Laura, a 43-year-old architect, had always had a tricky relationship with her younger sister, Carla. However, things hit a low point when Carla was setting up a new business and asked Laura to invest in it. “She asked me for £10,000, I’m sure because she knew my husband had recently inherited a large sum of money. For various reasons, including the fact that I knew the online boutique she was launching was doomed to fail, I said no. Her reaction was explosive. She called me every name under the sun. She told me I was unsupportive and smug.”
After the storm came the big freeze. Laura hasn’t spoken to her sister for three years. “It’s not like we don’t see each other. She lives nearby and we still attend some shared family events. I tried to talk to her, but she would look the other way when I tried to catch her eye.” For a while, Laura says, it was “all-consuming, trying to re-establish communication. Now, I just walk around her like an awkward piece of furniture. If we must speak, it’s done through our kids, which can’t be setting a good example.”
