CHAPTER ONE
One month earlier ...
The text arrives as I'm getting out of the car. I'm so anxious about the evening ahead that I barely register the beep. The setting sun is casting soft swirls of pink and orange across the Exeter skyline, thinning and sharpening the tops of the cathedral towers. The air is warm but I'm shivering, my heart beating hard and loud against my ribs. Will throws me a worried glance. I pull my phone from my bag, wondering vaguely if the text is from the babysitter. But it's Julia's name that flashes up. For a second my anxiety eases a little. Whatever my closest friend has written is sure to be an offering of support, expressed in Julia's customary style: big and bold and full of feeling. But when I open it, the text is short and terse.
PLS CALL, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU.
I know it's an overreaction, but I can't help feeling hurt. Julia knows I'm dreading this dinner. She knows what I'm facing. Or, rather, whom. And yet her text is all about her.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Julia has always been a bit self-obsessed. But still, it's not like her to forget about tonight. I close the text. I don't have the time or the inclination to reply right now.
Will puts his arm around my shoulders as we cross the road to the house Leo and Martha moved to just a few months ago. It's a new construction, a sleek white cube that contrasts with the brick town houses on either side.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Will says. He sounds tense. I shoot him a swift glance. The signs of his own nervousness are there in the slight clench of his jaw and the tightness around his eyes. Good. I'm glad he feels anxious too. So he bloody should.
The house is, frankly, amazing. Designed to within an inch of its life and perfectly reflecting the aspirations of Leo Harbury, Will's boss. The door opens as we approach. A young man in a tux with a tray of champagne flutes stands in front of us. I smile and he smiles back.
"Will and Livy Jackson," Will says.
"Please come in." The young man steps back to allow us inside. "Leo and Martha are through there." He points across the hall to a door on the left. "Bathroom and cloakroom to your right."
I follow Will to the door on the left. My heels tap noisily on the mosaic tiles. The décor in the hall is stylish and simple. If the house, with its show of money, reflects Leo Harbury's ebullient personality, then the plain white walls and tasteful furnishings are a testament to the restraining influences of his wife. I catch sight of myself in the gilt-framed mirror on the wall. I went to the hairdresser today, but I should have gone yesterday; my hair, carefully blow-dried into a feathery pale brown bob, looks too "done." I might as well be carrying a sign saying WOMAN MAKING AN EFFORT. I smile again, in spite of myself, at this Julia-ism and turn slightly, checking out my Hobbs cocktail dress. It's nice enough, but it looks like what it is: a High Street purchase rather than a designer one. Normally this wouldn't even occur to me. Leo and Martha Harbury are not snobs, and though Martha is bound to be dressed to the nines in something floaty and elegant she will also say how nice I look, with one of her warm smiles. I tell myself to get a grip. It's too late now to do anything about what I'm wearing.
Will is watching me, chewing on his lip. Despite the gray hair at his temples, he looks young-younger than I, though in fact he's two years older-and handsome in his dark suit. I finger the platinum necklace he gave me last year for our thirteenth wedding anniversary. It feels hot against my skin, though the air in the hallway is still and cool.
Will and I reach the door on the left. Sounds of the party float toward us: the low hum of chatter, the dip and soar of violins in the background music, the clink of glasses.
"You okay, Liv?" Will asks.
I nod, though both of us know it's a lie. Will takes my hand but I pull it away. Which probably isn't fair. Will feels terrible that we are here, under these circumstances.
It's still his fault.
"I'm sorry," he starts, but I hold up my hand. I don't want to hear any more apologies. Especially not tonight.
I've had six years of apologies. None of them turned back the clock. None of them took away the pain.
And none of them is going to prevent me from having to meet Catrina in the next few minutes.
"Tell me how many people are going to be here again?" I say. My voice sounds strained to my ears.
"Twenty or so, I think." Will makes a face. "Paul and Becky, of course, other people from the office, plus a few clients and agents we're working with in Switzerland and Germany, their partners, maybe some people from the States...." He trails off.
