‘But we couldn’t be ourselves around him, Ged. Not at all.’
‘I could.’
‘Well, I couldn’t,’ says Rosemary in a shaky voice. ‘I always felt I needed to please and impress him, and that, if I didn’t, my relationship with Flora would suffer. I worked out, very early on, what kind of mother-in-law he would most want, and then I pretended to be that person.’
‘When I spoke to Lewis on the phone, I asked after Georgina,’ I tell her. ‘I said, “How old is she now?” Obviously, I had no idea she’d passed away. I said it in a “Wow, she must be nearly a teenager” kind of way.’
‘Lewis won’t have liked thatat all,’ says Gerard Tillotson quietly. Something chimes at the back of my mind – some sort of alarm or warning – but it’s gone before I can grasp it.
‘What did he say?’ asks Rosemary.
‘He told me Georgina was twelve,’ I say. I know I’ve said enough, but I’m so furious with Lewis that I can’t control it, and the rest spills out: ‘There was no hint of distress or unease in his voice. He sounded his usual, upbeat, extrovert self, even though, it turns out, he was telling me the most outrageous lie: that his daughter who died when she was six months old is alive and well and living in Delray Beach, Florida.’
12
‘Beth? It’s pitch black in here,’ Dom complains.
I’m in the bath, in the dark, with Kiehl’s Lavender, Sea Salts and Aloe Vera bath foam and a few extra drops of essential lavender oil added for good measure, to make the scent stronger. My face is covered with a stiff, dried mask: Zannah’s favourite – a blend of lavender and camomile that comes as a powder. You have to add water and stir it into a paste.
Some people believe that tea is the answer to stress, and others resort to alcohol. For me, it’s lavender.
‘You want to talk yet?’ says Dom.
I nod. I’m ready. It might be nearly midnight, but since getting back from Wokingham I’ve dealt with my work email inbox and had an hour or so to get my thoughts in order. The bath has helped hugely. I feel like I have a grip on things again. I’ve adjusted, digested all the new information.
‘Good.’ Dom closes the door and locks it. Now we’re in total darkness.
‘Can I turn a light on?’ he asks.
‘No. Your eyes’ll adjust in a minute.’
He sits down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. ‘We need to talk,’ he says. ‘Seriously.’
‘I agree.’
‘Great. I’m glad.’
I know what’s coming.
‘You need to drop this now. Completely. No more driving to far-away places, no more hanging round schools. And don’t turn this into “My husband doesn’t understand my point of view”, because that’s not true. I do.’
‘I’ve literally never said those words, by the way.’
‘Zan told me what happened at Flora’s parents’ place. Something fucked up is going on with Lewis and Flora, big time, but it doesn’t affect us. By which I mean: it doesn’t need to, unless you keep your obsession stoked up. You’ve been lied to and fobbed off repeatedly – that means Flora and Lewis don’t want you to know what’s going on with them, they want you out of their lives. Let that happen – stop pursuing this – and we’ll never see or hear from the Braids again. And that’ll bebrilliant,Beth. That’ll be the best possible outcome.’
‘For who?’
‘All of us. Me, you, Zan and Ben.’
‘And we’re the only people who matter?’
‘In this case, yes. No one’s having their life threatened or endangered, are they? Flora’s walking around, going about her normal business. She seems not to be in too terrible a state, apart from when she sees you stalking her.’
‘I’m not—’
‘So you heard her talking on the phone outside her house and she sounded upset – so what? These people haven’t been our friends fortwelve years. Let them get on with their lives, whatever weirdness those lives might involve, and let’s us get on with ours. The alternative is what? Letting down more clients? Isn’t that going to harm your business? You’ve always been the one out of the two of us who cares about your job. Maybe you don’t any more, but it’s not only about you.’
Here it comes.
