Read Online The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Liane Moriarty
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anything to live here.’
Oh dear, thinks Sophie now, perhaps I didn’t just think that, maybe I actually said it out loud to Aunt Connie. Still. She hadn’t meant it as a hint .
She’d just honestly fallen in love with that house. Ever since she got the news from Thomas she has felt like hugging herself with glee each time she remembers something new. The jasmine-covered archway at the top of the garden path leading to the front door. That gigantic green claw bathtub. Honey-coloured floorboards. Stained-glass windows reflecting reds and blues in the late afternoon sun. Glittering pieces of river from every window. The tiny looping staircase to the main bedroom. The window seat where you could curl up with a regency romance and a Turkish delight. It really was like a house in a fairytale.
But is it wrong to accept it? She reads the letter one more time, trying hard to be objective, trying to see herself through Aunt Connie’s eyes. She lingers over the PS. She is trying not to take the PS too seriously. Nothing will come of it, of course. It’s just a bit of fun. Just a bit of heart-lifting fun.
Sophie’s mobile rings and she answers it, her mouth full of sandwich, still thinking about the PS.
‘Sophie, this is Veronika.’
Sophie makes a strangled sound. ‘Oh, hi !’ she says brightly and falsely, as guilty as a murderer.
‘I just thought it was polite to let you know that we’ll be contesting Aunt Connie’s will. Everybody in the family is terribly hurt by what you’ve done.’
Sophie holds the phone slightly away from her ear. Veronika always speaks too loudly on the phone, and when she is angry it’s even more painful than usual.
‘Just remind me exactly what I’ve done?’
‘Ha! You know, I used to pride myself on being a good judge of character but it just goes to show how wrong you can be. I would never have thought you capable of this! Manipulating a defenceless old lady like that! I thought you were a friend ! I even thought you were a good friend! But, oh, I see exactly what you are now. You may think you can walk all over Thomas but the rest of us aren’t quite so stupid. I just got off the phone from my cousin Grace and she could hardly bear to talk about it, she was so appalled by what you’ve done.’
‘Really?’
For some reason the thought of Grace, who Sophie barely knows, thinking badly of her is more distressing than Veronika, her friend of many years, thinking she is an evil manipulator of old ladies. Sophie has only met Grace just once, years ago, at Veronika’s wedding, but she has a schoolgirl crush on her. Grace is beautiful–achingly, ridiculously beautiful: the unfair sort of beauty that made it a painful pleasure just to look at her. Plus, there is that comment in Aunt Connie’s letter about Grace.
‘Tell Grace not to be upset with me,’ she says frivolously. ‘Tell her I’m a big contributor to her royalties. I’m always buying her books as presents!’
Ever since Veronika had mentioned that Grace wrote and illustrated a series of children’s picture books about an evil little elf called Gublet, Sophie has been buying her books as presents for her friends’ children. The illustrations are gorgeous, full of detail and an intriguing touch of menace that kids, especially the brattier ones, seem to love. The Gublet books only add to Grace’s mystique.
‘You’re not even taking this seriously!’ explodes Veronika. ‘I have nothing more to say to you, Sophie. I forgave you for what you did to Thomas but this is genuinely unforgivable. My family will be fighting this all the way to the highest court in the land. And I will not say another word to you in my lifetime !’
‘Starting from…now?’ asks Sophie.
But Veronika is true to her word and hangs up.
She must be genuinely upset to actually stop talking.
Whenever Veronika gets on her high horse about anything, from her opinion on a movie to her views on abortion, it brings out a flip, sarcastic side
Oh dear, thinks Sophie now, perhaps I didn’t just think that, maybe I actually said it out loud to Aunt Connie. Still. She hadn’t meant it as a hint .
She’d just honestly fallen in love with that house. Ever since she got the news from Thomas she has felt like hugging herself with glee each time she remembers something new. The jasmine-covered archway at the top of the garden path leading to the front door. That gigantic green claw bathtub. Honey-coloured floorboards. Stained-glass windows reflecting reds and blues in the late afternoon sun. Glittering pieces of river from every window. The tiny looping staircase to the main bedroom. The window seat where you could curl up with a regency romance and a Turkish delight. It really was like a house in a fairytale.
But is it wrong to accept it? She reads the letter one more time, trying hard to be objective, trying to see herself through Aunt Connie’s eyes. She lingers over the PS. She is trying not to take the PS too seriously. Nothing will come of it, of course. It’s just a bit of fun. Just a bit of heart-lifting fun.
Sophie’s mobile rings and she answers it, her mouth full of sandwich, still thinking about the PS.
‘Sophie, this is Veronika.’
Sophie makes a strangled sound. ‘Oh, hi !’ she says brightly and falsely, as guilty as a murderer.
‘I just thought it was polite to let you know that we’ll be contesting Aunt Connie’s will. Everybody in the family is terribly hurt by what you’ve done.’
Sophie holds the phone slightly away from her ear. Veronika always speaks too loudly on the phone, and when she is angry it’s even more painful than usual.
‘Just remind me exactly what I’ve done?’
‘Ha! You know, I used to pride myself on being a good judge of character but it just goes to show how wrong you can be. I would never have thought you capable of this! Manipulating a defenceless old lady like that! I thought you were a friend ! I even thought you were a good friend! But, oh, I see exactly what you are now. You may think you can walk all over Thomas but the rest of us aren’t quite so stupid. I just got off the phone from my cousin Grace and she could hardly bear to talk about it, she was so appalled by what you’ve done.’
‘Really?’
For some reason the thought of Grace, who Sophie barely knows, thinking badly of her is more distressing than Veronika, her friend of many years, thinking she is an evil manipulator of old ladies. Sophie has only met Grace just once, years ago, at Veronika’s wedding, but she has a schoolgirl crush on her. Grace is beautiful–achingly, ridiculously beautiful: the unfair sort of beauty that made it a painful pleasure just to look at her. Plus, there is that comment in Aunt Connie’s letter about Grace.
‘Tell Grace not to be upset with me,’ she says frivolously. ‘Tell her I’m a big contributor to her royalties. I’m always buying her books as presents!’
Ever since Veronika had mentioned that Grace wrote and illustrated a series of children’s picture books about an evil little elf called Gublet, Sophie has been buying her books as presents for her friends’ children. The illustrations are gorgeous, full of detail and an intriguing touch of menace that kids, especially the brattier ones, seem to love. The Gublet books only add to Grace’s mystique.
‘You’re not even taking this seriously!’ explodes Veronika. ‘I have nothing more to say to you, Sophie. I forgave you for what you did to Thomas but this is genuinely unforgivable. My family will be fighting this all the way to the highest court in the land. And I will not say another word to you in my lifetime !’
‘Starting from…now?’ asks Sophie.
But Veronika is true to her word and hangs up.
She must be genuinely upset to actually stop talking.
Whenever Veronika gets on her high horse about anything, from her opinion on a movie to her views on abortion, it brings out a flip, sarcastic side
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