Moonlight Over Manhattan(109)

Stretching her legs out on the sofa, she settled in to have a long chat with her sister (not that she was going to let Greg get away with that comment about the length of their phone calls. Maybe one call last month had reached the two-hour mark, but she and Lauren lived thousands of miles apart! What did he expect?). “Hi, Lauren. Happy Birthday to Ed! How was the party? I was going to call you tomorrow. Did our gift arrive?” She smiled in anticipation and because she was expecting everything to be perfect it took her a couple of minutes to absorb what her sister was saying. “What?” She sat up suddenly, spilling her wine over her jeans. “Say that again!”

By the time Jenna ended the call she was in shock.

Her hand was shaking so badly she almost dropped her phone.

Greg walked back into the room and put two mugs of coffee on the table. “Did you lose the signal or something?”

“No.”

“Then why so quick? I was going to speak to Ed.”

“You can’t.” Her lips felt strange, as if they didn’t want to move. “Ed is—” She broke off and he looked at her.

“Ed is what?”

Her eyes filled. “He’s dead. How is that even possible? Today was his fortieth birthday. People don’t die on their fortieth birthday. My sister. My poor sister.” This time she didn’t even try to hold back the tears. “I have to go to her.”

“Of course you do.” Looking shaken, Greg took the empty glass from her hand and tugged her to her feet. “Go and pack. I’ll call the airline.”

“We can’t—I can’t—” She couldn’t think straight. “There’s school, and—”

“I’ll call them while you’re packing. I’ve got this, honey.”

“What about the money? We already decided we couldn’t afford to go away in the summer.”

“We’ll manage. Some things are more important than money.”

She didn’t argue.

Only hours before she’d been envying her sister, and now her life was shattered.

It was unbelievable. Unfair.

And to think she’d been about to offload her own problems.

She sleepwalked to the bedroom and pulled out her suitcase. Without thinking about what she was packing, she stuffed random clothes into it. All she could think about was her sister, her big sister, who had always been there for her through thick and thin.

There was nothing her sister didn’t know about her. Not a single thing.

“It’s all booked.” Greg appeared in the doorway, his phone in one hand and his credit card in the other. His face was pale and his expression serious. “Take sweaters. And a coat. It’s cold in England.”

“What? Oh, yes. Sure.” She pushed some thick socks into the case and paused, helpless. “What do I do, Greg? What is the right thing to say to someone who has lost their husband? I wish you were coming with me.”

But they both knew he couldn’t. He had people counting on him, and no one who could cover him.

“You’ll be there with her, that’s what counts. I’ll call you every night.”

Jenna glanced round her bedroom and tried to work out what she’d forgotten. Lauren would have made a list. She probably had a list ready to use entitled “for emergency travel.” Everything would be checked off. Red ticks for the outward journey, blue ticks for the return journey.

There were no ticks on Jenna’s list. Jenna didn’t have a list to tick.

She was the disorganized one. Lauren was the perfect one.

Except that her perfect sister’s perfect life was no longer perfect.