Page 102 of Lie For Me

Sophie continued, ‘Jack’s just got to do some stuff for work.’

Heather raised an eyebrow and poured herself some wine.

‘He might be selling his company and moving to New York,’ Ollie added helpfully.

Lucy spluttered into her water glass.

‘For a year,’ Sophie said in a loud whisper.

Oh good.

Now everyone knew.

‘Wow! Big news!’ Heather said, sipping her wine and angling towards Lucy. ‘So, are you moving too?’

Lucy felt she had landed in a particularly painful Groundhog Day, trapped in her own lie.

‘No,’ she said, forcing the words out, shredding bread into tiny pieces onto her plate, ‘I’m staying put.’

‘Oh gosh, Lucy,’ Heather said, genuine compassion on her face, ‘that’ll be tough.’

You have no idea.

She gave a wobbly smile and splashed more water into her glass, spilling some on the table.

Beside her, Georgia and Dave slipped out of their seats and along the terrace into the gardens, where they rounded a corner and disappeared from view.

‘Ahhh, isn’t it gorgeous to see them together?’ Sophie said, looking after them.

A strangled noise escaped from Lucy’s throat. She pushed back her chair roughly as she scrambled to get away from the group. Hand to her mouth, she stumbled down the steps into the gardens.

‘Lucy!’ Ollie called. ‘Lucy, what is it?’

‘Leave her,’ she heard Heather say, ‘always the drama queen.’

Deeper into the gardens she went, desperate to get away from the questions and the sympathy for a loss that was never hers to grieve in the first place.

A voice brought her up short. ‘Lucy Georgina Carmell, stop there! What is this nonsense?’

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Cringing inwardly, Lucy turned and saw her mother teetering across the lawn towards her, waving a napkin in her hand.

‘Wait there,’ Valerie said as she navigated the grass in heels.

‘What has gotten into you, jumping up like that? Are you ill?’

Lucy baulked as her mother arrived in front of her and pressed a hand to her forehead.

‘No, I’m not ill. I just needed some space.’

Hands on hips, her mother pursed her mouth.

‘Please don’t make this all about you, Lucy. This is Ollie and Sophie’s day.’

Lucy’s chin trembled. She took a deep breath.

‘I just needed some space, Mum. There were a lot of questions about Jack, and I…I…’

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