Page 164 of Sugarloaf Ridge Lies

Whether I want to or not, I have to trust Kurt.

That he’ll keep our secret.

***

Whisky sloshes to therim of Jerry’s glass as he paces the kitchen floor.Oh boy.

“Hey,” I say.

Glazed eyes meet mine. “What a first-grade prick.” He goes back to pacing, stumbling as he turns.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have stayed outside a while after Kurt left. Seems Jerry dove straight for the bottle and the effects have kicked in.

“Jerry. It doesn’t matter.”

“What he said about you...” He shakes his head with a growl. “I should’ve knocked his fuckin’ block off.”

Oh, Jerry.I love how protective you are.

I hold my hands out to the side, palms up. “And where would that have got us?” I don’t need to remind him about the pending court case.

“What did he say?” He slams back his drink. Air whistles between his teeth as he drags in a breath.

Where do I start?“Well—”

“Nope.” He holds up his hand to halt me. “I can’t deal yet. I need a minute.”

He grips the neck of the whisky bottle. Eyes on his feet, he zig-zags from the room. Pirate scampers after him.

I guess we aren’t talking about this yet.

***

Retreating to the loungeroom, I surround myself with pillows and blankets on the couch and open Facebook Messenger on my phone. I rarely check it, and of course, there are three unopened messages.

One random girl selling me Ray Bans, another from a guy old enough to be my grandpa asking me if I want to chat—yeah right—and then one from Kurt Langford.

Acid creeps up my throat as I open his message.

It’s Kurt from Canberra. Call me.

Direct and to the point.His mobile number follows.

“Shit,” I mutter to myself. If I had’ve opened my damn messages, this afternoon wouldn’t have happened. I could have handled it over the phone, or at least somewhere private. Regret seeps into my veins. We could’ve avoided the confrontation. Saved Jerry from turning to the bottle.Will there always be that fine line for him?

I open Kurt’s profile. It’s set to private, but I can view his friends list. Scrolling down, my breath hitches asRelationship statussticks out like a neon sign.

Marriedto Juliana Langford, a curvy blonde with a dynamite white smile, lashes for days, and full red painted lips. Looks aren’t everything, but he was cheating on this beauty?

Unable to stop myself, I view her profile.

Juliana Langford. Aries. Thirty-three.

She’s in marketing. Every Saturday morning, she does Parkrun followed by brunch with her girlfriends.She volunteers to run five kilometres?She fundraises for the Cancer Council, having lost an uncle to prostate cancer.That sucks.

A sharp pang of guilt hits me as I delve into a post from earlier this year.

She talks openly about her struggles with fertility, the failed attempts at IVF.

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