Odd One Out by Monica McInerney Read Free Book Online

were saying custardy. Fighting over custard? Why would they do that? Sebastian explained it to her. The family was going to be divided up.
    The idea terrified her. “I want to be with you, Sebbie. Wherever you are.”
    “Sylvie, it won’t be up to me.”
    “Please, Seb. Please let me go with you.”
    She was taken into an office, a room with a high ceiling and five red chairs. A woman behind a desk asked her in a kind voice where she would like to live. She didn’t have to think twice. “I want to be with my brother.”
    “And if your brother was living with your father?”
    “I want to be with my brother.”
    In the end it didn’t matter what she said. The judge decided. Sebastian was going to live with his father in Melbourne. Laurence Devereaux had been appointed to a position in the English department at Melbourne University. Fidelma was given custody of her three daughters, Vanessa, Cleo and Sylvie Devereaux. Case closed.
    The day at the courtroom was the last time she’d seen her father. He’d come over to her and leaned down as if he were about to speak. Sylvie’s mother took the top of her arm in a tight hold and pulled her away. There had been a bruise there the next day.
    Sylvie reached Donald’s bookshop, nestled between a French bakery and a wine shop. The front windows featured beautifully displayed books and posters. An old-fashioned bell sounded as she pushed open the glass door.
    Without Sebastian sweeping her along beside him, she had more time to look around the shop. Pale wood shelves, a skylight, the walls painted calm colors, each section clearly marked: fiction, nonfiction, Australian, new releases, poetry, classics. Two tables at the front of the shop featured staff picks, recently reviewed titles and special promotion titles. To the side was a children’s section divided not into fiction or nonfiction but into subjects: cats, dogs, trains, trucks. Classical music played softly. The whole shop smelled of coffee. Toward the back was a small café with three tables, armchairs and a compact coffee-making machine, the shelf above it lined with colorful cups and large glass jars filled with biscuits. There were half a dozen customers browsing the shelves and book tables.
    The only assistant was up a ladder, putting up a poster. As she waited by the counter, he descended. She saw black runners. Long legs in faded jeans. A blue T-shirt. Lightly tanned arms. A head of dark-brown curls. It wasn’t Donald.
    The man turned as he reached the floor. He had a boyish sprinkling of freckles on his face. Dark eyes. A grown-up Huckleberry Finn, Sylvie thought. First Pippi Longstocking, now this man. She felt like she’d stumbled into Book Land at the top of the Faraway Tree.
    He smiled at her. “Hi. Sorry to keep you waiting. Can I help you?”
    “Hello. Yes please. I was wondering if Dona—”
    He interrupted. “You’re Sylvie, aren’t you? Sebastian’s sister?” At her nod he gave a big smile. “He said you’d be calling in. You’re exactly as he said you’d be.”
    She wondered what Sebastian had said. Lost-looking? Anxious? She put on a bright expression, just in case. “Which means you must be Max.”
    He bowed. “At your service. How did you know? Let me guess, he described me as a devastatingly good-looking man of the world?”
    She smiled. “Nearly. He said you were a very good friend of his.”
    “And I am, for my sins.” He put out a hand. “It’s great to meet you. Are you looking for a book or a coffee? Both, maybe?”
    “Actually, something a bit more complicated than that.”
    “Excellent.” He leaned against the counter and folded his arms. “I’m in the mood for something a bit more complicated today. Ask away.”
    She reached into her bag for the envelope. “When we were young, Sebastian and I used to—”
    “You’re on to the treasure hunt already?”
    “You know about it?”
    “I couldn’t possibly say. But you don’t waste any time, I’ll give you