Page 58 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘The gist or all the gory details?’ she asks.

‘Uh, the gist is fine.’

I may never want to lay eyes on Jon again – even though I’ll have to at some point – but I also don’t want to hear the ins and outs of his and Poppy’s encounter (so to speak).

She walks me through a summary of their meeting, including that when ‘Penny’ pressed Jon on details of his life, he patently avoided answering her. Sounds familiar.

‘Did he say what he does for a living?’ I ask, curiosity overriding reticence.

‘He did,’ she replies, clearly amused. ‘He’s in mining – essentially a geologist.’

I laugh. I can’t help it. ‘You mean one of those people who works on mining sites, where it’s dusty and loud?’

‘Apparently.’

The thought of Jon, who has regular manicures and hasn’t done a day of manual labour in his entire life, on a mining site wearing work boots and a hardhat is hilarious. I’d wager that the heaviest machinery Jon has ever operated is his electric toothbrush.

‘And how did you leave things?’ I ask.

‘I gave him an Australian phone number that Marie set up for me.’

‘Has he contacted you yet?’

‘Yes. A simple nice-to-meet-you message, and I’ve replied.’

‘Okay.’ I heave out a loud breath. ‘I’m not going to lie, Poppy, it’s surreal talking about this.’

‘I can imagine. It’s surreal on this end too.’

‘I can imagine,’ I echo. ‘I appreciate it, though. Adriana does too,’ I add, thinking about our recent exchanges. Though, if Adriana had her way, retribution would include public shaming. I’ve had to sell her on the agency’s plan multiple times, as she deems it far too lenient.

‘It’s all part of the service,’ Poppy quips.

Only it isn’t. This is well beyond what she typically does, and I can tell from her voice that she’s not entirely comfortable with it. Understandably so.

‘So, what happens next?’ I ask – both wanting and dreading the answer.

‘I’ll keep up the communications, increasing the amount of contact over the next few days, then ask for a video chat.’

‘Oh god, that sounds…’ I can’t bring myself to finish the point.

‘Yeah, not fun, but we think it’s the best way to fast-track a long-distance relationship, especially as we want him to donate to Penny’s organisation. That’s bound to take a lot more on my end than a few text messages.’

‘Right.’

‘But then, once he’s well and truly invested, Penny will ask about the donation.’

‘Poppy… Are you sure you want to go through with all this?’

She laughs. ‘Uh, nope. But here we are.’

I appreciate her candour, but I also feel guilty. When I approached her about getting back at Jon, I had no idea she’d have to go undercover to get close to him.

‘So, what about you?’ she asks. ‘When do you go to Verona?’

‘I leave tonight.’

‘It’s all happening very quickly, isn’t it?’

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