Catrina's unspoken name fills the space between us. I wipe my clammy palms down my dress. Leo and Martha's "kitchen supper for friends and colleagues" is an annual event, though this is our first visit to their new house. Of course, "kitchen suppers" is a misnomer that fails to hint at the style and formality of the actual events. Leo is a successful businessman who started his media and marketing company thirty years ago and has built it into a big, local success story.
"Ready?" Will reaches out for the door handle.
My phone rings. I fumble to retrieve it from my bag. The name on the screen is JULIA.
"Who's that?" Will asks.
"Just Julia." I switch the call off, then my entire phone. If there's a problem at home, the babysitter can call Will. I can't deal with Julia. Not now, anyway. I can't even think straight. I glance sideways at Will again. He looks terrified, his hand still on the doorknob. With a miserable stab of jealousy, I wonder how he's feeling about seeing Catrina again. She worked with Will briefly, before being sent to Paris to direct Leo's French operation. I try to recall the girl from the picture on the Harbury Media Web site: a delicate-featured blonde with a snub nose, perfect makeup, and a seductive smile. Or did I imagine the smile?
"Liv?" Will is looking at me. Someone inside the room beyond laughs. "I'm so sorry about this," he whispers.
I nod without looking at him directly. I want to turn around and shout at him that sorry isn't any good. It won't give me the absence of fear, the peace of mind I want. He and Catrina took those things away from me six years ago with their months of stolen afternoons. Will was infatuated with her. He always denied it was love, but I could see the obsession in his eyes. And back then, I hated her with a raw fury-for blundering into my marriage, for risking my family life, for threatening to tear to pieces the fabric that held up my children's world.
I've never hated anyone so much in my life.
Well, maybe one other person.
Will leans across and kisses my cheek. "You look beautiful."
I shake my head. It's not that I think he's deliberately lying, but after nearly fourteen years of marriage, you kind of stop seeing each other, so I can't help but think he's overcompensating, trying to be nice. Anyway, whatever he's trying to do, it's too late. Flattery won't get either of us through tonight.
"You do," Will insists, smoothing away a stray strand of hair from my cheek.
"Come on."
With a nod, Will reaches out again and opens the door. The room beyond is full of people, but I can still see that it's as beautifully designed as the rest of the house: with a cluster of leather couches, some funky low tables, and simple cream curtains at the windows. Pieces of modern art are dotted around the walls. Will holds my hand as we walk across the room. I'm all eyes, looking everywhere for Catrina. The room is full of people, surely more than the twenty or so Will suggested would be here. I can see Leo by the window, holding court. He strides over to the drinks table, still speaking, with that classic swagger of his. I look around the room. No sign of any blondes, at least none under fifty.
I look up at Will, my eyebrows raised. He shakes his head.
I blow out my breath. Catrina isn't here. Yet.
A couple standing nearby advances toward us, bright smiles on their faces. They look about the same age as Leo and Martha, early sixties.
"Good to see you, Will. Last time was that conference in Basel, wasn't it?" The man has a Texas accent. He shakes Will's hand enthusiastically, then turns to me to introduce his wife.
She continues to smile as Will introduces me back. She is wearing what can only be described as a gown-it's pink and trails in soft, silk folds onto the floor. I look down at my cocktail dress, a black knee-length sheath with a lacy overlay. I can't decide whether it's too young for me or too unstructured for my figure. I've put on twelve pounds since Zack was born.
Will and the two Texans are deep in conversation now. Another young man in a tux comes by with a tray of drinks. I take a glass of white wine. It's delicious, dry, and smooth, with a distinct hint of gooseberry. The small talk around me continues. I smile and nod, though I'm not listening. All I can think about is Catrina. She's younger than I am and doesn't have children, as far as I know. I'm certain she will be sexy and skinny-as well as successful. She's been based in Paris for almost six years now, and is still Harbury Media's youngest-ever director. When I told Julia that a few days ago, she'd rolled her eyes. "Brace yourself, Liv," she'd said. "Worst-case scenario-she's picked up a wardrobe of French couture, a grooming regime to die for, and a Parisian sneer."
Thinking of Julia, I'm half-inclined to make my excuses and slip out to the bathroom to return her call after all-I don't care, right now, that she's maybe been a bit selfish tonight; I need to talk to my best friend-but before I can utter a word, Martha and Leo are here.
