The Sisters Read online

  And then she pressed send.

  11

  Jeff sat in front of his computer. The emails from some of the women on the dating site were scary, especially to a man like himself. Although Jeff was a brilliant surgeon, he was less than confident when it came to talking to women.

  The emails he had received varied between desperate and over sharing to obscene. When had women become men, he wondered, as he pressed delete on an email from a woman who had sent him a picture of herself naked with a homemade sign around her neck saying, ‘I like to fuck.’

  Another email pinged into his inbox.

  Hi there, Jeff,

  How was Machu Pichu? I’ve never been there but it looks amazing. Nice T-shirt? American Apparel?

  Violet x

  There was something about the lack of immediate intimacy that he found appealing. He stood up and went to his wardrobe and pulled out the T-shirt. It was American Apparel. Could it be Violetta? Surely not. She had men lining up for her. Why would she create a profile online?

  Jeff’s loneliness had been heightened recently. It had never bothered him before but lately he had felt the coldness of the apartment when he went back to it. He had bought it on a whim, with the money his grandmother had left him, invested wisely, and his large salary from the hospital. It was too big and mostly unfurnished. Maybe he should sell it, he often thought, but he hadn’t – not yet, anyway. He wondered why he was hanging onto it. It deserved a family in it, loud and fun and with a woman’s touch.

  What Jeff brought to his fashion he also brought to his interior decorating: nothing of any note whatsoever.

  He walked around the apartment and wondered what to do. It was too late for a run and he had no plans for his night off. On a Tuesday night the invitations were thin on the ground. He went to his computer and looked up movies playing near him. Seeing the newest romantic comedy was playing in thirty minutes, he pulled on his coat and walked out into the night. Putting himself online was a mistake, he thought. In the end, the only person he wanted it to be was so far removed from his world, they would never be together.

  *

  Across town Violetta was also looking for something to do. No parties, no TV crew, and Carlotta was with Birdie. She picked up the paper and looked at the film times. Slipping into her coat, she grabbed her bag, pulled a cashmere violet hat onto her head and headed out.

  Violetta loved going to the movies by herself. Especially the trashy ones. No one to judge her if she laughed or cried. She could eat whatever she wanted and didn’t have to share with anyone. As she walked into the warmth of the movie theatre she looked around. A nine o-clock session on a Tuesday night wasn’t busy. In fact there were only a few people there. She bought her ticket and as she turned round saw Jeff standing behind her. She blushed fiercely.

  ‘Hi,’ she stammered.

  Jeff blushed twice as much.

  ‘Wow, hi.’

  ‘What are you seeing?’ she asked, wondering what intellectual film was showing.

  Jeff paused.

  ‘Next,’ said the man behind the counter impatiently.

  Jeff walked up to the counter as Violetta stood waiting for him.

  ‘One single to Time for Love, please,’ he said, not looking at Violetta.

  Violetta stifled a smile. Romantic comedy? She remembered his profile online and that he had mentioned that he liked them.

  Jeff walked away from the counter and stood facing her. ‘So my secret is out, I guess?’ He made a face.

  ‘I love romantic comedies,’ said Violetta, shrugging.

  ‘So do I,’ said Jeff, laughing. ‘Takes me away from my crazy life.’

  ‘I know. Life is so perfect in them, huh?’ said Violetta as they walked companionably to the snack counter.

  ‘What can I get you?’ asked Jeff.

  ‘You don’t have to do that.’ Violetta felt shy standing next to him.

  ‘Oh no, it’s not a gift, it’s a bribe,’ said Jeff as he stared at her. She looked so pretty in her hat, he thought, her heart-shaped face was perfect.

  ‘A bribe? For what?’ asked Violetta, thinking how nice he looked in his jeans. He had a great frame, she thought, and then blushed.

  ‘Well, I will buy you snacks if you keep my predilection for rom-coms a secret.’

  ‘Deal,’ said Violetta. ‘Except I don’t share,’ she added quickly.

