Page 32 of The Island Villa

“What? Why have we stopped?” Adeline’s voice was husky, as if she’d swallowed dust.

Cassie looked at her sister. She tried to search for clues, but her sunglasses made it impossible for her to see her eyes.

“This must be very hard for you.”

“It’s not hard. Why have you stopped? Do we have car problems?”

“No, but...”

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“Me? I’m fine.” Cassie floundered. Maybe she’d imagined the emotion in Adeline’s voice, because there was no emotion now. Or maybe Adeline was desperately trying to hide how she felt in front of Cassie. It wasn’t as if they were close. But she wanted to be close. She wanted to tell Adeline that she understood. But did she, really?

“So why have you pulled over?”

It was like trying to squeeze juice from a pebble. “Look, I know our mother—” she emphasized the words, reminding her sister that Catherine was mother to both of them “—getting married again is probably a bit stressful for you.”

“Why would it be stressful for me? She is responsible for her own choices. Those choices have no impact on me.”

Yes they do, Cassie thought, because you wouldn’t be here if she weren’t getting married.

But it felt as if her sister was behind glass. She could see her, and hear her, but she couldn’t touch her.

“I just wanted you to know that I’m here if you need anyone to talk to.”

“I won’t need anyone to talk to.” There was a pause. “But thank you.”

It was like standing on either side of a giant chasm.

Cassie had promised herself that she was going to stop trying to breach that chasm, and here she was doing it again. She could imagine Oliver rolling his eyes. Give up, Cass!

And she should give up. She’d been wrong to think her sister was upset. She obviously didn’t feel anything at all. If she didn’t know that she was made of flesh, she would have thought someone had programmed her.

Hurt, appalled to find that she was the one with a lump in her throat, she slammed the car into gear and pulled back into the stream of traffic.

Maybe she should write a fantasy book, where the heroine seemed human, but wasn’t.

“The villa is looking gorgeous at the moment, particularly the garden. The bougainvillea is a picture. It’s going to be the perfect setting for a wedding.” If they weren’t going to talk about anything meaningful, then she’d simply talk about boring everyday things with no emotional subtext.

There was a pause. “What’s he like?”

“Who? Oh, you mean our soon to be stepdad? I don’t know. I haven’t met him.” And she had to admit there was something strange about that. “I arrived late yesterday, and he’d gone to Athens for something. I didn’t ask what.”

“You haven’t met him?” There was something in Adeline’s voice. Surprise? Relief?

Cassie was encouraged to discover she was capable of an emotional reaction.

“I haven’t met him yet. But we’re going to meet him tonight. He’s obviously a busy person.”

“Busy doing what? What does he do?”

“I don’t exactly know.” She could feel Adeline’s gaze on her.

“She hasn’t told you anything about him?”

“Nothing. Not even his name.” Which was also strange, now she thought about it. When she fell in love, she was pretty sure she was going to be dropping the guy’s name into conversation at every turn. Or maybe it was just her mother being romantic. “She probably wants to surprise us. You know what she’s like. Every birthday she buys you something that you wouldn’t ever have thought of, but totally love.”

“She gives me money,” Adeline said and Cassie wondered whether she should just drive the car into the sea and have done with it.

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