‘But she belongs here. Howard said they both did, that since they came to Driftwick Bay it felt hard to imagine either of them ever being anywhere else.’
Both a little despondent with the thought of Howard’s beloved bookshop nearing the end of its days, they said goodbye. Margot headed further up the hill and on to her accommodation, ready to get back to the online job search, house hunting and now, looking for a solicitor, and Faye went back down in the direction of Lulworth Cove to get her bike from where she’d locked it up.
She’d only just popped the lock into her bag when her phone rang, and she answered it automatically before she registered the WhatsApp call was from her sister.
‘Faye… please don’t hang up,’ came Steph’s voice.
Faye had woken up in the night, ruminating about her life as it was now. She’d put thousands of miles between herself and her home to get a sense of normality and she’d realised that lately she felt more herself than she had in a very long time. Even before the scandal, she’d had her sister in the background and perhaps she’d always expected something to happen. And now here was Steph again, making contact and eclipsing the piece of happiness she’d managed to find with her dad close by, a few hours work each day, and now a new friendship with Margot.
‘How are you?’ Steph asked when Faye didn’t say anything.
Standing next to her bike, Faye gave up trying to wrestle the helmet on one-handed as she held her phone. She set it back on the saddle. ‘I’m fine.’
‘How’s Dad?’
‘Have you called him?’
‘Of course I have,’ Steph snapped. But then her tone lightened again. She knew Faye could hang up at any time. ‘It’s just that you’ve seen him in person; it’s different.’
‘Dad is good, Uncle Frank is okay and glad that Dad’s here.’ She paused after her summary. ‘How’s Mum?’
‘The same.’
Faye let a smile escape. She knew what that meant. Wearing the floaty clothes, living her life freely the way she needed to, which meant in a chaotic house-share with people equally devoted to ‘taking it easy’.
‘I’m sorry, you know,’ said Steph.
‘Yeah, well.’
‘I’m trying, Faye. That’s why I called.’
‘What are you sorry for?’ She tried to zip up her hoodie and managed it by hugging the phone between her shoulder and her ear. ‘Sorry for having an affair with a married man? Sorry that what you did caused trouble for me and Brad? Sorry that I’ve been hounded in the street and gossiped about and had Dad been in Queensland it would’ve been the same for him?’
‘I’m sorry for all of it! Okay!’ Steph’s voice rose in her determination to get her point across.
‘Well, I hope that man was worth it.’
Steph didn’t say anything at first. Then: ‘I thought it was real. I thought hewasworth it. He told me he was going to leave his wife.’
‘That’s what they all say. And how did it even happen anyway?’ But then she quickly added, ‘Actually, I don’t want to know.’
The silence lasted so long, Faye had to look at the phone display to see whether her sister was still there.
‘Have you talked to Brad lately?’ Steph asked.
‘No. I haven’t.’
‘Dad told me the engagement was off. He thought I should know. As if I could feel any worse.’
Faye had told her dad that she wouldn’t be telling Steph about Brad but that when he spoke to her he could fill her in. At least it was done now and her calling showed perhaps she did have a conscience after all.
‘Faye, I’m so sorry about Brad.’
‘Yeah, well, he ran off to Tasmania at the first sign of trouble, so perhaps you did me a favour.’
‘Dad says he’s applying for jobs in Tassie.’
‘That’s right. And he did that before he told me things were over.’