  ‘Share? What?’ asked Jeff, confused.

  ‘Snacks.’

  ‘That’s great because I don’t share either,’ said Jeff, laughing.

  ‘That’s funny,’ laughed Violetta.

  ‘We are the perfect movie friends,’ said Jeff as he ordered and paid for their snacks.

  ‘You don’t have to sit with me,’ said Violetta as they walked towards the theatre.

  ‘Neither do you,’ said Jeff, looking straight ahead.

  ‘OK,’ said Violetta, as she handed her ticket to the usher.

  They walked inside the cinema and started to walk up the left hand side of the aisle together.

  Violetta looked at him. ‘In the middle, towards the back?’ she asked.

  ‘Naturally. It’s the best place.’

  ‘Agreed,’ said Violetta, as she walked towards the back and slipped into a seat.

  Jeff settled next to her. She stood up and took off her coat.

  Jeff did the same. They stood facing each other and for a brief second Violetta hoped he might kiss her, but then he turned and sat down again. She settled next to him and soon the advertisements and trailers started. She and Jeff sat and watched, the energy between them was electric.

  Violetta didn’t know what she wanted more, to hold his hand or ravish him in the cinema. Instead, she ate her popcorn and drank her diet soda.

  Jeff sat beside her, wanting to hold her hand and then pull her to the dirty floor of the cinema, but he too ate his popcorn and drank his soda.

  The film played and neither could remember what it was about. They laughed at the right moments and Violetta noticed a few of the fabulous costumes but mostly she watched Jeff’s hands, the outline of his leg in his jeans, and smelt the scent of soap and faint waft of antiseptic from him.

  Violetta put her hand on the arm of the seat between them. Take it, take it, she willed.

  Jeff crossed his arms, trying not to pick up her hand. He uncrossed them again, thinking he looked too stern.

  He leaned down so his mouth was near her neck.

  ‘Did you message me online tonight?’

  She felt her body tense. Maybe he thought she was a stalker. God, she was so bad at this, she thought.

  Violetta turned her face to look at him. They were the only ones at the back of the theatre. There were a few other people in front of them, aisles away. Jeff felt himself draw a deep breath and Violetta opened her mouth as if to speak and then she leaned over and kissed him. Their kissing was gentle and then more heated as the movie became background noise. His kisses tasted like popcorn. Jesus, she thought, I haven’t made out in a movie since I was a teenager.

  Their hands were everywhere and Violetta soon climbed onto his lap. She felt his cock hard and took his hands and put them under her top. She wasn’t wearing a bra and Jeff gasped with delight. She ground herself into his lap and he moaned quietly.

  Putting her hands down between her legs she unzipped his fly and released his cock. Jeff’s eyes were closed and she pulled up her skirt and pulled down her stockings. She guided him into her and ground onto his cock until he was deep inside her. She rocked back and forth on him until she felt herself about to come. She held Jeff’s face, which was mix of panic and desire, and felt him come with her, silently and forcefully. She leaned against him as they shuddered to a climax and then she held onto him. Shame and shock enveloped her.

  Then she felt Jeff’s arms around her as he whispered in her ear.

  ‘You are a crazy girl.’

  Violetta put her head on his shoulder and started to cry. She then climbed off him, pulled down her skir
t, took her jacket and fled the cinema.

  Jeff ran out after her.

  ‘Violetta,’ he called as she ran down the street.

  He chased after her, catching up in no time.

  ‘Don’t look at me,’ she said, crying.

  ‘Why?’ he asked.

  ‘Because I just fucked you in a cinema and you are my mother’s doctor.’

  ‘Well yes, there’s that,’ he said kindly. ‘Can we talk somewhere?’

  ‘My apartment is nearby,’ she said, not wanting to be in public.

  She and Jeff walked silently to her apartment.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, as they entered her lounge room.

  ‘It’s OK.’ He said.

  ‘No it’s not. I took advantage of you.’

