Page 16 of The Girlfriend’s Secret

‘I think I better go downstairs,’ I say, heading for the door and, thankfully, both Joel and Haven step aside, allowing me to pass without any more questions.

In different circumstances, I might feel uneasy that the two of them had been sharing a shower in our bathroom while Frederik and I were out, but that’s the last thing on my mind as I go back downstairs to find my husband. All I can think about is how it doesn’t feel like I have made the situation any better. Then there’s the message I saw on Haven’s phone, which only strengthens my worry that Haven is hanging around this family for cash and nothing else.

* * *

I find Frederik sitting on the sofa, a glass of water in hand and an old war movie on the television. I wish I could switch off and relax as easily as he clearly can, but us women are wired very differently to men and I’m not the first person to notice that.

‘How did it go?’ he asks me casually, as if all I had been sent to do was complete a menial errand rather than navigate a complex conversation with a close family member and their difficult partner.

‘I think I made things worse,’ I admit as I slump down onto the sofa next to him.

‘What? How did you do that?’ Frederik cries, turning off the television to give me his full attention. He’s looking at me as if it was impossible for me to make things worse, but that’s only because he doesn’t know what I am capable of yet.

‘Haven caught me looking at her phone,’ I confess.

Frederik’s eyebrows go up, so I quickly speak before he can ask the obvious questions.

‘I knocked on Joel’s bedroom door, but there was no answer so I went in. They weren’t in there so…’

‘So you looked at Haven’s phone instead of just leaving?’ Frederik assumes.

‘No, not quite. I mean, yes, I suppose that is what happened. But I wasn’t planning to look at it. She got a message and it flashed up and got my attention, so I looked at it and I’m glad I did because⁠—’

‘Just stop,’ Frederik says, cutting me off. ‘Can we just agree that you should not have been looking at Haven’s phone without permission, no matter what you might have seen on there? She’s a guest in this house and she deserves to have her privacy.’

‘You haven’t let me tell you what I saw on there,’ I cry.

‘I don’t care! It’s none of our business!’ Frederik fires back. ‘And whatever you may have seen is not the point. The point is you shouldn’t be going anywhere near her private property. How would you feel if she was looking at your phone?’

‘This is different.’

‘How?’

‘Because I’m a mother and I’m trying to make sure my son is okay.’

‘Of course he’s okay. He has a girlfriend and he has just inherited a lot of money. I’d say he’s doing fine.’

‘That’s the problem. It’s the money! What if Haven is only with him because she knew his grandma was going to leave him a small fortune when she died?’

‘I really hope you didn’t go up there and accuse her of that again like you did at the restaurant,’ Frederik says, shaking his head.

‘No, I didn’t,’ I assure him. ‘But I did see a message on her phone from a friend, and it was clear Haven has already been telling people about the money she has just got access to.’

‘Did she see you looking at her phone?’

My silence gives Frederik his answer.

‘Oh, Liane,’ he sighs. ‘That isn’t good.’

‘I know it isn’t, but I apologised to her and Joel and told them I was under a lot of stress lately and I think they understood.’

‘Let’s hope they did, or things aren’t going to get any easier around here, are they?’ my husband says before getting up off the sofa.

‘Where are you going?’ I ask him before he can leave the room.

‘I’m giving you some time to yourself.’

‘I don’t need to be by myself.’