Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Praise
- About the Author
- Also by Tricia Stringer
- Title Page
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- Excerpt
- One
Laura’s heart lurched. Her dad had the same sort of look after Pa had died, sad and lost. “She’s coming back soon though, isn’t she?”
“I hope so but I’m not sure what her timeline is yet. And don’t worry about the food. I appreciate what you’ve done and so do your sisters.” He lifted his hand in a wave. “I shouldn’t be too long.”
She listened as he let himself out the back door then she started flicking through cookbooks again. A wave of cool air drifted across the kitchen. The door was still off its hinges. She wasn’t sure what she was going to make for dessert or how she was going to keep the kitchen warm for dinner but at least her dad had given her something to hope for. Even though her mum wasn’t here he was on her side and that was a comforting feeling.
Bree shifted her plate to sit on top of the empty mugs so she could check out the pile of papers underneath. She’d munched on the sandwiches while she and Kate had worked their way through accounts and invoices, diaries and notes, sorting through three months of paperwork. Outside the rain continued to fall. They’d had to turn on the overhead lights and the desk lamp to be able to read. The dining room was freezing and they’d huddled in front of a small heater blowing warmth around their feet.
Kate sat back from a paperclipped pile of invoices, blew on her hands and rubbed them together. “If this got done every week it wouldn’t be so bad.” She picked up the next pile of papers, bank statements they’d just printed.
“I know.” Bree sighed. “Mum usually does it more often but with everything that’s been going on lately…”
“It’s freezing in here and the light’s terrible. I don’t know how Mum stands it.”
“There’s the desk in the kitchen. We talked about moving the computer there when we got wireless. I don’t know why we didn’t. Something to do with cables.”
Kate didn’t look as if she was listening. She kept sifting through the pages in front of her, the pile of bank statements. She paused to look closer then moved on.
“There shouldn’t be any surprises though,” Bree said. “Everything matches up, doesn’t it?”
Kate stopped, looked at a page, went back to another.
“What are you looking at?” Bree asked.
“Well, I’m wondering why Granny is getting two monthly payments.”
“Where?” Bree reached for the statements and Kate handed them over, tapping the top of the page with her finger.