  ‘If I wanted you to stop I would have told you,’ he said, with his hands in the pocket of his jacket.

  ‘I didn’t give you much of a chance,’ said Violetta. She sat down on the chair, still in her coat. ‘It’s just that I have a major crush on you,’ she said, looking at the floor. ‘Yes, it was me that messaged you on the website.’

  ‘You have a crush on me?’ asked Jeff, incredulous.

  ‘Yes, you,’ said Violetta, frowning. ‘You think I just fuck random guys in cinemas?’

  ‘No, but why would you have a crush on me?’

  ‘Why wouldn’t I?’ asked Violetta. ‘You’re handsome, nice, smart, look good in jeans,’ she said, waving her hands around.

  Jeff started to laugh. ‘Well, to be truthful, I have a crush on you also, but then I think most of Manhattan has.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Violetta. ‘Not after the news stories.’

  They were silent.

  ‘So what now?’ she asked, looking up at him.

  She was so gorgeous, he thought, and he sat down on the chair.

  ‘Well, normally I would say let’s date for a while and see what happens. But I guess we got to the see what happens before the dating. Would you normally date a guy like me?’ he asked.

  Violetta was silent for a while. ‘Maybe, I don’t know. The men I have seen aren’t really of your ilk,’ she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

  Jeff sat thinking. ‘I like you Violetta, you know I do.’ He looked at her intently and Violetta felt herself blushing, remembering his hard on. ‘But it would be impossible to date while I am treating your mom and you are on TV.’

  Violetta nodded. ‘I know. I know,’ she said, looking downcast.

  He was right. There was no way she could bring shame to him. and with her reputation right now that could happen. As for treating her mother, well this would complicate things even more.

  ‘So nothing until Mom wakes up?’ she asked Jeff who was looking dejected on the sofa.

  Jeff stood up and pulled her to her feet and kissed her. It was sexy and he was strong and felt her hands go up under his top and touch his skin and then their kisses grew more passionate.

  ‘I want you,’ she said.

  ‘I want you,’ he replied and he pulled off his jumper and T-shirt and Violetta ran her hands over his chest. He pulled her top off and she wiggled from her skirt and stockings and stood naked in front of him.

  ‘We shouldn’t be doing this,’ he said half-heartedly.

  ‘We haven’t done anything, yet,’ she said as she led him to the bedroom and he pulled off his jeans and shorts and they stood studying each other.

  ‘My God, you are stunning,’ said Jeff, his voice thick with lust.

  Violetta smiled at him. ‘And you are lovely,’ she said.

  He fell with her on the bed.

  And when she awoke in the morning he was gone.

  Later in the day at Pajaro, surrounded by fabric samples, sketches and chaos, she received a bouquet of violets with a card.

  I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows

  Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows

  Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

  With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:

  There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

  Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight:

  And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,

  Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

  Wait, lovely Violetta, our time will come.

  J x

  Violetta clutched the note to her chest after she read it. Damn it, she thought, I’ve fallen in love.

  12

  Grace cleared her throat nervously.

  ‘Thanks for your time. I’ve spent the last week assessing the current marketing plan and the past campaigns. What worked, what didn’t work. I have also received emails from some of you and had conversations where you have expressed to me what you believe to be the right direction for Pajaro and where you think the marketing is failing.’

  Grace shot a grateful smile at the few staff who had embraced her presence; not many – only a few young ones felt confident enough to approach her. Most of the older staff were either intimidated by her or threatened. Grace didn’t have time to befriend or influence them. The Head of Marketing had resigned as soon as he heard Grace would be joining the marketing team. Secretly she was glad. Since Carlotta’s speech two weeks ago, Grace had committed to Pajaro, day and night.

  Frank had called her a few times but she told him she was busy with a work project, which was true. She told him she would see him after her presentation, which was true also, and she was looking forward to seeing him again. Their date at MOMA was better than she’d expected. Frank knew much more about art than he had let on when she met him at Cranfields.

