children. I’m not making excuses for her, but maybe that was part of what made her into the person she was and still is. ’
‘Steph has you, at least, to show her the right way.’ She paused. ‘Do you think she’ll ever change?’
‘I have no idea. But I’ll love her anyway.’
‘So will I.’ It felt odd to think it, that you could love someone but not particularly like them.
Her dad was right; the quaint villages and roads that they passed by and through were quintessentially English and she was falling in love with the place already.
It was amazing how much she’d forgotten – the odd brilliant red phone box still in situ, the corner shops with their coloured awnings, the cottage gardens, the thatched roofs on properties dating way back.
It wasn’t long before he slowed to drive down the hill into the heart of Driftwick Bay. Faye could already see what must be Lulworth Cove in the distance and she knew she was smiling. Back in Dorset, all this beauty surrounding her, she already felt at home.
‘This is the main street.’ Her dad slowed up and pulled in on the left of the hill. ‘I believe the bookshop is just in front of these few cars.’
She undid her seatbelt. ‘You coming?’
‘I’ll wait here for you, love. I was up early; I’ll rest my eyes.’
Out in the August sunshine that seemed to have already started to warm up since she got into the car at the airport, she walked down the hill past the other cars until she drew level with Driftwick Bay Books.
It was just as Howard had said, charming and with a character all of its very own.
He’d shown them photographs of this place and now she got to see the shop for real, with its beautiful dark wooden Georgian windows, a display of books with novelty items beyond the glass, but… hang on…
She cupped her hands around her eyes and peered in through the window. Despite it being past 9 a.m. the bookshop was still closed, and Howard had told them all that he opened on the dot of 9 a.m. six days a week and if he wasn’t there, his assistant would be.
But it wasn’t the fact that the shop looked abandoned inside with no light and no sign of life that had her worrying all the more, it was the sign on the door.
Permanently Closed, it said.
Her heart sank. Had the developers got their way and hounded Howard so much that he’d walked away from his beloved shop?
And if that was the case, was he so distraught that he hadn’t even been able to share it with his friends in the Midnight Book Club?