She grinned. ‘Well I think yours is the only birthday we have in this house within the next twenty-four hours.’
‘Open it tomorrow, Brian. At the party,’ said Sue.
‘Open it now, Dad. I’m not going to be here tomorrow,’ said Anna quickly.
Sue looked at her husband, then back at Anna.
‘When you said you were coming for your dad’s birthday, I assumed you’d be here for the actual day.’
Anna glanced away. ‘I have to get back.’
‘So you can go to a client’s party but not to your father’s?’
Her mother’s snipe hit its target. Anna shifted uncomfortably.
‘I thought it was just a few friends coming round for drinks, not a proper party. You don’t want me there anyway.’
‘I’d love you to stay,’ said Brian.
She desperately wanted to celebrate with her father. Family occasions used to be so important to the Kennedys, and whilst part of her knew she should be the bigger person, to rise above it as if what had happened had never even existed, she knew she couldn’t bring herself to be in the same room as Sophie and her partner Andrew. Not yet.
‘Is she definitely coming?’ she said finally.
Her parents exchanged a look.
‘Andrew’s coming too,’ said Sue briskly. ‘He’s managed to get the day off work, and you know how busy he is.’
‘Mum, leave it.’
‘I’m just beginning to wonder if you are going to spend the rest of your life avoiding your sister?’
The high, taut cheekbones, the slender build that gave Sue her elegance were beginning to make her mother’s face look hard. But Anna spent her entire working day standing her ground. She wasn’t going to wilt under Sue’s stern and uncompromising gaze.
‘I’m not ready to see her,’ she said, taking a swift swallow of wine.
‘Well when are you going to be ready? You’ve not spoken to her for nearly two years. This is getting ridiculous.’
‘She stole my boyfriend,’ Anna reminded them.
‘Yes, and she was wrong. But isn’t it time you buried the hatchet? For us? For you?’
Anna looked away. They still didn’t get it. She supposed to them it was just some romance gone wrong. Living in Dorset, far away from Anna’s London life, they hadn’t seen how badly hurt she’d been, how devastated by the betrayal. And if they had recognised it, then they hadn’t wanted to take sides or get involved. She’d tried to block out the memory with work, with cigarettes and alcohol, with distance, but right now, it felt as raw and visceral as the moment she had first found her sister and her boyfriend together.
Sue’s tone softened. ‘Sophie is your sister, Anna. She’s a good girl, a good daughter. Don’t forget she saved our business.’
‘Yes, it was all her.’ Anna tried not to sound bitter.
Brian rubbed her arm. ‘Let’s talk about this later, hmm?’
Sue snorted.
‘She’s got to know at some point, Brian.’
Anna’s instincts sharpened.
‘Know what?’
‘This is what your mum mentioned on the phone, love,’ said Brian, his face full of sympathy. ‘Sophie and Andrew are getting married.’