I can feel Jess’s eyes on me like laser beams.
“That’s a lot of clocks to go missing,” she says tonelessly.
I’m swallowing hard. How can I have sold Luke’s corporate gifts? How can I have been so stupid? I mean, I thought I didn’t remember buying them on honeymoon…
“Maybe I put them down in the garage.” Luke reaches for his keys. “I’ll go and have a look.”
Oh God. I have to confess.
“Luke…” I say in a tiny voice. “Luke, please don’t get angry… ”
“What?” He swivels on his heel — and as he sees my face he’s suddenly alert. “What is it?”
“Well.” I lick my dry lips. “I might possibly have…”
“What?” His eyes are narrowing. “What might you have done, Becky?”
“Sold them,” I whisper.
“Sold them?”
“You wanted me to declutter the place! I didn’t know how to do it! We had too much stuff! So I’ve been selling everything on eBay. And I… I sold the clocks too. By mistake.”
I’m biting my lip, half hoping Luke might smile, or even laugh, but he just looks deeply fed up.
“Jesus Christ, Becky. We are up to our fucking eyes. We really need this kind of hassle.” He reaches for his mobile, jabs in a number, and listens for a few seconds. “Hi, Marie? We’ve got a small problem with the Arcodas Group dinner tomorrow night. Call me back.” He snaps his phone shut and the only sound in the kitchen is the kettle coming to the boil.
“I didn’t know!” I say desperately. “If you’d told me they were corporate gifts… If you’d let me help—”
“Help?” Luke cuts me off. “Becky, you have to be kidding.”
Shaking his head, he stalks out of the room.
I look over at Jess. I can see “I told you” in a big thought bubble above her head. A moment later, she gets up and follows him into the study.
“If I can do anything,” I hear her saying in a low voice, “just let me know.”
“It’s fine,” he replies. “But thanks.”
Jess says something else, but now her voice is muffled. She must have closed the door.
Suddenly I have to know what she’s saying. I tiptoe to the door of the kitchen, then creep out to the hall, edging as close as I can to the study door, then press my ear against it.
“I don’t know how you can live with her,” Jess is saying, and I feel a jolt of indignant shock. How can she say that? She’s only just met me!
I can’t move, I can’t breathe, waiting for Luke’s response.
“It’s difficult,” comes Luke’s voice at last.
Something cold plunges into my heart.
Luke finds it difficult to live with me.
There’s a noise as if someone’s coming toward the door, and I leap back in fright. I hurry back to the kitchen and close the door, my eyes hot with tears.
We’ve only been married eleven months. How can he find it difficult to live with me?
The kettle’s come to a boil, but I don’t want tea anymore. I open the fridge, get out a half-open bottle of wine, and slosh some into a glass. I drain the entire thing in three gulps, and am refilling the glass as Jess comes back into the kitchen.
“Hi,” she says. “It seems like Luke’s sorted out the gift problem.”
“Great,” I say tightly, and take another swig of wine.
So she and Luke sort everything out now, do they? She and Luke have little conversations which I’m not invited to. As I watch her sit down and open her book again, a great tide of anger and hurt starts welling up inside me.
“I would have thought you might take my side.” I’m trying to sound calm. “We are supposed to be sisters, after all.”
“What do you mean?” Jess frowns.
“You could have defended me!”
“Defended you?” Jess looks up. “You think I’m going to defend you when you’re that irresponsible?”
“So I’m irresponsible,” I say, a little savagely. “And you’re perfect, I suppose.”
“I’m not perfect! But yes! You’re irresponsible!” Jess claps her book shut. “Frankly, Becky, I think you need to get your act together. You seem to have no idea of personal duty… You’re obsessed with spending money… you lie—”
“Well, you’re a misery!” My words come out in a roar. “You’re a skinflint miserable cow who doesn’t know how to have a good time!”
“What?” Jess looks utterly dumbfounded.