A Kiss in the Snow - Rosie Green Page 0,5

in case Ryan and I change our minds and declare the wedding is still on. But now they’ve had an enquiry about a booking on the same day, so they have to decide what to do.’ The reception was to be held in our parents’ flagship hotel.

I flick my eyes to the ceiling. Everything is a business arrangement with our parents. They take great delight in telling everyone the reason they got married was because it was in their financial interest to do so (married couples tax relief). People think they’re joking but we know they’re not. Our parents are ambitious and highly driven people, and Krystle and I have long been resigned to finishing runners-up to their growing boutique hotel business.

I’m more accepting of their flaws than my sister. I know Krystle gets down sometimes because Mum and Dad aren’t like ‘normal’ parents, who make their kids the centre of their world. Her conversation with Mum tonight will have left her drained – especially having to discuss Ryan and the ill-fated wedding - and my heart goes out to her. Pain is piercing my temples now, chipping into the same place over and over, like one of the Seven Dwarfs mining for diamonds - but I can’t just leave Krystle to stew.

‘I was just going to make a cuppa. Want one?’

She nods gloomily and follows me into the kitchen, flopping down at the table. ‘I’m so scared of being alone, Carrie. What if I never find anyone else and I’m a spinster for the rest of my life?’

I turn, trying not to smile. ‘A spinster? What the hell even is that?’

‘Someone who never marries.’

‘Well, yes, I know that. But do people actually use the term any longer? It’s a negative word. It suggests that you can never be happy unless you can manage to find a man to marry, which obviously isn’t true.’

‘But it is for me.’ She sighs. ‘It’s all right for you, Carrie. You’re independent and practical. You’ve got your life all organised. You don’t even need a man. But someone like me…I’m useless when it comes to practical stuff.’

I laugh. ‘Stop underestimating yourself. You can do everything I can. Plus, there’s no way you’re going to be a “spinster” for the rest of your life.’ I sigh, sitting down on the edge of the seat opposite. ‘Look, I know you’re still cut up over you and Ryan splitting up,’ I murmur gently, ‘but you have to start looking to the future, trying to move forward.’

‘But it’s scary,’ she insists.

‘I know. But you’ve got me. And you’re gorgeous and fun and…well, you have guys falling at your feet.’

I swallow hard. Including Adam.

‘Do I?’

‘Yes. But you already know that.’

She frowns. ‘I don’t want just any guy. I want Ryan.’

‘Do you?’ I place a mug of tea in front of her. ‘Do you really?’

‘Yes…Oh, I don’t know. I just miss him being there.’

‘Maybe you miss the idea of him, more than Ryan himself?’

She shrugs and doesn’t reply.

‘Look, if you still care about him, maybe it’s time you talked to him. Told him how you feel. You never know, he might be missing you just as much?’

‘But I don’t want to get back with him. In the end, we were more like mates than soul mates.’

‘Well, then, we need to take your mind off Ryan, in that case. Shake up your life. Start doing things differently.’

She snorts. ‘What, get a new haircut and join a car maintenance night class?’

I shrug. ‘Maybe.’

‘No way. I’m not going out looking for a Ryan replacement.’

‘I’m not suggesting that. I just mean…maybe it’s time to look to the future?’

‘But how can I do that when I’m so scared all the time? I hate being on my own.’

I stifle a sigh, as Grumpy hacks enthusiastically into my temples with his little pickaxe.

My conversations with Krystle have run along these lines for months now, ever since she split up with Ryan three months ago. No matter what I say, we just go round and round in circles and end up right back where we started – like a ghostly carousel destined to spin on through all eternity - and it’s so frustrating. I really want to help my sister but there’s only so much I can do. She needs to start helping herself but she doesn’t seem able to…

At first, when she and Ryan split up, Krystle was adamant that it was for the best for both of them. But then she came down with a really