Chapter 2

Sensing my rage as I got into the car and tossed the tape onto the back seat, she kept quiet until I'd done about four miles at a ridiculously dangerous speed and calmed down a bit.

"Danny?"

"What?" it came out almost as a growl and I regretted it instantly.

"Sorry Jen" I forced a smile and laid my hand on her leg, "What is it sweetheart?"

"Thank you"

"No need for thanks Jen, I regret hitting him though"

"What was said that made you snap like that?"

"Nothing really, it was just the way he said it, like you were some kind of tramp or something!"

"Tell me Danny" she put her hand on mine,

"He just gave me the tape and said, "Here, this is what your fucking sister's really like" and sneered"

"Oh"

We spent the rest of the journey in a companionable silence and spent most of the day sorting her things out.

"How long do you intend on staying Jen?"

She looked at me as if she hadn't thought about it until then.

"Not long, I'll get a paper and see if I can get a flat, why, fed up with me already?"

"No I'm not fed up at all, I'm actually looking forward to having you around for a while, it's just that, well you know the sleeping arrangements and all that!"

She laughed softly and gave me that coy look of hers that used as a kid when she wanted something from dad, it always worked on him and the crafty bitch knew it! I was expecting her to suggest that I slept on the couch, but she surprised me!

"Well, we've managed all right so far haven't we?"

And I couldn't think of an answer!

"Hey what about the cottage?"

"What about it?" she looked at me in surprise, "It hasn't been lived in since mum and dad died, the damn place must be falling apart by now!"

"Wrong again little sister" I laughed, "One of the things I was going to tell you at our never to be forgotten meeting, was that I'd been working on it at weekends and holidays, it's nearly back to how it was before, we could go down there and finish it off couldn't we?"

"Well yes, I suppose so, but what about work?" she asked doubtfully.

"Stuff bloody work, I can have my annual holiday any time I like, so I could take it now and as for your job, well I wouldn't have thought you'd want to go back there would you with those two there?"

"That's something I hadn't thought about I must admit!"

"That settles that then, let's go food shopping and we can be there by tea time!"

"Great" she laughed, "The break will do us both good anyway, but it seems like a hell of a lot of trouble to go to just to avoid sleeping with your sister!

Wrapping my arms around her, I kissed her forehead,

"Look sweet Jen, all I can say to that is, "bollocks" don't you realise how jealous I got of that stool you sat on to eat breakfast and how pissed off I am at being naked in bed with you for five nights and not knowing a bloody thing about it?"

She gave me that smile of hers and kissed me softly on the lips,

"Well if you must know, I found it quite sexy too, sitting with you like that or is that the wrong thing to say?"

"No, Jenny, it's not the wrong thing to say, not by a bloody long chalk!"

The leisurely drive down to the cottage gave me time to get her up to date about the cottage, we owned it jointly since it was left to us in our parent's will, but at the time of their deaths in a car crash we were both settled quite nicely in our own places in the city, so neither of us really wanted to do anything with it.

That had been a mistake I suppose because it had pretty quickly fallen into disrepair and it was only when I received a substantial cheque from the other driver's insurance that I'd started to ease off a bit at work and start spending time down there whilst doing what I could in the way of restoration work.

I'd been having lunch one Sunday in the local pub when I got chatting to a near neighbour who knew my parents and had seen me working on it, he asked if I was doing it up to sell it and when I replied that I hadn't really thought about it, he laughed and said that as they were currently fetching round about the two hundred and fifty thousand pound mark, I should at least think about it!