Leo beams and pumps Will's hand, giving him a mighty slap on the back.
"Good to see you, sir," he says in that mock posh accent he often affects in public situations. Both Martha and Will insist that Leo is privately a lot less confident than he appears in company, but he always manages to unsettle me. There's something overbearing about his presence, something unnerving about his piercing gaze. "How's the promotion sitting with you?"
This is a reference to the fact that Leo recently added deputy managing director to Will's job as planning director. It's a recognition of Will's talent and his hard work, and brings with it a little more money and a lot more stress.
"It's sitting very nicely, thanks," Will says with a slight blush.
Leo winks at me, his gaze straying briefly to the neckline of my dress. I fidget from side to side. It's not that I think Leo is perving after me; he's never even flirted openly. But there's a restless quality about him-you never quite know what he's thinking.
"Livy." Martha draws me toward her, planting a soft kiss on my cheek. "You look lovely. How are the kids?"
I smile, grateful for her warmth, all thoughts of calling Julia quickly forgotten. Martha never fails to ask after Hannah and Zack. She is childless herself and often says with a lighthearted smile that if she'd had a daughter, she'd have wanted her to be like me.
"The kids are good," I say. "Hannah's getting all hormonal, but Zack's still Zack. Your new place is lovely, by the way."
"Glad you like it." Martha says. A frown creases her forehead. "But Hannah surely can't be that old," she says.
"Afraid so. She'll be thirteen in October." I fish Will's phone out of his pocket and show Martha the screen saver: a photo of Hannah and Zack looking suntanned in shorts and T-shirts from our Easter holiday in Spain. As Martha coos with an almost grandmotherly pride over the children, Paul and Becky wander up. It's good to see them, not just because we haven't hooked up in ages, but also because of our long-standing connection.
Paul and I met studying History at university, though we didn't really become good friends until after uni, when Paul took a job at Harbury Media and introduced me to Will, who already worked there. Paul met Becky soon after that, and for a while, the four of us spent a lot of time socializing together.
"Zack looks so cute," Becky gushes. "Just adorable."
I smile once more, resisting the temptation to launch into an anecdote. Paul and Becky don't have kids, and I'm painfully aware that their interest, unlike Martha's genuine delight in my children, stretches only so far. As if to prove my point, Becky turns away from the phone and whispers something in Paul's ear.
I watch them. They are both aging well: Paul all slim and suited with slicked-back hair, and Becky elegant in a blue cocktail dress. I've known Paul such a long time that I often forget Leo is his dad-a product of Leo's first, never-talked-about marriage. It must be weird, working for your own father, but Paul seems happy enough.
I hand Will back his phone. A moment later, Leo steers him away to talk to Werner Heine, a client from Germany.
I catch Martha's eye.
She offers another smile, this one resigned. "They never stop working, do they?"
I smile ruefully back. Paul and Becky are still chatting away to each other, not listening to us.
Martha moves closer to me, lowering her voice."I'm so sorry about Catrina," she says. "Leo invited her without thinking-then it was too late. I found out only a few days ago." She rolls her eyes. "Men, honestly."
I nod, my face burning. So she knows. I've never talked about the affair with Martha-or with anyone aside from Julia. I know Martha is just being her usual, kind self, but it's hard not to feel humiliated.
Martha squeezes my shoulder, clearly concerned. Embarrassed, I glance around the room again. A lot of the people here work in Leo's office with him and Will. How many of them know? Will told me he'd never said anything to anyone at work about his affair. I guess I was stupid to think that meant no one had noticed. Or that gossip wouldn't start and spread.
"I love what you've done with this room," Becky says to Martha, who gives my shoulder another squeeze, then falls back into hostess mode.
As Martha and Becky begin a detailed conversation about Farrow & Ball color choices, Paul catches my eye. Unlike Leo, he has a long, narrow face with no trace of his father's square, fleshy features except perhaps around the mouth.
"How are you, Livy?" he asks.
"Fine," I lie.
"Did I hear you saying Hannah's getting all 'moody teenager'?"