  Occasionally, she found herself glancing at him as they walked through MOMA. He was unlike the men she knew. Candid, funny, friendly to the people around them who crowded round the artwork. He had none of the arrogance or sense of entitlement that Grace was used to in men.

  Throughout the last few days they had talked on the phone, sent each other text messages. Grace hadn’t told him about her family or who she was, and Frank didn’t ask. They talked about inconsequential things, his lack of a job being one of them, but it didn’t seem to bother him, so Grace didn’t push. She found his lack of ambition and drive fascinating after growing up with Leon, with his constant pushing and berating of his daughters.

  Grace found herself wanting to talk to him when she felt nervous. His calmness dissolved her anxiety and she had called him just before she had started her presentation.

  ‘Call me after, OK?’ he had said on the phone.

  ‘OK,’ she said, and she meant it. Frank was an escape in a world that had become unfamiliar and, even more so, unpleasant.

  As Grace spoke to the people in front of her, including Violetta, Carlotta and Chris who stood at the back of the room, she heard Birdie’s voice in her head. ‘Speak up and believe it. If you believe it, they will believe it. Be confident, Grace,’ she remembered her mother saying once, when she’d been about to present a science project.

  Violetta and Carlotta knew how nervous she was and nodded and smiled at her encouragingly. She took strength from their faces and continued.

  ‘We need to re-brand and launch that brand to a tired and indifferent marketplace. We cannot afford our ad agency for this campaign, so we have to do everything in-house.’ She saw a few people nodding in the audience, and continued. ‘The fastest way to do this is to bring in a celebrity. People respond to celebrity power; it gives you free press, brands ride on their coat tails and provided the talent doesn’t have any dirty secrets in their closet, things can go well. Pajaro doesn’t have time to experiment. This could work provided we have the right celebrity. This is why I have put together a short list of three that I believe would be a perfect fit for the Pajaro brand.’

  Grace switched a button on a remote control and a screen came down behind her. She pressed the first button. ‘Inés Doré,’ she said. ‘French actress, just won an Oscar and a hero of the French film industry. Fabulous style.’ Grace looked up at the images of In�
�s behind her.

  She clicked a button. ‘Georgina Hughes. Star of the moment. Biggest money earner for her age group, thanks to the Angel films franchise, but also has great red carpet flair,’ she continued as she looked at the images now behind her.

  ‘And finally Calypso Gable. American girl next door, married to Hollywood’s hottest director and recent new mother. She is young but has a great maturity. Loves clothes and wears designers as well as everyday fashion.’ She clicked and an image of Calypso came up.

  ‘Thoughts please?’

  ‘I love Inés,’ ventured a junior wearing a red trilby hat.

  ‘She’s a little too French. I am not sure middle America knows who she is,’ said an older woman wearing black-rimmed glasses and a frown.

  ‘Georgiana is in talks with the English Fashion Council, I hear,’ said another woman.

  ‘Can you check that, someone please?’ asked Grace, and a person at the back of the room scuttled off.

  ‘Calypso Gable?’ asked Grace to the room.

  ‘She is very private, doesn’t really do much PR unless it’s for a film. Didn’t release photos of her baby at all,’ said the girl in the red hat.

  ‘Then I have to make the pitch compelling. Violetta, where are we with design?’ she called to the back of the room.

  Violetta walked to the front to stand next to Grace. Violetta had had a turn around since Carlotta’s speech at her apartment and had been in every day when she wasn’t at the hospital. Spencer had managed to create a clause in her contract that kept the TV crew out of confidential meetings and today was one of them.

  Violetta looked around the room. The design team had welcomed her once they knew she was serious and she had been moved by the passion they had for their jobs, feeling guilty for her lackadaisical attitude a few weeks before.

  ‘We have a short time to come up with something brilliant and we have worked hard to create a story that is both in line with the Pajaro brand and which will appeal to the everyday woman across the world.’

  She took a breath and Grace nodded at her encouragingly.