Page 64 of The Girlfriend’s Secret

Scott and I waited for him to finish.

‘I just never imagined it could be this bad.’

‘I’m sorry, Dad,’ Scott had said as he took a seat next to his father and offered some support. ‘But I was there just after Grandma died. I saw Mum. I saw how she was. I knew something was wrong too.’

Still, Frederik had not got angry and started shouting or got upset and started crying. Instead, he just looked like a man who always knew the day would come when his wife would blow up his family’s world.

‘I was wrong to accuse Scott,’ I had said for clarity then. ‘I should have been looking at Liane instead.’

‘Now that you are,’ Frederik had said, looking up at me. ‘What do you intend to happen next?’

‘She has to pay for what she has done,’ I had replied, wondering if the worn-down husband would choose to defend his wife in that moment. But he just looked at his son.

‘How do you plan to do that?’ he asked.

‘We need your help,’ Scott replied, and this was the real moment of truth.

Would Frederik do what we needed him to do? Or would he say no and leave us with nothing?

Would he do the right thing?

Or would he let his wife get away with murder?

Until Frederik spoke again, I had absolutely no idea.

FORTY-SIX

LIANE

EVENING

‘I have a feeling things are going to get better for us all,’ I say, warming to the theme I was touching on earlier in this family meal. In between then, me and the other diners at this table have commented on all the delicious food we are enjoying, but I am keen to move the conversation back to something a little more substantial than how tasty the king prawns are.

‘Your father and I are retiring,’ I say to Scott and Joel, hoping they will be as excited about that news as my husband and I are. ‘Losing Mum has reminded me that life is short and we can’t take our time here for granted, so I think it’s important that we try to make the most of whatever time we have left. And I know it’s what Mum would have wanted.’

‘Did she say that?’ Joel asks me as I reach for my glass of wine.

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Did she ever explicitly say that she wanted you to quit your jobs and enjoy your time?’ Joel asks.

‘Well, no, not in so many words. But she was my mother, so of course she wanted me to enjoy life. That is why she has been so generous in leaving us all that money in her will. Why would she do that if she didn’t want us to be happy when she was gone?’

‘Yeah, I suppose,’ Joel replies, but I detect a slight hint of something strange, which puts me on guard a little. It could just be that my youngest son is feeling sad about my desire to make the most of life when he feels like his life isn’t in the best place it could be after Haven left him. Perhaps I should have been more delicate about how I phrased what I said. Perhaps the wine I have been enjoying with my meal has already gone to my head and I need to dial it down a little bit. Or perhaps there is nothing to worry about and Joel’s question was just a genuine one, coming from a place of curiosity rather than anything else.

‘Mum’s right. We all need to make the most of our lives,’ Scott says then. ‘I intend to live life to the full. It’s what Grandma would have wanted.’

I smile at my eldest, liking the positive spin he has just added to proceedings.

‘I guess we’ve all got some big decisions to make,’ Frederik adds then. ‘One thing is for sure, with all this money coming to us, things will never be the same again.’

That sounds very true.

But for some reason, it also sounds very ominous too.

I decide to take another gulp of wine to help me ensure I stay on the more positive side of things.

The food at the table has rapidly diminished and as the sound of cutlery scraping across plates grows quieter, it seems like we are finally achieving something that seemed impossible when we first sat down here.