Vacation in Vegas by Rowena Candlish

Author:Rowena Candlish
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary romance, australian author, lighthearted romance, no cliff hanger
Publisher: Rowena Candlish

Tears burned Emma’s eyes as she weaved through the crowded corridor as fast as she could.

Her own family didn’t want to know her.

She hadn’t really thought this part through. Ever since discovering that picture of happy families on her sister’s social media accounts, Emma had dreamed of making contact and being included. She’d spent weeks agonising over whether a long-distance phone call was best, or whether she should take the plunge and travel overseas for the first time and meet Michelle and Dad again face to face.

The first time she’d dialled the number of Michelle’s modelling agency and it began to ring, she’d slammed down the phone in a fit of panic. How could she explain to a stranger that she and Michelle were related, and then ask to speak to her?

No, this was far too important so the face to face option won. She longed to give both Michelle and Dad a hug. At first, she hadn’t had a real plan. She began saving money from each pay packet and putting it aside. When she’d discovered that Michelle was doing the shoot in Las Vegas, Emma couldn’t believe it. The fact that the dates coincided with her school vacation had to be Fate, and Emma couldn’t let the opportunity pass. Who knew when she’d get another one?

She applied for her passport, bought a plane ticket, booked the hotel with the money she’d saved, and here she was.

She wanted to see the recognition in their eyes when they met after all these years and ask why Michelle had stopped writing, stopped staying in touch. Emma had sent letters too, faithfully, every month, letting her sister know about school and about Mum and what their friends were up to. But by the end of that first year, Michelle’s letters stopped.

Just before Emma’s eighth birthday, she and Mum were watching the news one night. Mum let out a shriek as Michelle’s picture flashed on the screen under the headline “Local Girl Makes Good!” They’d watched in wonder as the newsreader went on to say that Michelle had been picked up by a New York modelling agency. Emma had beamed with pride for days. She’d written a letter straight away but Michelle didn’t reply again.

Emma’s letters began to arrive back, with “RTS—not known at this address” scribbled in an angry red circle on the front. Mum had tried to comfort Emma, saying perhaps Dad and Mish had moved. And Emma had tried to blink back her tears, saying “But we haven’t. They know where we are.”

Now, blinking back tears again, Emma bit back a sob.

She couldn’t wipe the condescension in her sister’s eyes out of her mind—the judgement and disapproval—like there was no conceivable way someone as ordinary as Emma could be related to the gorgeous model, Mishka, who’d been voted the Most Beautiful Person Alive for three years running.

Emma shuddered. She’d take that humiliation to her grave.

No, in all of her preparation and planning, she hadn’t thought about what might happen afterwards. She’d assumed they could discuss the past like reasonable adults.

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