ALONE TOGETHER I OWEN GRADY

Come To This

Come To This

"What the hell, Claire!" Cassandra yelled, grabbing her sister by the arm and swinging her round to face her.

Claire tottered on her high heels before recovering her balance. "Are you still upset about leaving the children behind?" she scoffed, patting her hair in place. "That is so five minutes ago."

Cassandra stared at her, jaw tightening. It had taken a good fifteen minutes of arguing before she had reluctantly agreed to leave the children in Zara's care, Cassandra initially threatening to take the children back to the hotel, but Gray's tearful face had tipped the balance in Claire's favour, Cassandra giving in with bad grace on the condition Zach kept in regular contact with her by text. Now she was trailing after Claire like a lost soul, her ire increasing with each step she took, Claire only adding fuel to the fire by refusing to explain what was going on, merely chirping it was 'a surprise.'

"Zara is fully qualified," Claire said for the umpteenth time, ruining her reverie, "she used to be a nanny before she was a PA; she's got all the certificates, First-Aid and blah-blah-blah. And you know the children will probably enjoy themselves more without the grown-ups cramping their style."

"I promised Karen I would chaperone the kids," Cassandra snapped, "just like you promised to spend time with the kids, but here we are, minus kids!"

"You'll see the children tonight," Claire said impatiently, "and I'll see them tomorrow, so what's the big deal?" Her phone started ringing again, Claire instantly cutting the call off, the gesture only serving to stoke Cassandra's secret suspicions.

"Where exactly are you taking me, Claire?" Cassandra pressed, running her hand down the side of her face.

"All in good time."

"No time like the present, Claire!"

"God, can you not loosen up a bit, Cass!?" Claire retorted. "You were giving yourself a real showing up back there."

"You were asking me to hand the kids over to a complete stranger!"

"She's Zara and she's not a stranger!" Claire reiterated. "She's my PA and she's perfectly respectable! Do you seriously think I'd hire a convict or something as my personal assistant!?"

"Why didn't you meet us?"

"Excuse me!?"

"You said you'd meet us when we got off the boat!"

Claire rolled her eyes. "I was in a meeting, Cassandra," she said coldly, "a very important meeting, might I add."

Cassandra shook her head in disbelief. "Karen is going to create," she said, laughing bitterly, "and I'm probably going to have a nervous breakdown - I can feel it in my waters, I really can."

"I am just trying to help Karen," Claire flared up, "and you too, which you'd realise if you just dropped your tragedy queen airs for two seconds!"

"Don't put this on me!"

"I will and I am!"

Cassandra pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. ""Claire, we haven't seen you for years," she said, struggling to keep her voice steady, "and whilst I've not made a big deal about it, it's starting to become a problem nonetheless. And as I was saying, you were supposed to meet us off the boat but surprise, surprise, you're nowhere to be seen. Then you suddenly rock up out of the blue, telling me I've to drop everything and take off with you, leaving the kids in the hands of a comparative stranger, which I did, against my better judgement!"

Claire looked at Cassandra for a long moment. "Fine," she said clippedly, startling Cassandra, "I might've gone AWOL for the past few years, but the thing is, Cass, I'm not like you or Karen. I don't do family like you two, what with the children and the big dinners and all the big whoo-whoo. I've got a demanding career that literally demands blood, but I know I've dropped the ball one too many times, so I'm trying to make up for it now, if you let me."

"Well, I'm hedging my bets on that score."

Claire tilted her head back. "Look, Cass," she said even more impatiently, "either we get past this, or we don't. If we don't, you and the children might as well just go home."

What, and let you off the hook? Cassandra silently scoffed. True, she never came down hard on Claire like Karen always did, but boy, there were moments like now when she could cheerfully strangle her sister. "You could have at least told me you were hauling us out here," she retorted, changing tack. "As it was, it came like a bolt out of the blue, Karen backing me into a corner."

"I didn't 'haul' you out here," Claire sniffed, "but only you could turn your nose up at an all-expenses paid luxury holiday to a tropical island."

"I'm talking about actually telling me about it."

"What, didn't Karen tell you?"

"No, she didn't."

"Why not!?"

"She had her reasons."

"Well, if I'd known this, I would have told you!"

"Maybe your voicemail could have."

Claire's face flushed. "I have just arranged a meeting with you and Mr. Masrani," she choked out, confusing Cassandra. "It's a bit sudden, I know, but Mr. Masrani is a huge fan of your work and ever since he found out the Cassandra Dearing was my baby sister, he's been hounding me for months about meeting you, so when I let slip you and the children were here, it all kind of escalated from there."

Cassandra stared at Claire like she was mad. "You did what?" she said stupidly. "Me a meeting Masrani?"

"He's tried to buy Distant Horizon, you know," Claire continued, "you think it would be impossible to outbid the eighth richest man in the world at an auction, but apparently you can – twice over."

Cassandra collected herself. "Maybe he'll get third time lucky, then," she snarked. "Why should I drop everything just because he says so?"

"Mr. Masrani is an extremely busy man," Claire said, tossing her head back, "it's like next to nigh impossible to get near him. But you know, he's here, and you're here, so I'd say the stars are aligned in your favour."

"But wouldn't have Skype sufficed?"

"Cassandra" –

-"Not even a humble phone call?"

"Cassandra!"

"Look, I can't meet the eighth richest man in the world dressed in Scott's scabby t-shirt and a dinosaur themed scrunchie," Cassandra argued, gesturing to herself, realizing too late she was letting herself get sucked into the madness.

"Never mind that," Claire said, grabbing Cassandra's hands with her own, "this is the perfect opportunity to further your career. You could go global, Cass. So just trust me on this, okay!?"

But I gotta get to and from where I come

And it's gonna take money to go...