I heard a scream of delight from behind the door and within seconds my five year old niece, Jessie, was in my arms.

It was possibly the most excited anyone had been to see me in quite sometime.

"Ashley you came!" Another squeal of delight, and I laughed, picking her up.

"I had to come over to see how my favourite niece was coming along. And look at you! You’re almost twice the size you were when I last saw you."

She giggled and wiggled out of my arms, taking one of my hands and dragging me through my sister’s home.

"I’m your only niece silly," she replied matter-of-factly. "But have I really grown that much taller since last time?"

"Oh yeah," I tell her sincerely. Satisfied with my response, she smiles before running out of the room. I hear her yell to Kyla that I’m downstairs and within seconds my sister emerges, a big smile on her face as she brings me in for a hug.

"I was half expecting a call from you saying you wouldn’t be coming."

I shake my head and make myself comfortable on one of the kitchen stools as Kyla busies herself with dinner, talking her own head off about some trivial problem at Jessie’s school which I apparently should have been concerned about.

"Is Tom here?" I ask.

"He should be getting back from work soon," Kyla replied. "They have him working longer hours at the moment because there are problems with construction and the new design."

I nodded understandingly. Kyla’s husband was a prominent architect, and, although he always seemed to be working, managed to make time for his family which impressed me.

"So who gets the apartment?"

"Me, but I’ll pay him for half of it," I sighed, knowing Kyla’s questioning would only be stopped by some divine intervention.

"Really? Huh. I thought Aiden would want that. So what else did you decide on?"

"Kyla the only thing we really shared was the house," I explained. "His owns his car, I own mine… as for personal belongings it’s not like he wants any of my cds or paintings, and I’m not jumping up and down to own his gym gear."