As she approached the house, she could see Rachel’s silhouette on the window seat in the bedroom. Her head was bent over a book, her long legs stretched out in front of her, and Diana was struck by how serene and clever her sister looked.
She knocked gently. The door creaked open, just an inch at first, and she was met by Rachel’s anxious smile.
‘Hello, can I come in?’
‘Of course. It’s your house.’ Rachel beckoned her in.
Diana frowned at the gloom inside the house. Her first thought was for her sister’s eyesight, but standing here in the dark, she was also reminded of how spooky this part of the estate was at night. She wondered guiltily if Rachel was scared, if she should invite her up to stay in the main house, but then she remembered that Rachel Miller never got scared. Growing up, her courage and pluckiness was legendary among their little group of friends – Rachel was always the one to be pushed forward to do a dare, to retrieve a ball from an irate neighbour’s garden. She had always been the first kid to jump off the top diving board, the first one to explore a derelict garage, pretending that she was Nancy Drew or George from the Famous Five in the midst of some intrepid adventure.
‘It’s dark in here,’ said Diana finally. ‘Can’t we switch some lights on?’
‘Habit.’ Rachel grinned sheepishly. ‘In Ko Tao, our office just has a little diesel generator. We’re always trying to save electricity.’
‘Do you remember at home, you’d leave every light on?’ laughed Diana. ‘Mum used to go mad.’
Rachel smiled. ‘It’s good to see you laugh, Di.’
Diana turned away. She nearly blurted out that it had been Adam who had put that smile on her face, but . . . well, she wasn’t ready to think about that right now. Wasn’t sure what sort of message it sent.
‘Why don’t you sit down and I’ll go and make some tea.’
‘Just hot water and lemon if you have it,’ called Diana as Rachel moved out of sight. She looked around at the chaos of the cottage. Rachel had only been here a week, and already the Lake House looked like it had been sucked up by the tornado in The Wizard of Oz. There were socks on the floor, papers piled high on the desk and stuff hanging out of drawers. How was it possible to make such a small place so messy in such a short space of time? She resisted the urge to start tidying, instead resolving to send Mrs Bills down first thing in the morning for a swift clean.
‘Builder’s tea,’ said Rachel, thrusting a mug into her hand. ‘Sorry, I’m all out of lemons. But it’s just how you used to like it.’
Diana narrowed her eyes, detecting a dig. Chill out, Diana, she reminded herself. Don’t ruin a lovely day over something silly.
‘I see Mum’s back,’ said Rachel, sipping her own tea. ‘Saw her doing something strange on the lawn this morning.’ She waved her free hand around in the air as if she were a wizard about to cast a spell.
Diana giggled, spraying a spot of tea on to her green cashmere top.
‘That will be her t’ai chi.’
‘Mum does t’ai chi?’ said Rachel in amazement.
‘She does a lot of things you might not recognise.’ Diana smiled complicitly, for a moment enjoying the banter between them.
‘Tell all.’
‘There are a lot of charity committees. She’s on the board of an inner-city youth ballet group, she’s planning a fund-raising ball for the Tories, and she’s taking a course in portraiture at an art college in Chelsea.’
‘Bloody hell,’ whistled Rachel. ‘You couldn’t even get her to join the PTA back in the day.’
‘You should talk to her.’
‘I’ve tried that.’
‘Look, I know she can be a bit . . . inflexible at times, but don’t you think we should all try and get along while we’re living together?’
She was surprised to hear the conciliatory words coming out of her mouth. The last thing she’d expected was to find herself as the mediator between Rachel and her mother.
‘Listen, there’s a few bits of housekeeping things we need to discuss.’
Diana’s eyes floated around the mess once more.
‘Yes, I was thinking that.’
‘Not that.’ Rachel smiled. ‘We need to talk about how expenses are going to work. I need to pay for a couple of flights. I’d do it myself, but booking at such late notice, we’re talking over two thousand pounds, and that might be a bit of a stretch . . . well, a lot of a stretch actually.’