Outback Sisters by Rachael Johns Read Free Book Online Page B

forced a laugh at the thought.
    â€˜Oh yes, his name’s Angus—but don’t go getting your hopes up. He sounds like a bit of a grump. I’ll have to engineer a meeting and check him out before I consider setting him up with my best sister.’
    Although Frankie appreciated Simone’s sentiment, the phrase ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ immediately came to mind. Besides, if Angus shared the same DNA as Logan, he couldn’t be that bad. Could he? ‘Thanks,’ she said, although she felt anything but thankful.
    â€˜But hey, if he’s not a possibility, maybe you could sign up to online dating as well? It worked for me, right?’
    The mere thought made Frankie’s skull pound. Simone seemed to have forgotten that it wasn’t even her who had done the work—three hours ago she’d been threatening to murder her daughters for it. Deciding it was time to make a move, she stretched her legs out in front of her. ‘I’d better be going. I’m glad you had a good night.’
    â€˜You can’t go yet,’ Simone objected. ‘Why don’t you stay the night? We can grab a bottle of wine, take it into my bedroom and start our study routine. First thing is finding out when and how Logan’s parents died. I’m interested in his relationship history too. Did you know he was married?’ Simone didn’t give Frankie the chance to reply before continuing, ‘Of course you didn’t. You spent even less time with him than me. He must have been quite young when they tied the knot. I wonder what happened?’
    Frankie stood. Although she was curious to learn more about Logan, she decided that for self-preservation, it was better to keep her distance, so she yawned again. ‘I’m sorry, I’m stuffed, maybe another night. I’ve got an early start at the café and the cats will be climbing the walls as I haven’t been home since this morning.’
    Simone shrugged, dismissing this excuse. ‘They’ve got each other for company.’
    â€˜Unfortunately they haven’t yet worked out how to open the cat food,’ Frankie said, her tone firm. She leaned down and kissed her sister on the cheek. ‘See you tomorrow?’ Rarely a day went by where they weren’t in each other’s pockets.
    â€˜You betcha,’ Simone replied, sounding even more chirpy than usual—and that was saying something. Simone was probably the most positive and optimistic person Frankie knew. Although she’d been through a very dark patch following the death of her husband, she’d eventually made a decision to embrace life and live on for her girls.
    Leaving Simone on the couch, Frankie saw herself out, climbed into her hatchback and drove the short distance to her house on the other side of town. As predicted, Fred and George were waiting, peering through the front curtains. She’d barely stepped into the hallway before they were winding themselves around her legs and mewling. She wasn’t naive enough to think they’d missed her. Cats only cared about one thing: their stomachs. But Frankie was happy to focus on her pets and on warming up her damn freezing house, anything to distract her from her other thoughts.
    On the way to the laundry, she flicked on the reverse-cycle heating, the cats darting in and out around her feet as she made her way down the hallway. She poured some cat biscuits into their bowls and then, because she was feeling generous, opened them a tin of tuna for a treat.
    Her heart felt heavy as she brushed her teeth and her eyes were already moist when she began to wash her face. How pathetic. It was stupid to feel like she’d lost something when she’d only met Logan that afternoon. It wasn’t like Simone had hooked up with Frankie’s ex, or someone she’d been harbouring a secret crush on for years.
    â€˜You need to get a grip,’ she told her reflection in the