Encouraged by his interest, I dive into my latest story about Hannah requesting a leg-waxing appointment "when she hasn't even started her period." Paul looks slightly embarrassed at this mention, and I silently rebuke myself. He's always been a tad fastidious. I remember him very politely insisting that Hannah's diaper should be placed directly in their outside trash can on our first visit after she was born. The request was fair enough, of course, but it kind of signaled the start of our mutual retreat from the friendship the four of us had enjoyed up until then. Over the past few years, our visits to each other's homes have dwindled, though we still meet every few months for dinner or drinks out in Exeter.
Becky joins in the conversation again as Paul explains how they're having their house-a rambling Victorian mansion in Topsham-remodeled over the summer. Becky is a maths teacher at the local private school, petite and strikingly attractive, with a mane of glossy dark hair swept up in an elaborate bun and eyes as dark and sparkly as her husband's. Paul, of course, works for Harbury Media, though as the company's account director with special responsibility for digital marketing, he is one step lower down the pecking order than Will. Paul has a charming line in self-deprecation, stopping short of false modesty but insisting that his work, though challenging, is dull and that his wife is the one with the brains. On this occasion he is complimenting Becky on her understanding of the structural work being done to their house.
"She totally keeps the builders on their toes, he says, looking at his wife admiringly. "Brains and beauty."
She blushes and kisses him on the cheek. Instinctively, I glance around for Will. Paul and Becky got married the same year as Will and I did, though they seem blissfully happy, while Will and I managed only seven years before his affair. We've almost been married as many years since, but the second half has been harder. Right now it's hard not to feel envious of a couple who are so obviously still in love.
I ask Becky whether she's looking forward to the end of term, coming up in the next couple of weeks, and the planned renovations to her and Paul's house.
"God, yes," she says, "but mainly because we're moving out and letting the builders get on with it until September."
"Where are you going to stay?" My eyes flit across the room to where Will is chatting with some of his work colleagues. I don't know all the women in the group he's talking to, but I'm certain none of them is Catrina.
Becky launches into a description of her parents' place in Spain, where she is heading the day after term ends.
"Of course I'll miss Paul," she says, giving her husband an affectionate smile.
"And I'll miss you." Paul turns to me and grimaces. "Thanks to work, I won't be able to join her for ages"
"Over a month." Becky kisses his cheek. "Aw, sweetie."
I stare at them, trying to dispel the envy I'm feeling at the ease of their intimacy. Even in the good days, Will and I were never one of those couples who finish each other's sentences.
"So where will you stay before you fly out to Becky?" I ask Paul.
"One of my mum's places," Paul explains. "She owns a few houses in the area."
I nod. I know very little about Paul's mother. As a teenager, he had a falling out with her-and with his stepfather, whom he'd loathed. I'm aware they're in touch, but it's obvious Paul isn't close to his mum, even now. Neither Leo nor Martha ever mention her, though I do know that Leo's marriage to his first wife ended when Paul was very young, long before meeting Martha. Paul has never seemed bitter about that, maintaining with a wry smile that if he'd been married to his mother, he'd have left her too.
We carry on talking and drinking for a few more minutes. Leo and Martha's cat, Snowflake, a beautiful white Persian with blue eyes, stalks by, drawing many admiring glances. Will comes over and he and Paul start chatting about motorbikes, the shared passion that sparked their original friendship. Paul has, apparently, just bought a new Ducati. Will's eyes widen as Paul tells him the exact model. I know he would love a bike himself. Will sold his last motorcycle when Hannah was a baby so that we could buy a new car, and his own bike-riding days are now long behind him.
Becky is still talking about Spain-Andalucía, to be precise-and the hikes she and Paul enjoyed on their last holiday there. By now, there's a fixed smile on my face. It's not just the display of wedded bliss I'm having to witness, that's making me feel uncomfortable but also the fact that I'm all too aware Catrina will be here soon. If she isn't already.
After a few more moments, Martha says she has to check on the food and slides away to the kitchen. Becky follows her. Paul and Will are still talking about bikes. so I gaze around the room. This is hell. My glass is empty. I've knocked it back far too fast. The waiter wanders over with another tray of wine and champagne. I take a drink and press the cool, damp glass against my cheek as Leo strolls over.
