Ten minutes into typing, I heard giggling echoes emanating from down the hallway, growing louder asfootstepsapproached. Those laughs could only belong to Beebee and Ceecee. I scowled, unsure whether I could leave now without seeming rude. Instead, I froze, hidden behind the partition. I heard them enter, chatting and tittering, before the sound of items being dropped onto one of the beds was followed by one loud splash after another.
They whooped and hollered, competing with one another as to who had the best diving technique. I should have got up and gone when I had the chance. Now if I emerged from behind my peeping-tom screen, I would just look weird. The sounds of splashing stopped, and their voices neared as they swam closer to the deep end.Shit, I realised with dread, they must be close to my side of the pool. I was stuck… I couldn’t even resume typing in case they heard me and thought me evenmoreweird for not making myself known when they entered.
‘So… Aunt Clem just told me something really disturbing,’ Ceecee sneered. I could tell it was her because almosteverythingshe said came out in a sneer.
‘Ew. Do I want to know?’ replied Beebee. ‘Aunt Clem and Uncle Fergus are rank. Have they ever heard of an exfoliation brush? They’re practically shedding everywhere they go.’
Ceecee sniggered. ‘You’re gonna want to hear this. Grandmama caught Uncle Miles and Aunt Olivia absolutelygoingat it last night.’
‘Oh my God,noooooo,’ Beebee gasped. ‘That is disgusting! They’re like fucking fifty!’
Ceecee chortled with glee. ‘And that’s not the best bit! Guess where she saw them?’
‘Where?’
‘Righthere,’ Ceecee cackled.
Beebee let out a shriek. Water splashed as she presumably jumped up and out of the pool. ‘You could have told me that before we got in! Ew-ew-ew-ew, we’ve been swimming in their juices?’ She cried.
‘Relax…’ laughed Ceecee. ‘The chlorine kills all of that stuff. Funny, though, right?’
‘It’s effing gross,’ Beebee insisted. ‘She is so, soweird. Is she a sex maniac or something? What’s with the porno books and doing it in the in-laws’ pool? I think she needs therapy.’
‘You’re not wrong about that. Although, she does look quite good for her age… But I have to agree with Mum, Uncle Miles iswayout of her league.’
‘Totally. If he wasn’t my uncle…’ Beebee dropped her voice provocatively.
‘Eurgh!’ I heard a slap of skin and a yelp. ‘Don’t even joke about that, Bee.’
Beebee laughed uncontrollably. When she’d finished she said, ‘Hey… guess what? I think Callum has some weed. Ismelled it through my window last night. We should totally go into his room and steal it.’
‘Oh my God, stop. What if he says something?’
‘He’s not going to admit he has weed, is he? You know Gran would shit a brick.’
Ceecee giggled. ‘That’s true. Okay, let’s do it.’
‘Cool, let’s shower and go back, I’ve got a video I need to film.’
I heard more splashing followed by wet feet padding away.
My palms were sweating. God Ihatedthose girls and their stuck-up, fugly parents with their stupid teeth. I lookedgreatfor my age? Thanks very much. And I was nowhere near fucking fifty. I’d been working hard to keep myself in shape this past year, and here we were: the fake teeth, tits, ab implants and botox queen telling her two brats that Miles is too good-looking for me. Mimi probably said that because Tristan was always drooling over me.
Every year I marvelled that Miles and Tristan were born to the same household. I wasn’t thrilled that Callum was smoking weed, although I’d had an inkling. I made a mental note to warn him about the girls’ plan, and to drill into him not to get caught smoking by Jeannie.
I stared at my screen, mulling over everything they had said about me being weird and not good enough for Miles. It was blatantly clear that’s how the whole family had felt from early on, but to hear it said out loud by the poisonous twins was something else entirely.
Through my whirling rumination, I heard a muffled cry.
‘What now?’ I rolled my eyes, my voice echoing over the still water. I slammed the laptop closed and set it down next to my jumper. I strolled leisurely out of the room, not in a rush to have my solitude interrupted again.
The hallway leading from the pool extension was long and winding, paved with tiles in case any wet swimmers should go trailing through to the main house. Old paintings of glossy-brown show horses, long since dead, lined the walls. The wooden panelling did nothing to dampen the sound of my encroaching footsteps and the closer I neared the doorway, the louder the commotion beyond the door became. But it didn’t sound like arguing– it sounded like panic.
I quickened my pace and burst through the door to the foyer. I was met with a group of pale, drawn faces. A cold breeze blew through from my left, and I turned to see that the front door was wide open, the rain beyond pattering heavily.
‘What’s the matter?’ I asked Martha, whose face was taut. ‘What’s happened?’
‘It’s Grandpa,’ she said, her voice flat, her eyes slightly wide with shock. She gestured towards the open door.
