I open my mouth to protest but he’s already dragging me out the door. Without breaking stride, he scoops the champagne from the side table in the hallway.
In the garden, Jack stops and chats to guests while I stand beside him, hoping no one can tell I’ve been crying. He wows everyone he speaks to. And, in the dusky half-light, he is gorgeous with his cheekbones and strong jaw and all the rest. I think of all the girls he’s bedded and wonder why he doesn’t keep any of them around longer than a night. If he really wanted to, he could make someone very happy. Maybe he’d even have everything Ada does now: the home, the grand garden party, the picture-perfect happiness.
I know the second Jack spots my sister because his hand briefly tightens around mine. My heart starts to thunder as I see the hardness in his face; he’s going to say something.
‘Jack,’ I warn, voice low. ‘Jack, please don’t—’
‘Ada!’ he calls, drowning me out. She looks up, eyes searching, then sees us and pastes on her hostess-smile. Jack and Ada don’t get on. Jack finds Ada showy and shallow, and she finds Jack arrogant and challenging. He lets go of my hand and strides towards her. I hurry after him. ‘Sorry I’m late.’ He kisses her cheeks. ‘Mum isn’t well. She sends her apologies.’
‘Poor thing,’ coos Ada. ‘And Charlie?’
‘Big brother’s at the West End. Husband duties – it’s Tobin’s opening night. Anyway, this is for you.’ He hands her the champagne. ‘From all of us.’
Her eyes widen. ‘Dom Pérignon. You shouldn’t have.’
‘It’s almost a year to the day since you moved into this beautiful house. We wanted to mark the occasion.’
I don’t know anything about champagne, but from the look on her face, I can tell the bottle is expensive. Unlike my sister, Jack didn’t marry into money; he was born into it. ‘Thank you. Ethan will love it. We adore Dom Pérignon.’
I linger awkwardly as they talk about vineyards in France, but I’m relieved, sure Jack isn’t going to say something.
‘This place really is spectacular,’ he remarks.
She lifts her chin, proud. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’ve done so well. Thank fuck for Ethan, right?’ His smile is so broad and charming, it takes a beat for his words to fall around my sister and when they do, I see how they burn. ‘Anyway, enjoy the champagne.’
My mouth is still open when Jack takes my hand and leads me away. I stumble alongside him, and when I glance back at Ada, I see she is furious. The scowl scrunches her forehead and twists her lips and just then, my beautiful, perfect sister looks really and truly ugly.
Jack riffles through the coats as I fume beside him. Out on the street, I snap, ‘Why would you do that?’
He’s unfazed by my anger. ‘Did you really think I’d let her get away with treating you the way she did tonight?’
‘I can handle Ada.’
He shrugs. ‘No need. I did it for you.’
‘I didn’t ask you to.’
‘You didn’t have to.’ He takes a step closer and I think about taking a step back, just to show him that I really am angry he interfered, but I don’t want to be petty. ‘I got you something.’ He holds up a set of car keys.
Maybe I’m still drunk because I am silent and confused.
‘Heard Ruby has a new convertible,’ says Jack.
Horror crawls along my spine and out through my mouth. ‘You stole her keys?’ I think about Jack at the coat rack even though he didn’t come with a jacket.
‘It’s not Jeffrey’s Cadillac, but it’ll do.’
Only two days after I passed my driving test, we took Jeffrey’s vintage Cadillac for a joyride. My heart starts to canter at the memory of Jack’s hands covering my eyes as we flew down an open stretch, then breaks into a gallop as I realise what he’s asking. ‘You want to steal Ruby’s car?’
‘We’ll bring it straight back.’
‘No.’
‘She’ll never know.’
‘No.’
‘Why do you always let people get away with treating you badly?’
I glance away, hating that he is right.
‘It doesn’t exactly strike me as fair to put Ada in her place while Ruby gets off scot-free. Where’s your sense of equilibrium, Elodie?’ He practically purrs my name. When I don’t look up, he moves so close, I can feel the heat coming off his body. ‘How far will you go?’
This is our childhood mantra, born the day we met outside Wisteria Cottage when he was nine and I was six. We knew each other instantly. Jack took my hand and we raced away from our parents, their warning to stay out of the sea ringing in our ears. On the little beach, Jack challenged me to take off my shoes and venture into the water, asking how far I’d go. Into the sea or to impress him, I wasn’t sure, but I waded in waist-deep with him by my side. This act of defiance was ours. Was us.
It’s the mantra which, in the summer before I went to university, saw us take a spontaneous trip to Amsterdam where we spent several days bar-hopping and eating hash brownies. And four years after that, on Jack’s twenty-fourth birthday, would have us crashing a wedding my best friend Margot was managing where, to her horror, Jack would give a speech at the happy couple’s reception so confidently no one would question whether he’d ever met them. It’s the glue that holds us together.
I think of the poison that dripped from Ruby’s mouth. Her words, her opinions, trickle into me and I am furious and humiliated all over again. Ada may have been complicit but, as always, it was Ruby who gathered the arsenic. Decision made, I raise my gaze to Jack’s. It’s impossible not to answer the way we always do. ‘How far won’t I go?’
Then we are in the car, speeding down twisting countryside lanes. This time, it is my hands that cover Jack’s eyes.
Chapter Three
26 Days Before
Elodie Fray
This morning, I’m catching a train to London to meet my agent. As I stand on the platform, I see two strangers darting these little looks at one another. Whenever their eyes meet, something passes between them and I think, this will either be the beginning of their story or just a footnote.
Noah and I started off as two strangers in a coffee shop on the South Bank. Because the longing, the need to write, had become too intense to ignore, I’d booked a few days off from my marketing job. Telling stories is my first, most long-lasting love. The best kind because the paper will never reject my pen. It is a lover I can’t quit and when I let it wrap its arms around me, it feels so good, I wonder why I’ve stayed away so long.
I was tapping away at my laptop when the waitress came over with a coffee I hadn’t ordered.
‘It’s from him.’ She nodded towards a man sitting in the corner. He was attractive, I’d guess slightly older than me, with dark hair and a wide mouth, the kind you know could produce a devastating smile.
My train pulls in. Around me, people rush to get on. I find my seat in the last carriage, pleased to see it’s almost empty. I should be going over my notes for the meeting but I’m still remembering.