‘God,’ she muttered. ‘I actually did that.’
And then the Mary thing. Maddy’s face scrunched slightly, the absurdity of it catching up with her all at once.
‘Mary,’ she repeated, incredulous.
Of all the possible disasters… Adam had slept with her because he felt uncertain about getting married. Well, he’d had Maddy good and fooled! If Mary had it right, he was just as lost as she was.
It didn’t fit the version of him she’d built in her head. Steady Adam. Reliable Adam. The man you could trust to showup, to do the right thing, todefinitely notsleep with your colleague at your engagement party.
Maddy should have felt worse about that. Hurt or betrayed? Nope. Wasn’t there.
This was a gift. Maddy had made the right call. Neither of them wanted to marry the other. They’d both been performing for one another. How close she’d come to making that performance last a lifetime…
If it hadn’t been for Eva Givens.
Maddy had thought it was stress, nerves. That was how much she’d been baffled by something that was… What was the word?
Oh. Right.Real.
‘I need so much fucking therapy,’ Maddy muttered to herself.
‘You and me both.’
Maddy turned.
Eva stood a few steps behind her.
For a second, they just looked at each other. Then Maddy nodded towards Hawthorne Manor. ‘So that was fun.’
Eva smiled. She stepped closer, cautiously, like she wasn’t entirely sure what version of Maddy she was approaching. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked.
‘No,’ Maddy said, because there wasn’t much point pretending anymore. ‘But also… yes? Which is weird.’
Eva nodded, like that made perfect sense. ‘I can relate.’
They both looked back at the house for a moment.
‘I didn’t know about Mary,’ Eva said carefully.
‘No,’ Maddy replied. ‘That was new information.’
‘You’re not…?’ Eva hesitated. ‘Upset?’
Maddy considered that. ‘Not in the way I’m probably supposed to be,’ she admitted. ‘I mean, it’s objectively not great. But the whole thing feels like confirmation of something I’d already not quite realised.’
Eva watched her closely. ‘About Adam?’
Maddy shook her head. ‘About me.’ She paused. ‘Do they do classes?’
Eva was confused. ‘For what?’
Maddy shrugged. ‘Lesbianism.’
Eva started to choke on nothing. ‘What?!’ she eventually managed to splutter out.
‘I’m just so behind, you see,’ Maddy explained. ‘I thought maybe there was somewhere I could get caught up on all the, I don’t know, thebasics?’
Eva stared at her in baffled amusement. ‘What do you think you’d need to learn?’
