The Pretty One by Clare Boyd
Author:Clare Boyd [Clare Boyd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Medical, Suspense, Psychological, Family Life
ISBN: 9781838887094
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2021-02-25T23:00:00+00:00
Slowly, everyone sloped downstairs. Dom kissed me on the forehead and said, âI donât feel old enough to have two such grown-up daughters.â
âI do,â I said. I felt ancient, hung-over and worn out by the last six months.
Bay was the last down. She had been finishing off her little birthday film for Nell, which was going to be a surprise for her after cake and tea this afternoon with Mum and my brother and his family. She had come home earlier than all of us last night, just after midnight, slipping away from Tyâs silent disco at his pool house. She had never liked big parties.
The five of us were together at last, sitting at the tiny breakfast bar crammed with food, elbow to elbow, gobbling and chatting about the funny things that had happened at our various parties.
âTy was dancing so hard to grime, he fell into the pool by accident,â Bay said. âAnd Badger jumped in to save him!â
There were lots of coos about Badger, who was a lovable rogue of a dog who used to pad around our house eating anything and everything he could find, just like Ty had when he was younger. Unlike Badger, Ty had since lost his puppy fat and grown tall and lean, dyed his hair tips peroxide blond and taken to wearing skinnies and Breton striped tops every day. Somehow I doubted that he had fallen into the pool by accident. By design was more likely. Ty was an interesting boy. He had manufactured himself brilliantly to survive secondary school. But his downturned mouth would always be the same; he was soppy-faced and soft-hearted like Badger, and it reminded me of how damaged he had been before the zaniness and the new image had come along.
âMatthew Michaels made me a special cocktail, called the Iris Cocktail,â Iris said.
âDid you get drunk, sis?â Nell chuckled.
âMummy and Daddy did!â Iris cried.
Dom rubbed his head and croaked, âHe made strawberry daiquiris.â
âLethal,â I admitted.
âDidnât Matthew go out with his mates?â Nell asked.
âHe told me he wanted to spend New Yearâs Eve with his parents this year,â Dom told her.
âHeâs so sweet,â Bay said.
Nell, who was cradling a cup of tea like her life depended on it, shot a distinctly dirty look at Bay and I wasnât sure why. Both of them had history with Matthew, but I rarely understood the ins and outs of their triumvirate.
âBut he always goes out on New Year,â Nell continued.
âI think he might have split up with his girlfriend,â I said, knowing that he definitely had. Viv had been more devastated than Matthew. Belinda had been the one he had rejected Cambridge for. She had got a place studying architecture at Sheffield and he had followed her there â perhaps that was the rebellion I had always expected of him! Viv had only tolerated his decision because she thought the two of them might settle down after their studies and give her grandchildren sooner rather than later.
âReally? Theyâve actually split up, properly?â Nell said.
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