Page 231 of The Grand Duel
I see Lissie looking up at me and peer down at her.
“If you could, that would be great.”
“Yep, no worries. Cheers.”
Tom ends the call before I can say goodbye, his “get on with it” attitude one of the main reasons I employed him to work on the house. “You picked out doors?”
“No. I told Tom to have a look at the doors you showed me, and he agreed they’d look good.”
“The green?”
I nod, watching as her face lights up. “You’ve not steered me wrong yet.”
“Yet,” she repeats. “You put too much trust in me.”
I give her a gentle wink.
“I can’t believe my parents let you put the house straight.”
“I’m not sure they would have had I been the one to knock on the door this morning.”
“That’s true. I had a missed call from Jovie this morning, so either they told her, or she actually wants to talk.”
“Do you want to talk to her?”
She shrugs. “I want to. But if she can’t wrap her head around the fact I have no interest of mending things with Mum and Dad, I don’t know if there’s much of a conversation to have.” She looks out through the windscreen, her face taking on a sadness. “I think it’s a time thing. She hurt me, and deep down I know that it will hurt her that I’ve reacted the way I have. That I couldn’t just be happy for her.”
With the blanks in Lissie’s childhood mostly filled in, I gently push against her walls in the hope she’ll let me all the way in. “You said that you think the reason she hasn’t come home is because of Willow. Do you really believe that?”
“Hmm,” she says, sighing. “She’s blamed money, and work, and time, but I know my sister. I know how much she loves me.” She huffs a laugh, but I know without looking that she’s getting emotional. “We’ll FaceTime, and she’ll leave the room. Or if I do get to speak to Will, it will be quick because they’re heading out somewhere.” When I look down at her, she’s biting her lip. “It probably sounds like I’m overthinking it and am being pathetic, but I know in my gut that it’s the reason she stayed in Australia.”
“Do you think it would hurt in the way she thinks? If you got to meet Willow?”
She meets my eyes. “It would kill me inside. It would tear away at a barely healed wound and magnify exactly what I can’t have. And it would fill me with absolute joy. It would make me overcome with a pride I already hold for my sister.” She smiles. “I think it would heal me in a way.”
I reach over and link her fingers with mine, resting our hands in her lap. “I hope you get to meet her one day.”
“I will.” She squeezes my hand in hers. “We really do just need some time. This was always going to happen. I can’t let my emotions rule her life, no matter how much the control freak within me wants to.”
“You’re not a control freak, Lis. You care and love your sister and niece. After everything I’ve learnt and am learning, I can promise you that you’re a better person than I am to handle everything the way you have.”
She goes quiet on me, and like always, it rattles me.
I turn onto the back road to the estate and then look down at her.
“What?” I ask, my smile instant when I see hers.
“I’m just not sure I can take advice from a man who I think might fancy me a little bit.”
I chuckle, smoothing my hand over her thigh. “More than a little bit, Lissie girl.”
She grins. “I remember you telling me that I wasn’t allowed to become infatuated.”
“We’re all liars.”
FORTY-THREE
Lissie