Page 3 of Best Mistake Ever
There’s a short pause, then the sound of my sister drawing in a raspy breath.
Uh oh.
‘Um. Not really,’ she says in a small, shaky-sounding voice.
My whole body goes on high alert, blood pumping hard through my veins.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I… er. I’ve hurt my ankle.’
‘Okay,’ I say, crossing my fingers that she’s not underplaying this only to lead me in gently to the true horror of her injury. I’m ashamed to say that I’m not good with physical wounds, as she well knows. The sight of them does something weird to me, sending my blood sugar through the floor and on occasion making me faint.
It’s my fatal flaw.
In all other respects, I’m a very practical person. But not with things like this.
I can already feel myself starting to sweat.
‘It’s a bit embarrassing actually,’ she says, in an unusually discomfited voice. This isn’t like Dee at all. She’s normally full of bluster, even in the most trying of circumstances.
‘What happened?’ I ask tentatively.
‘Well, the thing is, I bought some new shoes at the weekend and they have a bit more of a heel on them than I’m used to,’ she says in a more conversational tone now.
I begin to relax, reassuring myself she wouldn’t be launching into one of her stories if she was lying broken on the floor.
‘I thought they’d make me look more professional, you know, at my job. I want my boss to think I’m one of those powerful, intimidating women that Dad’s always dating.’ I’m reminded of the rapt look on her face when she described her new employer to me the other day. He’s the son of a famous rock star and a well-known musician himself – a guitarist, I think – though I couldn’t name one of his band’s songs right now. I don’t think they released many before they imploded. From what little I know about him, he led a pretty wild celebrity lifestyle – drink and drugs, the usual nonsense – and ended up being booted out of the band for not turning up for gigs.
Apparently, he went from being well respected to utterly disdained for being an over-privileged nepo baby in the space of about a year. And now he’s using his family’s wealth and connections to front the boutique hotel that Dee landed her job at and is proving to be a prettytestingboss. Whatever that means.
‘Okay, but I think it’ll take more than a pair of six-inch heels to make that a reality,’ I say a little impatiently, wishing she’d get to the point.
I glance up to see Jem is looking over at me with a concerned frown on his face. I smile and mouth, ‘It’s just Dee,’ to reassure him there’s no real problem here.
He nods and looks back at his screen. He’s met Dee a few times, so he knows exactly what I mean by that.
‘Anyway,’ she says, seeming to sense my frustration. ‘I was on my way out to the car and my ankle went over when I was coming down the stairs.’
‘You walked down those narrow stairs in new high heels?’ I say, unable to keep the exasperation out of my voice.
‘I know, I know, but I wanted to make sure I could manage stairs in them before wearing them around the hotel all day.’ Her voice is shaky again now, like she’s on the brink of tears.
Empathy shoots through me. I really should be kinder to her; she’s trying hard to make this new opportunity work out and she doesn’t need me criticising her too.
‘How bad is it? Can you walk?’ I ask.
She lets out a long sigh. ‘See, that’s the problem. I don’t think I can. My ankle’s blown up like a balloon and it’s too painful to put any weight on it. I had to hop to the car in my bare feet – well, foot – but I don’t think it’s safe for me to drive.’
I shake my head and grimace at my desk, glad she can’t see me right now. How does she manage to get into these scrapes all the time? It’s baffling to me.
‘Bea?’ she says in a querulous voice into the silence.
And I know exactly what’s coming next. I can see the rest of my day disappearing in a blur of hours sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair, drinking bitter-tasting, watery instant coffee in the waiting room of the A&E department.
But to my surprise, she doesn’t ask me to take her to the hospital.
Instead, she says, ‘I need you to save my life and pretend to be me.’
