Victoria Connelly - Wish You Were Here

Alice looked at her sister. She was selfish and infuriating but she also looked a little paler than usual and Alice’s sisterly genes kicked in.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

Almost immediately, tears welled up in Stella’s big blue eyes. ‘It’s Joe!’ she cried.

‘What about him?’

‘He broke up with me!’

‘Oh, Stella!’ Alice said, leaning towards her on the sofa and squeezing her shoulder. ‘What happened?’

‘He said I was too high-maintenance. What does that mean, anyway?’

‘It means you spend a lot of time—’

‘I know what it means! But I’m not high-maintenance! I haven’t been to the hairdresser’s for two weeks. Two whole weeks! And look at my nails!’

Alice looked at the immaculate scarlet talons her sister sported.

‘Chipped and scuffed but I’m making do until tomorrow before getting them done. I ask you – is that “high-maintenance”?’

‘Well—’

‘And he said I didn’t like the simple things in life just because I didn’t want to go on some crumby camping holiday. I mean, what girl in her right mind would want ‘to sleep in a tent? On the ground? ’

Alice thought of Joe. He was the outdoors type with rock-climber’s arms and an athletic build. She could think of any number of girls who’d give anything to spend a night in a tent with him. Not her sister, though. Nothing but a five-star hotel would do for her.

‘He’s a scumbag,’ Stella said.

Alice sighed. Joe was most definitely not a scumbag. Alice actually quite liked him but she could guess what had happened. He’d probably grown tired of Stella’s little ways as well as her constant flirting. For a start, Alice couldn’t help noticing that there were no less than five Valentine’s cards lined up on the mantelpiece. Five! Who were they all from? Alice was guessing that Stella had flirted with every single one of the senders.

‘We’d just booked a holiday to Greece together, too,’ Stella went on with an almighty sniff, ‘and I was really looking forward to it. He knew how much I needed a break.’

Alice blinked, wondering what exactly it was that Stella needed a break from. ‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.

‘Well, I’m not going to waste it, am I? Joe gave me the tickets – probably so I wouldn’t make a scene. Look.’ Stella got up and retrieved a brochure from the dining table and tossed it into Alice’s lap. ‘Page eighteen.’

Alice flipped through the brochure until she came to the right page and gave a long, low whistle as she took in the picture-perfect white villa with the bright blue shutters. It had its own swimming pool and terrace overlooking the sea. It certainly wasn’t your typical tourist trap Greek island with blaring nightclubs and bars. This looked quiet and exclusive – a real escape from the world. Joe certainly had good taste – it looked beautiful.

‘You’ve got to come with me, Alice!’

‘What?’

‘You’ve got to come with me. I can’t go on my own – it’ll be so boring. And I’ve already asked Lily and Becks and they can’t make it. I even asked Jess and I don’t even like her that much and she said no too. So you’ve got to come. You don’t have to pay or anything although you can buy me a present as a thank you if you like. I’ve seen this really beautiful cashmere jumper I really need. Do say you’ll come!’

Alice bit her lip. What was there to think about? A week of glorious sunshine on a beautiful Greek island far far away from the bleak, Norfolk weather and the woes of office life. It was just what she needed.

‘ Please , Alice! I know you’d never forgive yourself if you thought I was going on holiday all by myself! You’d never let that happen, would you?’

Alice looked at her sister. She was so good at getting people to do exactly what she wanted and, of course, Alice was going to say yes but not because Stella was trying to make her feel guilty. Alice really wanted to go but it occurred to her that she could use this as a bargaining chip.

‘Oh, Alice! I’ll be so miserable all on my own!’ Stella continued, her face as long as a bloodhound’s.

Alice held her hands up in mock defeat. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I’ll come with you. On one condition.’

‘What?’ Stella said.

‘You come with me on Dad’s birthday and give him a really brilliant day out.’

Stella took a deep breath. She didn’t look happy and, for a moment, Alice thought her bribe wasn’t going to work. But it did. ‘Okay!’ Stella said at last.

‘Promise?’

‘I promise,’ Stella said. ‘I’ll be there.’

One of the pleasures of living in Norfolk was the extensive coastline to the north and east of the county. You were never far from the sea but, without a car, it was rather awkward to reach and Alice didn’t get to see it very often but today was a wonderful exception.

‘It was good of Stella to let us borrow her car,’ Terry Archer said.

‘It’s your car, Dad,’ Alice said.

He shook his head. ‘No, no – it’s Stella’s all right,’ he said, nodding to the pair of furry pink dice hanging from the rear-view mirror.

Alice groaned and took them down, chucking them onto the back seat. ‘She was sorry she couldn’t make it today,’ she said. ‘She really wanted to be here.’

She heard her father sigh. ‘Alice, you don’t need to lie on behalf of your sister. I know what she’s like. In fact, I only expect to see her on special occasions like when she needs a cheque signing.’

‘She’s not still tapping you for money, is she?’ Alice said, aghast.

‘Only when I let her get away with it.’

‘Oh, Dad!’

‘I find it hard to say no to her sometimes – like your mother. I never could say no to her either.’

‘But you’d say no to me, wouldn’t you?’ Alice said with a grin.

‘You never ask in the first place, my dear,’ he said.

Alice smiled at him as she took the turn onto the coast road but she was secretly seething because that morning, she’d got a phone call from her sister.

‘Alice?’ a little voice had squeaked at the end of the line.

‘Stella?’

There was the sound of throat-clearing and then the squeaky voice began again. ‘I don’t feel so good. I think I’m coming down with flu.’

Alice had tried to believe her – she really had – but Stella was in the habit of crying wolf whenever it suited her and it was hard to know when she was telling the truth.

‘Are you wrapped up in bed?’ Alice had asked her.

‘Yes,’ the squeak replied.

‘Good,’ Alice said. ‘Then I’ll pop over and get the car.’

‘What?’ she’d shouted.

‘I thought you’d lost your voice?’

There was the sound of throat-clearing again. ‘I have! What do you want the car for?’

‘For Dad’s birthday. If you’re ill in bed, you’ve no use for it,’ she said and had immediately hung up.

When Stella had answered the door an hour later, she’d done a pretty good job of roughing her hair up but Alice could see she was wearing clothes underneath her housecoat and had a full face of make-up on, but she hadn’t bothered to challenge her. One thing was certain – she wasn’t going to let it spoil her special day with her father.

The little town of Bexley-on-Sea might not have Great Yarmouth’s funfair or Cromer’s pier but it was all the richer for that, Alice couldn’t help thinking. It was an old-fashioned sort of place with its row of Regency hotels and its simple promenade lined with pretty wooden kiosks selling fish and chips and ice cream. It wasn’t the first choice for the tourist venturing to Norfolk but it was a favourite with locals and Alice loved it.