"Hey, Dad." Paul gives his father a pat on the back. "Good party-the clients are loving it.
Leo acknowledges the compliment with a small smile. I notice-not for the first time-that Will shrinks into himself a little in his boss's presence, as if attempting to adopt a more deferential air. I wonder if Leo realizes that.
Another few minutes pass. More guests arrive. I find my eyes constantly drawn to the door, watching and waiting. Leo spots me looking and touches my arm. There's nothing inappropriate about his touch, yet his hand feels too heavy on my skin.
"We really appreciate you coming, Livy," he says in an uncharacteristically gentle voice.
I can feel my cheeks reddening. He knows about Catrina too. I glance around. Paul is watching me while listening to Will describe some classic motorbike he saw yesterday. Does he know as well? Does Becky?
For a few sickening moments, I wonder how much they know. Catrina had been working in the office for a while. Probably all the guys fancied her. Probably Will thought he was the luckiest man in the firm when their eyes met over the photocopier or however the whole sleazy business began.
Leo's hand is still on my arm. I shift slightly away from him and he removes it at last. As he turns to Paul, I close my eyes, remembering the days of obsessive worrying and imagining. How did it start? How many times? How good was the sex? When and how and where was I lied to?
And through all the fights that followed the confession I forced from my husband's lips: Will's terror that I would leave him. His insistence that it had been a moment of madness-well, two months of moments. That I was the love of his life. That our home and our children and our life together were his whole world.
I forgave him-and I tried to forget. But over the past six years, the memory of the affair retains its power to corrode my trust, like acid or rust. It's ironic: when I was younger, before it happened, I imagined an affair would be a nuclear explosion in my marriage, obliterating it. The reality has turned out to be more like a nail bomb, leaving shards and fragments in unexpected places. Less annihilation, more attrition-though possibly just as fatal.
I open my eyes. Both Paul and Leo are watching the door. Simultaneously, their gaze switches back to me. I look over to the door myself. Oh God. It's her. She's shorter and curvier than I was expecting, in a clingy blue dress. Her face is smiling and open, but she is attractive rather than pretty. Certainly not beautiful. I stare at her. I've spent so long imagining a lingerie-toting supermodel that it's hard to accept the ordinary-looking girl I see in front of me. One thing's for sure-she is young. Her skin is plump and fresh, her eyes sparkling.
I realize I'm still staring and look away. Will presses his hand into the small of my back. I'm here.
I don't look him in the eye. Can't. I feel flushed and exposed. I wish I weren't here. I wish I were anywhere else. At home, reading Zack a story or listening to Hannah argue for the millionth time how everyone else in her class has an iPhone.
Will is talking now, some detail about work with Leo and another colleague. I stare down at the beautiful parquet flooring and notice that the polish on my right big toe has chipped. And then I feel Will stiffen beside me. Instinctively, I know that this means Catrina must have come over. I look up. Freeze. She's standing in front of us, that blue dress hugging her curves, a pair of elegant drop earrings glittering in the lamplight. She extends her hand to Will, and he has to take his palm from my back to shake. She is as groomed and polished as Julia predicted, but utterly without the Parisian sneer.
"Will, it's been ages," she says with a smile. She has a Yorkshire accent. I'm taken aback. I wasn't expecting this ... this mix of down-to-earth friendliness and sophisticated glamour.
She turns to me. "Laura, is it?"
"Livy."
We stare at each other. Beside me, I feel the tension radiating off Will.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She is young, but her nose is slightly blobby and her eyes set too wide apart. There's an appealing vulnerability in her manner, but she's no femme fatale.
Still, I'm certain the mistake with my name was deliberate. Which surely means she cares. She still cares. I look anxiously at Will. Does he care back?
I watch him talk to Catrina, trying to read the body language between them. He is reserved and awkward. Is that because of her? Or just the situation? Catrina is all surface poise, but her unhappy eyes give her away. Will's hand is back on my spine, pressing my dress against my damp skin.
"Please excuse us," Will is saying. "There are so many people I want my wife to meet."
