Loathe Thy Neighbour

Chapter Three

Slack jawed, Sapphire looked like she could swallow flies. In fact, Felicity worried so much that she clacked her sisters jaw shut, and held both sides of her face.

'He's disgusting. Did you not hear about what he said about his tongue?'

Sapphire moved the curtain aside and peeked out of the window, rearranging her hair.

'I heard Flick. I was just too busy imagining that hunk of a man lavishing me with his....'

'Saph!' Their mother walked into the living room, twirling around in her favourite cream pant suit. 'Nobody wants you to finish that sentence. However, I wouldn't decline a little attention from Mr Bond.'

'He's hardly Daniel Craig!' Felicity protested, stroking her mother’s Persian cat, Milly and looking between her mother and sister with a look of disbelief.

'No sweetie, that's his name. Thomas Bond, and he can make me double 'O' seven any time he likes.' Her mother grinned, 'but alas, I think I'm a little old for him.'

'For the first time in your life are you going to start dating someone older than thirty-five?' Asked Sapphire, incredulously.

Bridget Arnold put one hand on her hip and glared at her daughters. 'Life is for living, and you two are so boring. I'm off to sell houses, and to seduce the guy selling a gorgeous house on Pear Tree Road. There's a nice chunk of commission there for me, and maybe a little something to seal the deal.' She raised her eyebrows suggestively and her daughters groaned.

'You know I love you girls, right?' She told them, opening her arms up, 'And one of these days we'll all meet amazing guys and ride off into the sunset.'

Sapphire nodded, running back to the window, hoping to catch Mr Bond on his morning jog, while Felicity wondered whether her mother had read too many romance novels. Real life was a little more complicated, and a lot less glamorous. Her mother constantly sought out the guys from her books, doctors, lawyers, and local tv personalities, as well as her fair share of wannabe entrepreneurs. It always ended up the same way, her romantic fantasies dashed by the reality that men just couldn't stick around. Real men spent more time watching TV than they did riding horses wearing cowboy hats, always ready for a romp in the hay. Sapphire didn't have as many romantic delusions, preferring to enjoy her body while it was young, and enjoy the bodies of any hot, lithe, muscular men that crossed her path. Both said they didn't believe in marriage, but in reality, she knew they both coveted the end game. A ring, a promise, and being the centre of somebody's universe.

The one thing Felicity had had, and then all that investment was for nothing.