Chapter 1

I snapped awake with a ringing sound in my ear and for a few seconds I was almost in a panic, not knowing what was happening, but then I came to my senses and realised that it was the phone and that it had woken me out of a deep sleep. I flicked on the light and stretched out to the receiver registering that it was almost midnight. Who the hell would call me at this time of night and it better be important?

"What!" I snarled into the phone.

"Is that you Tom? I'm sorry to call you this late."

"Who is this?" I didn't recognise the voice.

"It's Annie."

"Annie who." I was still not running on all cylinders, and I had slurped down a couple of serious drinks before going to bed.

"You mean you don't recognise your sister any more." The reply shocked me wide-awake, and I quickly regained full control of my senses.

"I'm sorry, Annie. You woke me up, and I took a few minutes to fully wake up. What's wrong? Something must be bothering you to make you call me at this time of night." It had been a long time since Annie and I had spoken, and I was desperate to keep her on the line.

"You were right. He was an absolute arsehole and he's left me." And she began to sob, quietly but quite intensively.

The last time we had seen or spoken with each other was 2 years previously at Dad's funeral. Annie had what I considered a complete jerk with her, introducing him as her fiancé, and I did my level best to convince her that he would be no good for her. After 3 days of sniping at one another we both went our separate ways, and we hadn't been in touch since. Both parents being dead meant that we didn't really have any outside influence to pull us together, and our silly quarrel had driven a wedge deeply between us.

"Calm down, Sis. You've done the right thing calling me. Would you like me to come down and spend some time with you?" I was more than willing to go a long way to reach a reconciliation with her.

"It's so lonely here. I haven't made any new friends since we shifted here and now I'm all by myself. I can't leave as the arsehole would then grab the house. I don't know what to do." Annie had stopped sobbing but I could hear from her voice that she wasn't too far from breaking down again.

"It's OK. I'll come down tomorrow if you want and we'll soon sort things out and make everything all right."

"Will you really? If you are definitely coming send me you plane time and I'll pick you up at the airport. I'll send you an email with my address on it - you haven't changed your email address have you?" Annie sounded as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders and almost sounded cheerful.

I confirmed that nothing had changed and, after we had said goodnight and hung up, sure enough, by the time my computer had warmed up, there was mail waiting with her email address and her love. I guessed everything would soon be back to normal between us and our silly 2-year spat would be long forgotten.

Next morning I reported to work and told the boss that I needed some extended time off to sort out a family problem and I wasn't too surprised when he demurred and all but refused to let me go. He was shocked and dismayed when I quit on the spot and told him that I was going to take my accumulated leave in lieu of notice. Despite his pleas and reconsidered offers of leave and assistance I suddenly realised that I was pleased with my resignation and I breezed out of there in short order having only to collect a few items from my desk.

A quick phone call with my credit card in hand soon reserved me a seat on an early afternoon flight and, after a short email, I was soon packing a bag with a few days clothes prior to catching a ride out to the airport with a cab. I'd phoned my cleaning lady and she had agreed to spend a bit extra time and close down my apartment for an extended time. I didn't have to worry about motor vehicles or pets as my car work supplied and no pet could have survived with the stupid hours I had worked.

While I was waiting for my 2 bags to come off the conveyor I could see Annie's blond head jumping up and down behind the crowd on the other side of the fence and she definitely appeared keen to see me. When I finally worked my way through the crowd it was to have her rush into my arms and sort of leap on me and wrap her arms round my neck in a hug and she gave me a resounding kiss on my lips.