He steers me away. I catch a glimpse of Catrina watching us.
"Livy." Will leans into me as we cross the room. "Are you okay?"
I say nothing. I'm trying to process the fact that Catrina still wants him. Perhaps I imagined that. I look around again. She is still watching us. She looks desperately miserable.
"You do know how much I love you, don't you?" Will's voice is an urgent whisper in my ear.
I turn and face him properly. I see no desire for Catrina in his face. Only concern for me. For the first time since we left the house, I relax a little. I've met her now. And Will doesn't want her. It was all a long time ago. Over. At least as far as he's concerned.
"I think she still likes you," I say with yet another forced smile, searching his face.
Will shakes his head. "No," he says. "It wouldn't matter even if she did." He lowers his voice. "It's only you, Livy-you know that, don't you?"
His eyes plead with me. I nod as Martha appears at the end of the room to announce that dinner is ready.
The next hour passes in a blur. Martha has tactfully sat Catrina at the opposite end of the table from Will and me. I can see her chatting with Paul and Becky.
Dinner itself is delicious and served by more men in tuxedos who glide silently around the room, ferrying silver platters of Greek salad, then lamb noisette to each guest.
Dessert is a selection of mini mousses and tarts. Then we have coffee. The evening is drawing to a close-Leo and Martha's dinners are never late affairs; Leo is famous for rising early, even crediting his business success to the hours he puts in before the working day begins-and I've almost forgotten how humiliated I felt earlier, when Leo pitches up again. His cheeks are flushed and he carries with him the vague scent of cigar smoke.
"Crisis in Geneva," he growls. "It's bloody Henri again."
Will, who hasn't left my side all through dinner, frowns. "What does he want now?"
Leo explains. Lucas Henri, as I already know, is Harbury Media's biggest client. He owns a high-tech company based in Switzerland that supplies electronics goods to several outlets across the South West. Will hates him with a passion. Everyone at Harbury hates him, as far as I can tell. "He's got all the worst qualities of a client," I remember Will telling me once. "He never knows what he wants, only that you haven't provided it. He micromanages. And he's always trying to slip extra jobs into the workload when they're not in the original agreement." Tonight, it seems, someone has messed up on the dates for a hugely expensive marketing campaign, and Henri is panicking.
"He's threatening to pull his entire operation." Leo sighs. "I need you out there with me, Will. Right now."
Will shoots me an apologetic look.
"It's fine," I say. I'm used to these last-minute business trips. It's one of the penalties of being married to someone who speaks fluent French and German. Catrina must speak great French too if she works in Paris. A spike of jealousy pierces me.
"The distributor has a charter leaving just before midnight," Leo goes on. His earlier, jovial air is completely gone. He's stern and focused, all business mode. Will stiffens and straightens beside me in response. "Go home, pack an overnight."
"I guess I'll be going home too, then." I mean it to sound light and funny, but the words have an edge. I shouldn't let my housewife status get to me, but surrounded as I am by strong, successful women like Becky and Julia, it's hard sometimes not to feel sidelined.
Leo looks at me, his gaze softening. "Sorry, Livy, but I need my best man on the job." He pats my arm. Again, his hand feels too heavy, too insistent somehow. "Don't worry, it's Geneva, not Paris, just me and Will."
Oh God, he must think that I'm worried Catrina might be traveling with them. My cheeks burn, but Leo doesn't notice.
He has turned to Will again. "The girls are e-mailing you your ticket right now. Nothing else to be done." And with that, he strides off.
Will opens his mouth, then shuts it again. I can tell he doesn't know what to say and that he's worried this will be the last straw after everything he's put me through tonight. It's funny. Will is valued at work for soothing neurotic clients in three languages, but he's tongue-tied around his emotions with me. Not to mention hopeless when it comes to anything practical like putting up shelves or mending the garden fence.
"I'm sorry," he stammers at last.
"It's okay." I smile. At least now we get away from Catrina. "Everyone'll be leaving soon anyway."
We say good-bye to Martha. Catrina looks up from her conversation with Paul to wave at us both. I nod in response. Then we head home.
