Later that afternoon the den fire was burning brightly and the sounds of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ blared from the old CD player in the corner. The three sisters sang along, Bree the loudest, and they all had grins on their faces as the song finished.

Bree wriggled in her chair. “Is that polish dry yet?”

Laura surveyed her sisters’ feet from her position on the floor. They sat in the two recliner rockers, their legs stretched out with their feet up and bright blue separators splaying their toes. She’d painted Kate’s fingernails and toenails a lovely plum pink. Bree had said no to nails but had allowed Laura to paint her toenails deep red.

“Give them a bit longer,” she said.

Kate picked up the CD cover that lay in her lap. “Remember when we used to have those dress-up nights and we’d pretend to be famous singers and Mum and Dad and Granny and Pa would be our audience?”

Bree groaned. “I don’t want to.”

Kate waggled the CD cover at her. “You always wanted to be Elton John.”

Laura laughed and picked up another cover. “What about Pink? Remember when we did our own choreography to ‘Get the Party Started’?”

“Dad nearly had a fit,” Kate laughed.

“And then Mum took us to the Pink concert,” Bree said. “He wasn’t happy about that either. You were only little, Laura.”

Laura puffed out her chest. “I was ten.”

“I’ve got the hair for it now,” Kate said and ran her hand over her new short style.

“Not quite,” Laura said. “But I could cut it like Pink’s if you like.”

Kate shook the neat bob that sat just under her chin. “This is enough of a change.”

“Mum and Dad really do have an impressive music collection,” Bree said. “It’s a pity they hardly ever play them any more.”

“It’s such a pain to swap CDs.” Laura waved her phone. “I could put my playlist on through my speaker.”

“Let’s leave it for a while,” Bree said.

Laura tucked her phone back in her pocket. They’d been having such a great afternoon she didn’t want to spoil it with an argument over music preferences.

“Surely these nails are dry now.” Bree lifted her feet in the air.

Laura leaned in again, tested Bree’s small toe and sat back. “Give them another minute. You don’t want them to smudge.”

Bree groaned.

“Are you hungry?” Laura looked from Bree to Kate but her question was really for Kate who hadn’t eaten much but half a bag of chips and a bowl of strawberries and ice cream.

“One of those little pasties would be good,” Kate said.