Page 107 of I Knew You Were Trouble

She spins around quickly. ‘How did you— Oh, right. Never mind.’

‘Must be one of the details he kept the same,’ I say.

‘Yes.’ She sighs heavily. ‘Kate, I’m sorry I reacted that way – about you and Will. And you’re right, Iwasbeing hypocritical. But I…’

I stand, facing her. ‘No, you don’t need to apologise. I can understand why you’re upset.’

‘It’s just… first Jon and now my brother.’

‘I get it, and you have every right to be pissed off at me.’

‘That’s the thing… I’m not – not at you, anyway,’ she says. ‘It’s Jon.Allof this is his fault, that… that…’

‘Fucking wankard,’ Margot supplies, which makes us both laugh again.

‘Iloveit,’ says Adriana. ‘Fucking wankard – it feels good in my mouth. Fucking wankard,’ she says again, hitting the consonants with precision.

‘What about this?’ Margot holds up a bottle of vodka.

‘Perfect,’ I declare.

‘Ja,’ Adriana agrees, striding to the fridge and opening the door. ‘And we have orange juice and limes…’

She and Margot get to work and I observe the easy way they interact, how Margot beams up at Adriana and how Adriana’s eyes soften when they meet Margot’s. I haven’t seen this side of Margot since… well, I can’t remember when. And even though they couldn’t be more different, they seem to work. Margot lookshappy.

A few minutes later, we’re each holding a vodka-orange garnished with a wedge of lime.

‘Prost,’ says Adriana, lifting her glass.

‘Prost,’ Margot echoes.

‘Oh, we can do better than that,’ I say. ‘To the fucking wankard who brought us together.’

There’s a beat of silence and for a moment, I worry that I’ve gone too far – again. Then Adriana bursts into laughter, and Margot and I join in.

‘Kate,’ she says, looking me in the eye, ‘no matter what happens – no matter how this situation is resolved – I hope we can be friends.’

‘Huzzah!’ Margot exclaims.

I smile at Adriana, grateful for the olive branch, but a niggling thought takes hold.

That’s one of the siblings on side, but what about the other?

25

KATE

Lucia is due in ten minutes and Adriana and I are deep into a tit-for-tat exchange of Jon’s lies – the big, the small, and the (very, very) ugly.

‘So, what did Jon tellyouabout his parents?’ I ask.

‘They’re estranged and he never sees them.’

‘Hmm – convenient,’ I retort tartly. ‘He told me his father is deceased and that his mum is in aged care. Only whenever I suggested we go and visit her, he made up some excuse.’

‘And which is it?’ she asks.

‘Willem didn’t tell you?’

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