I breathe a sigh of relief as we get in the car. Will's phone rings immediately. It's Leo again, with an update on the situation in Geneva, which appears to be getting worse by the minute. I stare out of the window as we drive the short distance back to Heavitree. I know these streets so well. I grew up in Bath but came to university in Exeter twenty years ago. I haven't lived anywhere else since. Usually the lack of adventure in my past doesn't bother me, but right now it feels like yet another way in which my life and experiences are limited. Certainly I'm more limited than Will, who comes from London-and had already spent a year in France and Germany when I met him-and Catrina with her undoubtedly chic Parisian existence.
Will switches off his phone with a sigh, then asks if I'm all right. I reply rather curtly that I'm fine, then feel guilty for being short with him. After all, he has done everything tonight that he possibly could to reassure me.
As we walk up to the front door, I take his hand. "Hey."
Will turns to face me, a worried frown on his forehead. I reach up to kiss him, letting my lips linger on his mouth. He responds by pulling me into a hug.
"Oh, Livy." His breath is hot against my ear. There is so much feeling in his voice-relief and desire and love-that I suddenly feel stupid for having doubted him.
"Hey," I say again, drawing back and holding his face between my hands. "Everything's fine. Don't worry."
Will smiles; then we let ourselves into the house. The kids are both in bed and asleep. While Will disappears upstairs to pack a bag, I pay Bethany, our babysitter from along the road, then go to give him a hand. There's a small kerfuffle over the exact location of his laptop, which turns out to be lurking underneath Hannah's in a corner of the living room. And then he's off in a taxi to the airport. Miraculously, the children have slept through his entire departure and the house is suddenly, oddly silent. I watch TV, then take a long bath. It's only as I'm getting ready for bed that I remember Julia's earlier text and the call I didn't answer. I switch on my phone. She's left a voice mail asking me to ring her. The message says it's important, so I send a text asking if she's still up. There's no reply, and as it's well past eleven now, I send a second text saying I'm sorry I missed her and that although Will has had to go away, the kids and I will see her for lunch tomorrow as planned.
I sleep soundly, far better than I did the night before, when the dinner was still ahead of me. I awake with a jolt to Zack bouncing onto the bed, tousle-haired and smelling of sleep and chocolate; there's a telltale smear around his mouth.
He dives under the covers and throws his arms around my neck. "Mummy," he croons in my ear, his hands in tight fists, pulling me toward him. "There was three Ben 10s in a row."
I snuggle him close, feeling the familiar rush of love that Zack brings out in me. At seven, he is getting leaner, no longer a chubby-limbed little boy, but his huge appetite for physical affection shows no sign of diminishing, thank goodness.
"When are we going over to Julia's?" says Hannah, speaking from the door.
If there is a more scathing tone of voice in the world than the one a twelve-year-old girl can put into the most anodyne query to her mother, I have yet to hear it.
I glance over the top of Zack's head. Hannah is leaning against the doorframe, her blond hair snaking down her back. She is on the verge of puberty-narrow-hipped, long-legged like a colt, and with small buds of breasts. With her pale skin and gray eyes, she looks more like Kara every day. I soak her up as the memories wash over me: Kara as a little girl, giggling with mischief; Kara wide-eyed as she described her first student party; Kara weeping when our dog was sick and had to be put down-
Kara dead.
I shiver. I never actually saw her body, but sometimes I imagine her stone-colored eyes as they must have been in death: cold and hard and empty.
"Mum?" Hannah's tone is impatient. "What time?"
I shake off my morbid thoughts and glance at the clock by the bed. It's almost ten. No wonder Zack's been eating chocolate. I can't remember the last time I slept this late.
"Are you hungry, baby boy?" I ask.
Zack nods, nuzzling into my neck and planting a huge slobbery kiss on my right earlobe.
"I'm right here." Now Hannah sounds injured. I look over.
Oh God, she's welling up.
"We'll go to Julia's at eleven," I say, trying to smile in the face of Hannah's volatile emotions.
"Fine." She flounces off.
