Things I Want My Daughters to Know_ A Novel - Elizabeth Noble [5]
That didn’t sound like Jennifer. “It’s fine, really.” Lisa caught her sister’s glance. “Okay…not Jennifer. Just me. I ran around naked all the time when we were younger. Jen just tolerated it.”
Lisa sat down in front of the dressing table and started applying makeup, although Hannah didn’t really think she needed it. She was dead pretty. Lisa’s hair was much lighter than her own—strawberry blond, with really light bits in it. And she had all these freckles, tiny ones, across her nose and cheeks. But her lashes and eyebrows were surprisingly dark (maybe she did something to them?) above eyes that were more green than hazel, most of the time, and almond shaped. Hannah didn’t think Lisa had had spots when she was young—if she had, there was no photographic evidence in the albums Mum kept. She was slim and tall with great skin and hair that just looked nice without spending ages on it—the kind you could just put up in a ponytail, and the ponytail didn’t make you look like you just hadn’t had time to wash it; it looked pretty and natural, and Hannah felt a stab of envy and misery. She wasn’t spotty, or fat, or ugly, or anything. She knew that much, at least. She just didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin like Lisa seemed to. She wasn’t easy like her sister was. She’d rather die than have anyone see her in her bra and knickers.
“What are you wearing?” she asked Lisa.
“Well…Mum really did a number on me with her ‘brights and primaries only’ thing. I’m more of a black and beige girl, myself. Neutrals all the way. I found something in the summer sales. Don’t you hate how they have those in July—it’s like summer’s over before it even starts, don’t you think? It’s bright yellow. A bit Jackie O, I thought. A sundress, thank God. I doubtless look like a giant banana in it. But it fits the bill. You?”
“I’ve got this pink dress, from last summer. Mum got it for me, so I think she liked it. It’s a bit sparkly, is all….” Hannah’s voice trailed off.
Lisa looked at her in the mirror, through narrowed eyes. “She’d love that even more,” she said, as gently as she could. She swiveled around on the stool.
“Hannah?”
Hannah stood up. “Don’t be nice to me, Lisa. You’ll make me cry. Please, don’t, okay. Let’s just get it over with. I just want to get it over with. Doesn’t matter what we’re wearing, does it? It’s a stupid, stupid rule.”
Lisa nodded, and when she spoke again, she made her tone jokey. “Well, you and Jennifer have that opinion in common, at least. She was bitching about it the other night on the phone. Said that Stephen would refuse to wear anything but black. Said she was thinking about it. I said she could compromise—black dress, red shoes, you know. God knows what she’ll be wearing when she turns up.”
“What about Amanda?”
“God knows if she’ll even turn up.”
They smiled hopefully at each other. That was how Amanda was—you wouldn’t exactly count on her in a crisis, although neither of them really doubted that she would be here today.
“Is someone coming with you?”
“No.” Lisa looked at her quizzically. Hannah shrugged. “Didn’t ask anyone. I don’t really want anyone to come. How about you? Andy isn’t coming?”
“No, he’s not.”
“How come?”
That was a good question….
The sound of a car stopping outside the house saved Lisa from further questions. The engine idled, doors were opened and closed again. Hannah ran to the window.
“It’s Amanda.” Until she heard the words, and felt the relief, Lisa hadn’t realized how much she needed to hear that her sister had arrived.
Amanda
Amanda paid the taxi driver and thanked him as he heaved her rucksack out of the boot of his car.
“Blimey, girl, are you telling me that you lug this thing halfway around the world?”
“Someone has to!”
“What the hell have you got in it? Bricks?”
“No bricks, no. My entire life.”
“That explains it!” He doffed an imaginary cap at her, like Dick Van