Lingerie Wars (Invertary 1)

“You got a problem, Rainne?” he asked, working hard to keep his tone non-threatening. “After all, this is your business too—it would be good to see a little more participation.”

She jerked upright at that.

“Is it? Is it my business? Because since you came to town, it’s been all about you and your war. You haven’t once asked me what I wanted.”

Mainly because he didn’t want to hear it. He took a deep breath.

“Fine, what do you want?”

Almost immediately the wind went out of her and she slumped back down.

“Never mind,” she muttered.

Lake hesitated before he continued.

“Okay, so we’re working on five fronts, like I said.” He made little bullet points on the board. “Intelligence gathering, marketing, exchange of skills, involving the locals and sabotage.”

“No.” Rainne shot to her feet. “This is underhanded. I don’t want to sabotage anyone, especially Kirsty. She’s been through a lot and she doesn’t need you running over her too. Why can’t we work together and pool our resources? A community effort would be much more effective.”

“What is it with you, girl?” Betty asked grumpily.

Her teeth were back. Lake wasn’t sure if that made him worried or relieved.

“What do you mean?” Rainne bristled.

She tucked a strand of now multi-coloured hair behind her ear. Lake didn’t interfere. This was the most animated he’d seen his sister since he’d arrived in Invertary.

“I mean,” Betty said as she pointed her bony finger at Rainne, “you seem to have a problem with healthy competition, lass.”

“This isn’t healthy competition,” Rainne said. “You two keep talking about war. There’s nothing healthy about that. There’s nothing healthy about you two, either.”

She folded her arms over her purple work dungarees.

“You can’t go through life letting people walk over you. You need to grow a backbone,” Betty told her.

Lake thought he should maybe point out that if Rainne stopped letting people walk over her, then Betty would lose a hobby.

“See?” Rainne flushed red as she spoke. “That’s the problem with the world. We don’t cooperate enough. We should start a committee.” Her eyes took on a faraway look. “A lingerie committee. We could set up a great cooperative. The whole town would benefit.”

Lake couldn’t take it any more. It was as though his sister was channelling their mother.

“No one would benefit,” Lake said. “The more people involved in the decision-making process, the less gets done.”

“That’s not true, Lake,” Rainne said. “You grew up in a cooperative, you should know better.”

She actually sounded hurt as she spoke, which had the effect of increasing his irritation rather than making him feel contrite. He’d hoped that running a shop would be good for her. Would teach her a thing or two about the real world. Would get her away from their parents for the first time in her life. Instead she’d let the shop sink further into debt and showed absolutely no interest in making it work.

“I remember well how things were in the commune,” he said. “There’s a reason I joined the army as soon as I was legally allowed. I was desperate for someone to make a decision, for someone to stand up and take responsibility. I can tell you, from experience, that life is a whole lot better when there’s structure.”

“How can you say that?”

Yet again tears began to pool in her big blue eyes. Lake sighed wearily. He put down his board marker and gave his sister his full attention. He’d held his tongue for weeks, listening to this crap, and now he’d had enough.

“Look,” he told her. “You’re twenty-six, Rainne. You can’t hold down a job or a relationship. You flit from thing to thing, following the rainbow and hoping for a happy ending. You know nothing about how life works. And you obviously have the business sense of a cucumber. Don’t you think that if you had a more realistic view of life things wouldn’t keep going pear shaped? You had an opportunity here. A chance to make something for yourself. To be independent. Yet you don’t seem to care.”

“Maybe that’s because you rode into town and took over. It isn’t my business any more. It’s yours. I never wanted any of this. You bullied your way in here and stole it from me.”

“Don’t forget whose money is tied up in this, little sis,” he said, feeling his temper stretch.