Nat’s eyes widened. ‘But you hated that cake.’
Hannah laughed. ‘I know, but I loved the smell of it when it was baking, and it reminds me of being loved and safe. The ginger and cinnamon are such a strong smell. When I need her close, I sit in the kitchen with it baking, enjoying a cup of tea. Luckily Damien loves the cake.’
All three of them were silent, caught up in their own memories. Eventually, Hannah stood.
‘I think I’ll get going, leave you and Nat to chat.’ She hugged her father. ‘You have my support one hundred percent. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. When you and Sue find an area you’re thinking of buying in let me know that too. I’ll provide you with a full risk assessment.’ She held up her hands, knowing he would probably object. ‘You don’t have to go by it, but it is interesting to know the facts and figures. You don’t want to move into an area that’s had prices skyrocket in the previous year or one with a high crime rate. All the risk assessment will do is ensure you’re fully informed.’
‘Do you ever do anything spontaneous?’ Nat asked. ‘Don’t you get bored always analysing things, extracting the fun from them?’
Hannah hesitated. For just a few minutes she’d felt a closeness to Nat. A sharing of their love for their mother, and then, as usual, she had to spoil it. But she wasn’t going to get riled by her sister. Instead, she smiled. ‘You see, I’m lucky. I find analysing things fascinating. For me, it puts the fun into it. For instance, I would have weighed up the risks before deciding to ruin my niece’s birthday. I would have realised that not only would I have unnecessarily upset a twelve-year-old, but I’d look petty and silly in front of my family. I would also have been concerned about the damage it would have done to my relationship with my sister. So, before I acted like a total bitch, I would have considered all of this and made a much better and more informed decision. Now, I’m going to head home and enjoy the rest of my weekend.’ She flashed a smile at her father. ‘No need to get up, I can see myself out.’
She turned and left the kitchen, the smile widening on her face as she pictured the daggers flying from Nat’s eyes straight into her back.
Damien and Amy were still out at the movies when Hannah arrived home. Bear bounded down the stairs and sat at her feet, waiting to be showered with affection. She scratched his ears and was rewarded with the thumping of his tail. ‘You’re a good boy, Bear. A really good dog.’ His tail thumped harder as she spoke.
She walked through to the kitchen with Bear at her heels. She really should think about preparing dinner. It was strange, after a confrontation with Nat she often felt disappointed or down, but not today. She was glad Nat had shown up. She’d been feeling angry towards her following Amy’s birthday and hadn’t had a chance to make that clear. She had now, and while her father probably hadn’t enjoyed the tension between his daughters, they were things that needed to be said. What Nat had done was not okay. She felt lighter for having got her thoughts off her chest. She doubted her words would have any impact at all on her sister but they certainly helped her.
Hannah opened the fridge, planning to marinate some chicken for the evening’s stir-fry when her phone pinged. It was Damien.
Saw a double feature. The second movie’s only halfway through. We’ll be at least an hour and a half. Meet us in Box Hill for dumplings at seven?
Hannah grinned.
Perfect. See you there.
She sent the text back and shut the fridge. They could have the stir-fry tomorrow night. She turned to Bear. ‘Let’s get your dinner sorted.’ The dog shadowed her as she refilled his water bowl and filled another with his mix of chicken, rice and vegetables. She left him eating and went upstairs to her office and sat down. She wondered if Eliza or Lia were online.
She opened up her computer and logged on to the chat room. She could see the conversation between Eliza and Lia had continued after she’d left it the previous evening.
PinkFish88
So happy for you with the finances! Do you think there’ll be other investment opportunities?
LizaE
Not sure. Also, don’t know if I’d risk any of this money. It feels like another sort of gambling. We were lucky this time, but like anything, there are no guarantees.
PinkFish88
You sound very sensible. The sort of person I need around me at the moment. If my sister had invested for me and made so much, I’d be chomping at the bit, wanting to do it again. That one transaction would have got me out of debt. Not that my sister would ever have done something like that.
LizaE
What’s the deal with your sister? You’ve mentioned her a few times in a very negative way. Do you have any relationship with her?
PinkFish88
Not really. It’s hard to be around someone who makes you feel inferior to them. Is always looking down their nose at you, suggesting you could do better. She’s not very likeable.
LizaE
Has she always been like that?
PinkFish88
No. We were really close until my mum died when I was a teenager. It was never the same after that.
LizaE
That’s a pretty hard situation for all of you. I guess your mother’s death really affected her. Is she just like that with you or with everyone?
PinkFish88
She controls everyone but I think she’s more on my case than anyone else’s. There’s rarely a time when I see her that she doesn’t have something to criticise me about. I’m just not good enough in her eyes, and she’s a fixer so she can’t just let it go.
LizaE
What’s her husband like? A doormat?
PinkFish88
He’s a great guy. I can’t imagine what he’s doing with her. I’ve asked him a couple of times, and he’s said that I choose to see one side only to my sister. That I can’t see beyond her criticisms. He also doesn’t think she’s criticising me. He believes that she’s trying to help and can’t figure out why it gets my back up. I think he must have had a massive whack to the head at some stage if that’s how he interprets the situation.
LizaE
Interesting. I can’t imagine not getting along with my family. They are so important to me. I’d be devastated to have that kind of relationship. I always wanted a sister. Someone I could confide in and be best friends with. That’s how I always imagined it would be.
PinkFish88
It was when we were younger. We were really close. Not only were we good friends but I admired her. She always had my back. But when our mother died things changed. She changed. She went from being easy-going to completely neurotic. On my back about everything. Nothing I did was good enough from that point on. If Mum had been really strict I would have thought she was trying to step in and take her place, but Mum was the most relaxed, carefree person you’d ever meet. I guess it was how she dealt with our mother’s death, but knowing that doesn’t make being around her any easier.
Hannah stared at the screen. She and Lia had more in common than she would ever have imagined. Both had sisters they didn’t get along with and both had lost their mothers as teenagers. She thought back to when her mother died. It had changed her; she knew that. She could relate to Lia’s sister. The accident that killed her mother had instilled a fear she’d not known before. It made her worry about everything. For months she’d worried her father wouldn’t come home from work or that something would happen to Nat. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing someone else. She wouldn’t say she sucked the fun out of everything, although Nat thought she did. She just became overly cautious, weighing up the pros and cons of everything.