If this was a boxing match, Liv might place Chloe at a few points ahead of her. But there were still several rounds to go before a knockout. She wasn’t sure who would win. She stuck out her hand and shook Chloe’s. ‘Deal,’ she said.
Liv took three flights of stairs up to Essie’s flat. As she entered the writing room, she needed to create some kind of order in her mind and felt the need to clean.
There weren’t any fresh ingredients in Essie’s fridge or kitchen cupboards to mix her own solutions, so Liv grabbed some antibacterial wipes from the store cupboard and set to work.
After she’d finished, the flat smelled of fake pine trees and she blocked out the thought of Essie shaking her head with disapproval. Liv had more important things on her mind. Like how she could engineer a meeting with Hank Milligan.
She spent the afternoon reading anything she could about him, studying his photos with Essie again and looking him up online. Hank only used social media to promote his books, and the photos his second wife posted on Instagram shielded their two kids’ faces from view.
She finally found a recent shot of the family at a baseball game. Hank’s daughter looked to be around six, and his son perhaps nine or ten. Liv hummed to herself and ran a quick calculation in her head. Hank’s boy must have been conceived soon after his split with Essie… or perhaps even earlier. The possibility took root in her head.
Liv could go along to the opening night of Hank’s Bar, maybe even gain access and stand at the bar. But how could she get Essie’s good-looking, famous ex-husband to notice an ordinary fortysomething mum of two?
Chapter 26
Whisky Glass
On the evening of Hank’s bar launch, Liv shaved her legs in the bath. She tied her dressing-gown belt and bumped into Jake in their bedroom.
He wore a navy suit and fiddled with the top button of his shirt. When he saw her, he lifted his chin. ‘Does my tie look neat?’ he said.
In that split second, Liv remembered the Paperpress awards were taking place that evening. She cursed herself for forgetting. She’d pledged to make more effort with Jake and was falling at a first hurdle. ‘Yes, it looks fine,’ she said, wondering if her words sounded strangled.
He glanced at his watch. ‘Are you nearly ready? We don’t want to be late.’
‘Um, about that,’ she said, dreading her next words. ‘Sorry, but I have to work tonight.’
He stared at her in disbelief. ‘Are you kidding me? It’s Thursday evening. This has been in the diary for weeks.’
‘I need to help Essie with something last minute. I go to the awards each year. No one will miss me.’ She remembered last year’s ceremony when Katrina ignored her all night.Jake and his parents were busy, too, laying out the buffet and lining up the awards. Liv’s offers to help were batted away, so she ate cold sausage rolls and made small talk with the Paperpress employees instead.
‘I’llmiss you,’ he said coolly. ‘And my parents.’
‘I can’t get out of this,’ she said.
He stormed out of the room, glancing back at her over his shoulder with such disdain it cut her to the core. ‘Whatever,’ he said.
And the thing was, she didn’twantto get out of anything. She wanted to see Hank and find out his part in Essie’s story. She felt like she couldn’t write the end of Book Twenty without knowing what tore the couple apart.
Ten minutes later, Jake left the house without saying goodbye.
Liv looked in her wardrobe mirror and straightened her back. She felt like there was an invisible rope wrapped around her waist, pulling her towards Hank. She was sure he’d be surrounded by his management team, hangers-on and fans. How could she stand out from the crowd? Opening her wardrobe, she stared dolefully at an AC/DC T-shirt and her jeans. She ran a hair through her half-highlighted hair and had an idea.
She took a taxi to a city centre hair salon. After an hour in the creative director’s chair, she left with a new shiny bob, similar to Essie’s style. All her blonde streaks were now cut out, and her hair was a rich, walnut brown.
At Essie’s flat, she changed into the blue dress with embroidered birds. She applied orange lipstick, slipped on dark sunglasses and studied herself in the mirror. It felt thrilling to see a younger version of Essie staring back at her.
‘Quite,’ Liv said to her reflection.
At Hank’s Bar a blonde woman wearing denim shorts and a T-shirt with prison bars printed on it stood at the door holding a clipboard. ‘Name?’ she said, as if for the thousandth time.
Liv pushed the sunglasses up her nose. ‘Essie Starling,’ she said.
The woman lowered her clipboard. Her eyes widened. ‘Really? Wow,’ she said. ‘You want me to go tell Hank?’
Liv shook her head. ‘Let’s keep it as our little surprise.’
The woman grinned and rubber-stamped the back of Liv’s hand. ‘It feels weird to be saying this, but… Welcome to Hank’s for a criminally good time,’ she said. ‘Any chance of a photo with you?’
