“Hi Poppy, how are you?” Her voice was soothing as always.
“I need to see you. It’s a bit of an emergency. Can we meet somewhere?"
“I’m at your sister’s place right now. Do you want to come over?”
Katy was back from holiday? That was the best result possible. Relief swept through me. “I’m coming now.”
I jumpedon the overground to get to Katy’s, the email folded in my jacket pocket, the physical proof of Eliza’s betrayal burning against my ribs.
My sister opened the door almost as soon as I knocked, her familiar face creased with worry. “What’s wrong?” She pulled me into an immediate embrace, and I sagged into it. I needed her arms around me more than she knew.
Sage appeared behind her, dressed in a hot-pink trouser suit, not at all her usual style. Her concerned face told me everything I needed to know about how I looked.
I stumbled into the living room, feeling like I might collapse. Everything felt surreal, like I was moving through water.
“Mum,” I said, my voice cracking.
Katy’s eyebrows shot up.
“Is Mum here?” I asked Sage. “I need to talk to her.”
Sage and Katy exchanged a look, the kind that said they were worried about my mental state.
“You know it doesn’t work like that.” Sage guided me to the sofa and sat beside me.
“I’ll get you tea. Tea always makes things better.” Katy reappeared a few minutes later with a mug of hot tea. “I added emergency sugar, because it looks like you need it.” She paused, sat on the armchair to my left, and reached over to take my hand. “What’s going on?”
I pulled out the email with shaking hands. “She was right. Mum warned me about betrayal when I saw you last time, andshe was right. It’s happened, and everything’s fucked, and I don’t know what to do.”
I handed Katy the email, and her sharp intake of breath echoed my own devastation from earlier.
“Oh, Pops. Oh, honey.”
Pops. I’d let Eliza call me that.
I’d opened up, let her back in. I thought she was going to leave, which would have been a kinder cut. The deception was extraordinary.
“I thought she cared about me. I thought Switzerland meant something.” The words poured out in a rush. “But it was all just manipulation. She was playing me the whole time, getting me to trust her so she could convince me to sell. It was all to further her career.”
My voice was getting higher, my throat constricted. I could hear it happening but couldn’t stop it. I was determined not to cry.
“And the worst part? I was falling for her.Reallyfalling. Like, thinking that she could be the one who I’d been waiting for. The game-changer. I thought she understood me, but at the end of the day, she’s just like Mum, putting business over personal. She used me. Now she’s ghosting me.”
“Have you spoken to Eliza about this?” Katy put the email on the coffee table. “I know the email is pretty damning, but Eliza doesn’t strike me as that person.”
“Maybe that’s why she’s so good at what she does. You don’t see it coming.” I turned to Sage. “I know you’re not an answering service, but I don’t trust my own judgment anymore. I need to know what my mum thinks. What I should do.”
Yes, I was hysterical. But if I couldn’t be hysterical in these circumstances, when could I be?
Sage sighed, her expression conflicted. “I’ve told you before—”
“Please.” I was begging now, and I didn’t care. “Just try. Please.”
Katy squeezed my shoulder. “Maybe just this once?”
Sage closed her eyes, her breathing deepening. The room fell silent except for the distant hum of traffic outside. I held my breath, desperate for some sign, some guidance from beyond.
Then, the candle flames flickered, and I caught it: that familiar scent of jasmine and vanilla, the perfume Mum always wore.
