Katie felt a stab of guilt. The last thing she wanted was to fall out with her sister. “I’m sorry.” Contrite, she turned to look at Rosie. “I’m tired, cranky, and it’s been a tough few weeks.”
“Oh no!” Rosie swung her legs down and stood up, instantly concerned. “Because of me?”
“No, not because of you. Believe it or not, kiddo, I do have a life that doesn’t involve you.”
“So why have you had a tough few weeks? Tell me.”
Realizing she’d fallen into a trap of her own making, Katie prevaricated. “Busy time at work. Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure? Because you can talk to me, you know.”
As sisters they’d always been close, although Katie was aware the relationship was different from the one she shared with Vicky or other friends. There was an element of the maternal in her feelings for Rosie. In her relationship with her sister she was the leaned on, not the leaner. She’d never shared her own problems, and she wasn’t about to start now. She was the strong one. “Nothing to talk about,” she said. “I’m fine.”
“Well, you’re on holiday now, so you can stop being a doctor for a few weeks.”
She’d stopped being a doctor for at least a month, although her sister didn’t know that. “Once a doctor, always a doctor. Are you using your inhalers?”
“Yes. I’m not stupid. I haven’t had an attack in ages so you can stop worrying about me.”
That, Katie thought, is never going to happen.
She gazed up at the soaring roof of the tree house. “So where is Dan? When do I get to meet the guy who swept my little sister off her feet?” She wanted to examine him under her metaphorical microscope. She wouldn’t have minded examining a few of his cells under a real microscope, too. Maybe she could yank out a hair, or take a small slice of him to send off to the lab for testing.
“Tomorrow.”
“What’s wrong with right now?”
“He’s over at the lodge catching up on paperwork. You’ve been traveling fourteen hours. You said you wanted us to have sister time.”
“I do, but there will be time for that later. Call him. Get him over here. By the time he arrives I’ll be showered and human again.”
Rosie was looking at her as if she’d grown horns. “I thought you’d want to go to bed. I was going to suggest cheese, wine and an early night.”
“I’ll take the cheese and wine. Sleep can wait. I want to meet Dan.” The clock was ticking. “What about Mum and Dad? Where are they now?”
“Mum spent most of the day shopping with Catherine, which must have been interesting with a hangover. They had lunch in town, so she and Dad are having a quiet evening. They assumed you’d have an early night, so we’re all meeting up tomorrow at Snowfall Lodge for a big family breakfast to discuss wedding plans.”
Katie’s only plan was to stop the wedding.
“Shopping? That doesn’t sound like Mum.” First her sister announced she was getting married, and now her mother was shopping? What had happened to her world?
“The airline lost her luggage. If you’re sure you want to meet Dan, then I’ll tell him to come over.” Rosie brightened and then paused, her phone in her hand. “You’re not going to interrogate him, are you?”
“Me?” Katie assumed an innocent expression. “Why would you think that?”
“Past experience. Remember the time you frightened Anton away?”
“Anton?” Katie cast her mind back. “Skinny guy, studied geography? All I did was ask a few searching questions.”
“Searching enough that he decided to dump me.”
Katie felt a flash of guilt. “That was my fault?”
“Yes, and by the way at the time he was very anxious about his parents’ divorce, which was why we got together in the first place. I found him crying in the library and took him back to my room and made him a cup of tea.”
“And then he developed a fixation on you, and you didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him you weren’t interested. But you weren’t interested, were you?”
Rosie turned pink. “Not massively.”
“Right. So you were actually with him because you felt sorry for him.”
“I wouldn’t exactly put it like that, but it’s true he wasn’t my soul mate. I was eighteen. I’ve learned a lot since then.”
About the dangers of whirlwind relationships? Apparently not. “You don’t always make the best decisions about men. I was helping you.”