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‘Then what happened?’ a girl asked.

‘Nothing. No one ever said anything about it.’

‘Wow, man. Just wow,’ Jamie said.

Leigh sighed. ‘It was a terrible thing. I know that.’

Jacob turned. ‘Sorry, Alex, but that pisses all over your hamster.’

Alex nodded. ‘Totally. We have a winner.’

Leigh was aghast. She shouldneverhave told this story. But it had been her instinct to be truthful. She was now realising how stupid that was. Why couldn’t she have just made something up?

The trouble was that the story needed context, and the time to provide it had passed. Given more time, Leigh would have liked to explain that her father had most likely been having affairs anyway and that she had found a pair of sunglasses in the car only weeks earlier while her dad was driving her to school. They were gauche knock-off Guccis that were not remotely in her mother’s style, and clearly weren’t her dad’s either.

‘Whose are these?’ she’d asked him. She hadn’t been suspicious, just wondering.

But her dad had snatched them quickly. ‘No one’s,’ he said and stuffed them into his pocket.

Leigh knew a guilty reaction when she saw one, and she knew what it meant. She was angry for her mother. Her mum was no angel, but this wasn’t right. Leigh wanted to warn her, but she didn’t know how to say it. So she’d recreated the moment, albeit with a less subtle clue as to what her dad had been up to.

But the moment her mum saw that thong, Leigh saw something in her eyes. A total lack of surprise. She knew. So all Leigh had succeeded in doing was embarrassing her, putting a secret out there that her mother had already decided to live with. It was the first and last time that Leigh had ever tried to pull anything like that.

And now everyone at the party was looking at her like she was a psychopath.

‘I think we’ll leave the game there,’ Jamie said.

‘Sounds good,’ Alex said. ‘I’m getting too drunk anyway.’

Leigh was sure that the next thing Alex was going to say was that it was time to get going, that she had an early morning. But instead, she said to her, ‘I’m kind of tired. Shall we head up to your room?’

Leigh was stunned but managed to nod. And up they went.

Now

Leigh was ready to end this lunch and leave with her tail between her legs. With any luck, she could escape without having to admit this whole thing was a failed ruse. But she knew in her heart that was a vain hope. Because if Leigh knew anything about Alex, it was that she could pull the unpleasant truth out of Leigh like a rotten tooth.

And here it came. Alex was fixing her with those deep-set grey eyes, leaning across the table. ‘Look, Leigh… Can we be real? What is this? What are we doing here? What is it you actuallywantfrom me?’

Leigh knew she was gonna have to get honest with Alex. Again.

Twenty-One

Alex hadn’t thought the lunch would end up with Leigh going absolutely bonkers on the lobster or Alex exploding from her clothes with the sheer force of meat. But it changed things. The whole energy of the lunch felt altered. You couldn’t see each other in that kind of state and keep any semblance of formality.

‘Can we be real? What is this? What are we doing here? What is it you actually want from me?’ Alex had to ask.

Leigh, wiping her hands on a cloth napkin, struggled to look Alex in the eye. ‘I can’t tell you. Not in detail.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because you’d use it.’

Alex felt affronted, but only briefly. ‘You know what, you’re probably right,’ she admitted. ‘I’m pretty cutthroat.’

Leigh sighed. ‘No. You’re just good at what you do.’

Alex was stunned. ‘Was that a compliment?’