Page 40 of The Sun Sister

‘You have nothing in your diary until after the weekend,’ Mariam added.

‘I...don’t know,’ I shrugged, then gave a massive yawn. And the thought of sinking into the big comfortable bed next door, rather than schlepping to the airport and boarding a plane back to...what? – my empty apartment? – was somehow very appealing.

‘Joaquim’s here tomorrow too,’ I suddenly remembered with a smile. ‘He said so.’

‘He did,’ said Maia.

‘So...’ Mariam came to stand in front of me. ‘Shall we stay here? Take a little vacation?’

‘Okay,’ I nodded.

‘Right, I’m just going downstairs to sort out extending the room booking and changing the flights, okay?’

‘Okay.’

When she had gone, Maia came over to the couch, sat next to me and took my hands.

‘Mariam is so lovely, isn’t she?’

‘Yup, she’s an angel. Which sure can be annoying sometimes,’ I added, raising an eyebrow.

I felt Maia’s eyes boring into me.

‘What is it?’

‘Oh, I was just thinking how much I love you, little sis.’

‘I love you too, big sis.’

As I looked at her, I saw there were tears in her eyes.

‘Hey, why are you crying? Aren’t you happy to see me?’

‘I’m so happy, Electra, promise. Now,’ she said as I yawned again, ‘how about we go into the bedroom and I tuck you in like I used to do when you were little and tell you a story?’

A memory came drifting back to me: of Maia, aged maybe around thirteen, sitting on my bed and reading me fairy tales. She’d once told me that her name meant ‘mother’ in Greek, and I’d decided that if I were to have one of my own, she’d be like her.

‘Sure,’ I agreed as I stood up, still unsteady on my feet, and walked with Maia to the bedroom.

‘Hey!’ As I crawled into bed, I patted the sheets that were still rumpled from spending the afternoon with Joaquim. ‘There’s room for you to lie down next to me.’

Maia straightened the covers on her side of the bed, then laid on top of them. She reached out a hand to me again and I took it and squeezed it hard, feeling the beginnings of the comedown from the ecstasy and the coke.

‘You know, you were always my favourite sister,’ I said, turning to her.

‘Was I? What a lovely thing to say, Electra. Well, I have to tell you, you were certainly the cutest baby. Even if you did scream.’

‘I know what you and Ally used to call me.’

‘Do you?’ I watched a blush rise slowly up Maia’s swanlike neck.

‘Yeah, you used to call me “Tricky”. I mean, I know the meaning of the word, but how did you come up with it?’

‘Because you were “Electra”, so, electric– “Tricky”, you see? I’m so sorry, darling, we weren’t being serious.’

‘I was hurt at the time, but maybe you were right. And I don’t think I’ve changed much.’ The beginnings of tears pricked my eyes.

‘Well, maybe you did have a few temper tantrums, but in many ways you were the brightest of all my little sisters. When we used to play those mental maths games with Pa on his boat every summer, you were always the winner.’