Page 26 of The Good Sister

‘Your sister called twice,’ Mrs Hazelbury says, craning her neck to see further into the van. ‘Apparently she’s been calling your mobile phone all night and there’s been no answer.’

I feel a shiver down my spine; a sluice of ice water. Rose had called? Again?

What have I done now?

‘She wanted me to peek in your window and make sure you weren’t lying dead on the floor,’ Mrs Hazelbury says. ‘I have to say, I did notice a small dog in there while I was looking, which I’m certain is against the rules of the body corporate.’

‘I left my phone at home,’ I say to no-one.

‘There was a man hanging around earlier too,’ Mrs Hazelbury continues, taking a closer look at Wally. ‘It wasn’t you, was it? No. He was bigger and his hair was lighter.’

In the back of my mind, I think of the mystery man who visited me at the library. The same guy? Perhaps I’ve forgotten to pay a bill and they are sending someone door to door? But I put that thought aside for the moment. ‘What did Rose want?’

Mrs Hazelbury throws up her hands. ‘How should I know? Perhaps you should go and call her back instead of idling in this car all evening, keeping everyone awake!’

After finishing her inspection of Wally’s van, she gives us a nod and wanders off. I reach for the door handle. ‘I’d better go,’ I say. ‘Sounds like Rose is worried.’

Wally frowns, gazing just over my shoulder again. ‘Just because she’s called doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong, Fern.’

I feel the tingle again, low-level dread, this time in the pit of my stomach. ‘Unfortunately, in my case, it does.’

‘She’s very . . . involved in your life, isn’t she? It feels like she calls every time we’re together.’

‘Rose is protective. She’s looked after me all my life, so she knows the . . . situations I find myself in. If it wasn’t for her . . . who know where I’d be? Last time, she called she saved Alfie’s life, remember?’

Wally doesn’t respond.

‘Anyway,’ I say. ‘I’d better go call her.’

I slide out of the car and slam the door. Wally waits until I’ve made it up the stairs and am safely inside. It’s funny to think that only a moment ago, I was asking Wally to have sex with me. Goes to show it really does just take a moment for everything to change.

I have seventeen missed calls, all of them from Rose. There is also a text message:CALL me ASAP. I run through a mental list in my head. What could I have done? Alfie is lying contently on the couch. The oven is off. Mrs Hazelbury didn’t report anything out of the ordinary. What else could it be? I am still running through possibilities when my phone rings again.

‘Rose.’

‘Fern! Thank god. I’ve been so worried.’

‘Why have you been worried?’

‘Because! I told you I was going to call tonight at 7 pm. I wanted to see how Alfie was. I called and called, and you didn’t respond.’

I wait. ‘That’s it?’

‘That’s it? Fern, you could have been lying dead in a ditch for all I know.’

‘What would I be doing in a ditch?’

‘Fern!’ She exhales exasperatedly.

‘I don’t remember you saying you were going to call,’ I say. ‘What time is it over there?’

‘It’s two hours after we were supposed to talk,’ she says. ‘When you didn’t answer, I had to go through my emails to find Mrs Hazelbury’s number and then I asked her to look through your window and check that you weren’t dead!’

‘I know. She told me.’

‘I was really worried, Fern.’

Rose sounds agitated. I, on the other hand, am flooded with relief. I missed a call. Not ideal for a worrier like Rose. But no-one has been harmed. No-one has died.