Rainy Day Sisters by Kate Hewitt Read Free Book Online Page A

grumpy Alex Kincaid. Kindred spirits, even. She was still hoping for picnics and pub crawls.
    In the kitchen Lucy murmured good morning before grabbing a bowl for her own breakfast of microwaved oatmeal. At moments like this she felt like an interloper and even a freeloader in her sister’s house, and she wasn’t sure if that feeling would pass with time. Maybe she should offer to pay rent.
    â€œYou’d better be getting on,” Juliet said after the two couples had left and she’d dumped all the pans into the sink to soak. “You’re meant to be there right at eight, aren’t you?”
    â€œYes . . .” Lucy glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes to eight and the oatmeal she’d eaten felt like a stone inside her stomach.
    â€œGet on with you, then,” Juliet said briskly, and made a shooing motion. Lucy couldn’t tell if she was being encouraging or just wanted her out of the house. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
    Lucy nodded and reached for the proper waterproof she’d bought in Whitehaven, at Juliet’s instruction. It wasn’t actually raining this morning, although it had been last night.
    Now as she stepped outside, she saw the sky was a fragile blue, the sun streaming weakly from behind shreds of cloud. A few people were walking briskly towards the train station, but otherwise the street was quiet and empty.
    Lucy took a deep breath and headed up towards the school. As she battled with the school’s front door, a sudden gust of wind making it nearly impossible to open, she saw that a woman was already installed in the little reception office. She hurried out to help, closing the door behind her as Lucy blew herself in.
    â€œSorry,” she said, gasping, and tried to force her now-frizzy hair into some kind of submission. Wind was not kind to hair like hers.
    â€œYou must be the Yank,” the woman said, and Lucy blinked.
The Yank?
Seriously? The woman gave a booming laugh. “Oh, never mind me, I’m just having you on. Juliet said you were born here, weren’t you?”
    â€œIn Hampshire,” Lucy answered. She slipped off her coat and hung it on the stand in the corner of the office. “I moved to Boston when I was six.”
    â€œYou
do
sound American.” The woman put her hands on her hips and surveyed her, making Lucy aware of how bright and fuzzy her sweater was. She’d paired it with what she considered to be a very sensible black velveteen skirt, but the outfit was a far cry from her companion’s lavender twin set and tweed skirt. She was definitely zero for two in the first-impressions department. “Well, then,” the woman said. “I’m Maggie Bains.”
    â€œOh, yes. Mr. Kincaid mentioned you—”
    â€œI covered last term. And I’m here for a day or two to show you the ropes, but you’ll get the hang of it in no time, I’m sure, and then I’m off to Newcastle to visit the grandkids.” She smiled and bustled over to the photocopier. “Now, first things first. Mr. Kincaid is hard, but he’s fair.”
    Just like Juliet’s tough but good. Lucy was now officially terrified. Perhaps Maggie read her expression, for she let out another booming laugh and said, “Now, now, don’t let him scare you. I’d say his bark is worse than his bite, but he’s never bitten anyone, as far as I know. He’s a lovely man, really.”
    â€œMmm.”
    â€œAnd he hasn’t had an easy time of it, by any means. But
I’m
not one to gossip,” Maggie stated, making Lucy think she probably was. “So here’s the agenda for the staff meeting this morning,” she continued, taking a sheaf of papers from on top of the photocopier. “You’ll be responsible for that in future, but don’t worry. Mr. Kincaid always e-mails you the points beforehand.”
    â€œOkay,” Lucy said, trying to sound as if