I sigh, then reach for my phone. My call goes to Julia's voice mail, so I leave a message saying we'll see her soon. Julia still hasn't responded to the text I sent late last night. Thinking about it, I realize she's probably still in bed. Whom did she say she was seeing at the moment? Some younger man. He was fair-haired, "my Dirty Blond," she'd confided with relish. I can't recall his actual name-or even if Julia had gotten around to telling it to me yet.
I bribe Zack up and off me with the promise of a bacon sandwich. I make one for myself too, but Hannah refuses to eat.
"I'll have something at Julia's," she says.
I shake my head. It's pointless to argue. Julia will have provided food-there'll be nibbles from her local deli, along with huge gin and tonics for me and her, followed by something super-sophisticated for lunch, with no quarter given to the idea of a kids' menu. "Quail eggs before chicken nuggets," she always says, refusing to make any allowance even during Zack's long year of eating only sausages.
Over lunch, Julia and I will drink Pouilly-Fuissé wine, her favorite, and there'll be a jug of proper lemonade for the kids. Julia will slip two cubes of ice and a slice of lemon into Hannah's glass to emulate our earlier G&Ts.
"A glamour drink," she will say with a smile and a wink. "To get you ready for the big time, Hans."
She's always had a special relationship with Hannah. In many ways, they're alike-brittle and egocentric but capable of genuine warmth too. I know the fact that Hannah looks like Kara has always haunted Julia as well as me. After all, it was my sister's death-and our impotent fury against her killer-that brought Julia and me together.
Hannah is dressed and ready to leave by ten thirty-she's in skinny jeans and a silk vest of mine that is both too old and too big for her. I am too busy bribing Zack to get dressed to say anything either about that or the eyeliner she's applied rather heavily. She adores Julia as much as Julia adores her. I understand why she wants to look good. Julia brings out that side of me as well.
Once Zack is ready, I hurry into my own tea dress and sandals. Julia is never late herself and hates unpunctuality in her guests. It seems odd that she hasn't replied either to my call or my text, but I don't give it much thought as we pull up in the sunshine outside her apartment.
And then she doesn't answer the door.
I frown. I've never known Julia-a self-confessed control freak-to miss one of our Sunday lunch dates or, indeed, be late for any arrangement. For all the force and flamboyance of her personality, Julia is one of the most considerate people I've ever met: well-mannered to a fault and as openly grateful for the stability my friendship offers as she is needful of constant change and stimulation in other areas of her life.
The two of us grew close after Kara's death. Before then, Julia was really my sister's friend. Unmarried and childless herself, Julia couldn't be more different from me. But she is godmother to my eldest child, and the first person I turned to when I found out about Will's affair.
"Oh, honeypie," I remember her saying with a weary sigh, "Didn't Momma tell you never to put all your eggs in one bastard?"
She's always quoting Dorothy Parker-I gave Julia a collection of the author's sayings for her most recent, thirty-sixth birthday. Once we've settled the kids in front of a DVD, I know she'll be full of questions and opinions about Catrina and how the dinner party went.
I ring the doorbell again. Still no reply.
"But she's always here when we come," Hannah says.
She's right: Julia would never let my kids down by forgetting the date. I check my phone again. No message. For the first time, Julia's text about needing to talk sends a shiver down my spine.
"What are we going to do, Mum?" Hannah asks anxiously.
Zack, sensing the atmosphere has changed, shuffles closer to me.
"Maybe the intercom's not working." I take out my keys. The spares to Julia's building and apartment hang on my old leather key ring, just as my keys dangle from her silver Tiffany fob. I open the building's front door.
Once inside, the kids race up the stairs to Julia's second-floor apartment. They hammer on Julia's front door, but there's still no reply. I join them, starting to wish I'd turned around and left when we were downstairs, but I can't stop now. Worry pricks the hairs at the nape of my neck. Where is she?
I open the door and we walk inside. I feel like I'm intruding, despite the key. The kids, suddenly quiet, hang back. Maybe they sense something in the air. It's all too fast for me to be sure. And then we're in the living room and Julia's lying there on the sofa. And she could be asleep but I know that she's not.
A long second passes before I let out my breath and the knowledge slams into my brain.
Julia. My best friend. Is dead.
Copyright © 2014 by Rosefire Ltd.
