The Sister-In-Law by Watson Sue

Author:Watson, Sue
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9781838882686
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-04-28T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

The last thing I wanted to do was join in with preparing the meat-free feast with the vegan queen, but if I refused, I was excluding myself – and that’s just what Ella wanted. It wasn’t the veganism that annoyed me, it was the way she used it like a stick to beat people with – mainly me.

‘Have you ever cooked an aubergine, Clare?’ she asked, like I was ten years old.

‘Of course, I make stuffed aubergines for dinner sometimes. Dan likes them.’

‘I bet he’d like mine more,’ she murmured.

I looked to Joy to see if she’d heard this. But she had her back to us, her hands in the sink, and even if she did, she wasn’t getting involved. I bit my tongue and endured a patronising demo on how to slice and salt aubergines like I’d never seen the vegetable before.

‘I’m sorry, Joy, but she’s being really annoying,’ I said, when Ella popped to the bathroom. Up to this point I’d bitten my tongue, but I’d just had enough. ‘Yes, I eat meat, but it doesn’t mean I don’t eat vegetables. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.’

‘She means well,’ Joy said diplomatically.

‘Really?’ I wasn’t so sure, but clearly Joy wasn’t going to agree with me.

‘Flatbreads,’ Ella said as she re-entered the kitchen, rubbing organic olive oil into her hands. ‘I’m going to show you how to make them, it’s the easiest thing – and they’re the yummiest. Not like the shop-bought rubbish that’s filled with baddies, eww,’ she said. Did I imagine the overlong glance at the sliced loaf I’d bought the previous day from the supermarket?

She then proceeded to mix flour and water and salt and made a dough and, while I worked on the aubergines, Joy disappeared to ‘check on the men’, though I think this was just an excuse to escape the atmosphere between me and Ella.

As soon as she’d gone, Ella said, ‘I think we’ll serve dinner at nine-ish tonight. Okay with you?’

She so knew it wasn’t. This was a flash of the toreador’s red cape to me, the bull, as I’d criticised her for booking the restaurant so late the previous evening. It would also mean I had to feed the children separately – something I didn’t like to do on holiday. It was family time and I liked us to eat together as my nursing shifts at home often meant we couldn’t. But I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of thinking she’d annoyed me, so I said, ‘Great, we can eat without the kids,’ which took the wind out of her sails.

I continued to chop and salt and fry. All the time building myself up to what was going to happen later. The late dinner would in fact play right into my hands – all the adults, no children, but plenty of witnesses.

‘It’s more Mediterranean to eat late,’ she added. ‘After all, it’s everyone’s holiday, not just the children’s.’ She really was trying to push me.

‘Absolutely.’ I nodded vigorously, wanting her to see she wasn’t getting to me.

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