Page 77 of Lyrebird

They both look at her. She’s trembling. She looks directly at Bo.

‘The show bought me these clothes. I have to return them when it’s over. Bianca gave me these magazines. Every single one of them has asked me to do an interview or a photoshoot. They wanted me to look through them to see. I said no to all of them but the one I said yes to are paying me. In case you haven’t noticed, I have no money.’ She says this, anger rising in her voice. ‘I can’t pay for my food because I have no money. I can’t pay for my clothes because I have no money. I can’t buy you anything or give you anything in return for what you’ve done for me because I have no money.

‘Aside from not having any money, I couldn’t get a passport. I had no birth certificate. I had no baptism records, no school records, not even a letter from somebody who could attest to me being born in Ireland. I had to go on national radio to tell my personal story to get a passport,’ she says, tears of frustration welling in her eyes. ‘Do you know how humiliating that was? Do you think I wanted to do that? Apparently, the contract that you assisted me in signing states that I’m obligated to carry out all promotional duties that StarrQuest request of me. Australia is included in that, but you don’t need to worry because it doesn’t look as though I’ll be able to get my hands on a passport because there is nobody in the world who is a witness to my birth or existence.

‘Our agreement, Bo, was that you follow me while I try to move on with my life. And I took you up on that because I had no choice. You told me Joe didn’t want me at the cottage any more, and as I had nowhere else to go, all I could do was follow you. You encouraged me to take part in this talent show because you said it would give me options. This is me, trying to make a choice, to make something for myself in the only way that I know how. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I trusted you.’ This she says to Solomon and her voice breaks. Then returning to Bo, she says, ‘You were supposed to follow me, but what I was really doing was following you. You were the only people I had to help me and you have no idea how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I try to cook as much as possible to show you my thanks, I try to stay in my room, or on the balcony as much as possible to give you both your privacy. Bo, I really do try to stay out of your way. I’m doing what I can.’

Laura seems to make a decision because the tears dry and a determination appears on her face. ‘Unfortunately, instead of trying to build something up, I am clearly breaking things down. I’m going to honour the documentary because I’m an honourable person and I am thankful to you, but I think the best thing for me to do is to get out of here. To leave you in peace. I don’t want to cause you both any more trouble.’ She looks at Solomon, her eyes filled. ‘And I certainly don’t want to come between you two.’ She turns away and moves towards the door.

‘Laura, you don’t have to leave,’ Solomon says, feeling the pain rising in his chest.

‘Yes, I do,’ she says quietly, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Solomon turns to Bo, thunder on his face.

‘Go on, Solomon,’ she says, teeth bared. ‘You have a go at me one more time over something I’ve said or done and I’ll scream bloody murder. She can’t go anywhere anyway.’ She lowers her voice. ‘Where’s she going to go?’

Solomon thinks about it. Bo is right. There is nowhere for Laura to go, which makes him feel hugely relieved, and sad for her at the same time. But he needs to get away from Bo quickly before he says or does something he’ll regret. ‘I’m out of here,’ he says, grabbing his jacket. ‘Because, right now, I cannot stand to look at you or be anywhere near you.’

‘Good. The feeling’s mutual.’

‘I’m out of the documentary. I don’t want anything to do with it,’ he adds angrily, without thinking it through.

She pauses, then replies less confidently, ‘Good.’

‘It started as something beautiful, but you made it ugly.’

‘Great, thanks.’

‘You hear me, Bo?’

‘Loud and clear, the verbal bullying again. I’m a terrible person, Solomon, you’re a saint. Got it. Why don’t you run away and leave everybody else to clean up the mess? Then you can get on your high horse as usual and blame everybody but yourself.’

‘Go fuck yourself,’ he says, grabbing his keys and banging the door behind him.

Left in silence, Bo sits on the couch, the adrenaline pumping. She bites the skin around her nails, her foot bouncing up and down, pretending she doesn’t care about either of them. But she feels the sting around her nail and tastes blood and of course she cares. She’s got everything riding on this documentary. Financing, promises to investors, her reputation. Her relationship. Everything.

Laura isn’t even moving around in her bedroom, there’s no sound of her packing her bags. Bo doubts she’ll leave. What she said to Solomon was the truth: Laura has nowhere to go. As the minutes tick by in silence she calms down; perhaps she went at Laura too hard about the radio show. After all, how could Laura discuss not being able to get a passport if she didn’t tell her entire story. It’s not entirely Laura’s fault, the situation has gotten out of control. It was badly managed but who could plan for this level of insanity?

There’s a knock at the door. Bo gets up to answer, assuming it’s Solomon, but as she reaches for the latch, she remembers him grabbing his keys.

She pauses. ‘Who is it?’

‘Bianca from StarrQuest. Somebody downstairs let me in.’

Bo pulls the door open. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Hello to you too,’ Bianca says. ‘I’m here to collect Lyrebird. I’ve booked her a hotel.’

Bo stares at her, open-mouthed. ‘But you can’t take her away.’

Bianca frowns. ‘I’m not taking her away, she called me. Hi,’ she says looking past Bo.

Bo’s mind races. She should call Sol, he would stop this from happening, but by the time she processes it, makes a decision to search for her phone, Laura is leaving with Bianca, her hands full of her bags of belongings.

Laura turns to Bo. ‘I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Thank you for letting me stay in your home, but you’re right, Bo, I’m an adult and I don’t need minding.’

Bo stares at her open-mouthed as Lyrebird flies away from her life.