‘He gave me this to give to you.’ She handed me a large white envelope.
It wasn’t sealed, and I knew Kate had already read it, which honestly annoyed the shit out of me. I seethed inwardly at my sister’s bulldozer tactics with my life. I pulled out the contract and after a quick glanceI think my mouth fell open in shock. I sat up a little on the sofa bed and reached for a lamp and my glasses.Fuck.
‘It’s a very generous offer. He wants you,’ Kate said in a sing-song voice that sounded likeAbbey and Nick, sitting in a tree …
‘It’s ridiculous.’ Nick fucking Northby wanted to double my salary to get me back to Delacqua. ‘Also,’ I said, a little enraged at the complete unfairness of the situation, ‘it’s a babysitting job. It’s ridiculous.’ I was repeating myself and my voice had become a little shrill.
He had trapped me. That money would completely change my life. I could afford the house without my sister and Kate would be free to go live somewhere else and have a life of her own, instead of interfering with mine. Maybe I could buy a new car. It was so much that maybe Ella and I could go on our own holiday.
I threw the contract down beside me, lifted my knees, and put my head on them.
‘You don’t want to take it?’ Kate said, reading my mind. ‘Why, Abs?’ Kate was nodding, working it through. ‘You have feelings for him.’
‘I … Maybe I thought I did, but I didn’t know him. I don’t have feelings for him.’
I sounded unconvincing as fuck. Even someone who didn’t know me would have known I wasn’t telling the truth, so my sister snorted at my denial. I tried again.
‘I don’t want to take his money.’ That part was honest.
‘Abbey, you should talk to him about how you feel.’
‘The only thing that has changed since we were on that holiday, Kate, is him. I don’t know this version of him.’
She tilted her head sympathetically. ‘I have to go. Listen, Gran has figured out how to tweet.’
I raised an alarmed set of eyebrows.
‘Yup. A young nurse showed her. Now she’s talking to some impoverished author who is encouraging her to write reviews on Amazon.’
‘Ah, Jesus. I cannot imagine.’
‘Gran feels we’ve been holding out on her.Did we not know she was a supporter of the arts?Anyway, I’m on night shifts for a bit, so can you call around and show her how to use her Amazon account?’
‘Because I’m unemployed and have nothing to do?’
She shrugged a shoulder and blew me a kiss as she walked out the door.
My phone was in my hand.
I hovered over his name for ten minutes. Then I texted him.
Fine.
His reply came straight back.
Okay.
Passive-aggressive fucker.
Nick
After I left her, I walked to the house next door, out of view of her front window, and leaned back against the dark-brown brick fence. I fought the desire to return, bang the door down and take the paintbrush out of her hand.
Her house was cute and clean and had a warmth I knew came directly from Abbey. It was significantly more modest than I had expected. If the numbers didn’t tell me she had no involvement in Eric Linden’s crimes, her house certainly did. She hadn’t a penny she didn’t work for.
Her sister was a lioness. Protective and strong. What that told me, from personal experience, was that she considered Abbey weaker than herself. More susceptible to arseholes like me.
It would be arrogant to think that in the short time I’d known Abbey, that I knew her better than Kate did. But the thing about Abbey was that she was strong, she just wasn’t aggressive.
