The Girl in the Yellow Vest by Loretta Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

mother and set it in front of her.
    Her sister’s voice was just as glum as her thoughts. ‘I never get to do anything good around here.’
    It was clear they’d moved up the complaint ladder from ‘breakfast-food choices’ to ‘everything in general’.
    She was tired. ‘Zara, please.’
    ‘Well, it’s true. Everybody is going to Rosemary’s fifteenth birthday next weekend except me.’
    ‘I’m sure not everyone is going.’
    ‘How would
you
know?’
    ‘Call it a hunch. A responsible parent would not let their fifteen-year-old teenager go to an unsupervised beach party at night.’
    ‘Well, you’re not my parent, are you?’ she pointed out. ‘So take a load off.’
    Charlotte sighed. ‘Zara, you know Mum wouldn’t want you to go.’
    ‘Mum doesn’t know
what
she wants.’ Zara looked at the woman seated listlessly across from her, apparently staring into space. Virginia made no response. ‘Mum, can you hear me?’ Zara leaned forwards.
    Virginia seemed to surface from a very deep pool. Her eyes held nothing of the sparkle that had characterised them only a few minutes earlier. This was sometimes the only indication that she was not having an episode. Her moments of clarity, when she was truly in the present, were getting so rare these days that Charlotte treasured them like polished pink sea shells.
    ‘Yes, dear?’ Virginia said slowly.
    ‘Can I go to Rosemary’s beach party?’
    Virginia licked dry lips. ‘I think . . . I think you should ask your sister.’ Her voice was breathless, as if she’d been running a marathon or something.
    Zara groaned in frustration. ‘The Party Police? Great.’
    Charlotte clenched her fists behind the counter, wondering how she could explain to a teenager in five words or fewer the potential risks of such a party. In the end, she settled on, ‘In this case, I think I know best.’
    Oh that’s original.
    But the cheeky teen wasn’t going to let her off easy. ‘Give me one good reason why I can’t go.’
    She wasn’t buying into a full-blown argument now. ‘You need to get ready for school; you’re going to be late. We don’t have time to argue about this at the moment.’
    ‘You’re not even going to give me a say, are you?’ Zara demanded.
    ‘Zara,’ Charlotte began, ‘it’s just –’
    ‘I hate you!’ Zara threw at her, pushed her bowl away and walked out of the room.
    That went well.
    ‘Don’t worry, Lottie.’ She felt her mother pat her hand. ‘She’ll come round.’
    ‘Why do you always make me be the bad guy?’ she asked.
    Her mother smiled. ‘Because you’re so good at it.’
    She watched as her mother slowly spooned a mouthful of Coco Pops between her lips and felt tears prick her eyes. She knew Virginia was in the present because she was quiet and withdrawn – a stark contrast to her younger self. There were days when her mother thought Charlotte was Zara, others when she thought she was their old receptionist, and days when she didn’t recognise her at all. Although Silver Seas was no longer very profitable, it was the safest, most familiar place for her mother to be right now. Virginia and her late husband, Charlotte’s father, had bought it just after they had got married. When he had passed, about twenty years ago, it had kept her mother’s spirit alive. Now it was Charlotte’s duty to keep this place going.
    Lowering herself into the chair Zara had just vacated she said, ‘I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle here.’
    ‘You were exactly like her at that age, Lottie, and look how great you turned out.’
    The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. ‘And what about Luke? What was he like?’
    ‘Oh,’ her mother’s voice seemed wistful, ‘you know your brother – he was just like your father and still is. The strong, silent type.’
    Charlotte smiled. As far as she was concerned, her younger brother was the one person in the world she could count on completely. Luke lived in Mackay with his wife and kids and