Page 21 of A Secret Escape

That was true. “I’m guessing it’s linked. She’s being hounded by the press. She asked for my help, and I agreed. I picked her up from the station last night. We got in late and both went straight to sleep. We haven’t talked about it properly yet.” That conversation was still to come, and she wasn’t looking forward to it. Even though Nicole had hinted that there was more to the story than the headlines suggested, technically she was Avery in this situation. Milly wasn’t confident she’d be able to offer nonjudgmental support. She wanted to be worldly and broad-minded, but she wasn’t feeling either of those things. She was feeling disillusioned and disappointed, and she didn’t understand why people couldn’t exercise more self-restraint. There were plenty of men in the world, plenty of single men, so why did Avery have to target Richard?

She realized that Avery and Nicole had somehow merged together in her mind. She needed to separate them.

“You’re saying Aunt Nicole is staying in our house?” Zoe’s voice was an excited squeak. “Like hiding?”

“Yes, I suppose you could say she is hiding.” Milly felt a sudden flash of panic. What if someone knocked on her door before she got home? It was unlikely, but not impossible.

Hopefully Nicole would have the sense not to open the door.

“This is amazing!” Zoe virtually bounced on her seat. “Aunt Nicole in my house. Unbelievable.”

It was a good thing that one of them was excited.

“You’ve known her since you were a baby, and we’ve stayed with her before.”

“I know we have, and that was amazing too, but this is different. Nicole Raven isin my house! It’s a very big deal.” Zoe was transformed by the news.There was no slump in her shoulders, and her face was one big smile. “Can she share my room?”

“I’ve made up the sofa in the study for now.”

“I can’t believe she’s staying with us. How long for?”

“I don’t know.”Forever.No, surely Nicole had been kidding about that. On the other hand if her presence was going to make Zoe this happy, then as far as Milly was concerned Nicole could move in for good. “You can’t say anything to anyone.”

“I won’t. But why is she hiding? She shouldn’t be the one hiding. He should be hiding. He’s so fake. And weak.” Zoe injected the last word with all the disdain of her thirteen years. “Also a cheat. Nicole can do so much better.”

Milly hadn’t expected that reaction. She hadn’t expected her daughter to have an opinion on the subject at all. She still thought of her as a child most of the time. “The news reports are calling her ahome-wrecker.”

“Ugh,” Zoe said disparagingly. “They always blame the woman. Have you noticed that? Cally says it’s a sign the patriarchy is alive and well. Aunt Nicole is single,” she said. “She didn’t cheat, lie or break promises did she?He’sthe one who is married. He made a choice, and now he’s been caught out he’s like making out he’s some sort of victim because he’s too much of a coward to own his decision.”

This conversation wasn’t going the way Milly had expected it to. “You’ve talked about it with your friends?”

“Aunt Nicole is our favorite actor. She’s Amara, Mum. She saved the world, remember? You saw the movie.”

One minute they were grown-up and talking about the patriarchy and the next they were children talking about a character as if they were real.

“Right. Well, Nicole/Amara is staying with us, and we can’t tell anyone. I probably should have checked you were okay with it before agreeing, but it all happened quickly, and she was desperate, and I felt I should offer support.” And she still didn’t know if that made her a good friend or a total pushover.

“Of course you had to help. She’s your closest friend.”

And for Zoe that was all it took. It seemed simple to her, just as it would have seemed simple to Milly at the same age. You helped your closest friend. You dropped everything for your closest friend. Sisterhood was real.

Until it wasn’t.

“So you won’t mind her being there?”

“Mind? Are you kidding?” Zoe grinned. “I mean, she’s like the biggest actor in the world. So hot right now. I really liked her as that archaeologist in the dinosaur movie, but Amara was her best part. I have seen that movie at least nine times. She doesn’t take any crap from anyone.”

“Language.”

“Sorry, but it’s true. She’s so strong. She meets every obstacle head-on.”

Milly wished she was more like Amara. If she was, she’d talk to Richard face-to-face about his bad behavior instead of calling when she knew he wasn’t going to answer his phone and leaving an insipid message.

Although, he did the same to her. He’d left a message on her phone an hour ago telling her he wasn’t going to be able to have Zoe to stay at the weekend after all.

As usual he’d left her to break the news to his daughter. She was expected to reframe the message in a way that was more palatable. But now wasn’t the moment. She was too upset with him to keep her tone neutral.

This was one of those times when she missed her old friendship with Nicole. She could have vented and maybe laughed, but now there was no chance of that.

---