‘It wasn’t a “titty bar”! I wore a bikini.’
I knew about this already. How Holly had spent a month working as a ‘skimpy’ in a bar in a Western Australian mining town. It was all part of her colourful past, when she had travelled the world after her mum’s death.
‘Come on, keep going,’ Lewis said. ‘I don’t want to hear another word about my sister’s tits.’
Holly stuck her middle finger up at him. ‘Okay. Two.’ She fixed her gaze on the carpet. ‘I’m upset because all the photos of my mother that were on display in this house have been put in a drawer.’
I glanced at Jasmine, who was clearly shocked. I was shocked, too, but Holly wouldn’t meet my eye. She stared at the carpet, cheeks a pink blaze.
‘Is that true?’ Jasmine asked.
There was a tremor in Holly’s voice when she replied. ‘We noticed earlier that the photos of our mum have been removed from display. It appears Charles asked Morag to do it.’
‘Oh.’ Jasmine was clearly mortified. ‘I promise you thathas nothing to do with me. I have no desire to replace your mother or to do anything to erase her. I really don’t want my presence here to cause any of you any pain.’
I could still hardly believe Holly had brought up the missing pictures in this fashion– this wasn’t the kind, thoughtful person I knew– but to her credit, she looked horrified with herself, clearly regretting what she’d done.
‘I’m sorry, Jasmine. It’s just… I’m so angry with Dad for doing it.’
‘Sweetheart, I’m mad with him, too. Like I’m some delicate flower who can’t cope with seeing pictures of my fiancée’s first wife? This is bullshit.’
I was holding my breath. And then Miranda did what I was waiting for. Pointed at the elephant in the room. ‘Do you want to know why he hid them?’
There was a long silence.
‘I already know,’ she said, to my surprise. ‘It’s because we look quite similar.’
‘Quite similar?’ Miranda interjected.
‘Okay,verysimilar. I found some old photos of her online, which wasn’t easy– I guess she died before we all started posting hundreds of pictures of ourselves online– and none of the pictures I did find were high res, but yeah, I can see we look alike.’
We all waited.
‘It went through my head, of course. Is that the only reason he likes me? But then I rationalized it. I mean,duh, my resemblance to you guys’ mom is obviously what grabbed his attention. But it wouldn’t be enough to make him fall in love with me, right?’
Jasmine went on. ‘It’s not like we’re similar in any other ways. We have different accents, I’m assuming we have different personalities, likes and dislikes. Looks are just skindeep, right? Love is about connection, chemistry, vibes. I’m confident Charles doesn’t only love me because of my face.’
‘Does he know that you know?’ I asked.
‘I haven’t mentioned it.’
I think we were all stunned. Surely there was some self-persuasion going on here? We all do it to a degree when we start a new relationship: force ourselves to get past something, whether it’s a character trait, an opinion, a behaviour. Even with Holly, there had been a couple of things: her blindness to her own privilege and, more importantly, her relationship history. Most of her exes, like the indie musician, were ‘bad boys’. The kind of men who treat their girlfriends like shit. It worried me, because I’m not like that. If anything, my flaw is that I get too keen too quickly. I thought Holly might be trying out what it was like to date a nice guy, and that she would soon get bored of nights in with a takeaway and an eighties film. But she assured me she loved me because I was what she wanted now she was older and more mature.
‘I’m sick of mess and darkness and complications,’ she had said. ‘I just want something uncomplicated and good.’
And so I had learned to believe her, and stop worrying about her past.
Jasmine, it seemed, was willing to look past something that many of us, probably most of us, would see as a red flag that would be way too big too ignore. Was that because she loved Charles so much?
Or– and it bothered me that this popped into my head– was it because he was rich?
‘I do understand that it must be weird for you guys,’ Jasmine said. ‘It’s the main reason I was anxious about meeting you.’
There was a silence, broken by Lewis saying, ‘I think I need another drink. Jasmine, thank you for being open and honestwith us. Itwasa shock seeing you. I’m sure we all acted weird. But I think what you’ve said makes sense. Right, Holly? Miranda?’
I wasn’t sure they completely agreed, but they both said, ‘Yes.’
Lewis left the room and came back with a fresh bottle of whisky, pouring himself a glass and offering the bottle round. I accepted gladly, as did Miranda.
