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‘Or else what? You’ll go to the police?’ He pulls a packet of cigarettes and flips the lid open, offering me one. I stare at them. ‘For old times’ sake, eh?’
I take one, putting it between my lips as he brings up a lighter, the flame flaring between our faces.
‘Tell me what you want,’ I repeat, the words as bitter as the smoke as it winds into my lungs.
‘Looks like you’ve done all right for yourself.’ He pats the car roof, even though it’s not a particularly new model. Then, as an afterthought, he bends down and picks up a piece of gravel – a sharp flint. The cigarette bobs between his lips as he’s about to drag the stone along the passenger door.
‘Stop it!’ I swipe his hand away, sending the flint to the ground.
‘What do Iwant?’ he says, pacing up and down. ‘You owe us. Or have you forgotten about that, Hannah?’ Each time he says my name, he draws it out, mocking me.
‘I don’t owe you anything,’ I say, bending down and grabbing a handful of stones. I hurl them at him, frustrated, just as I hear a voice calling out across the car park. Jack steps back and laughs as they shower against him.
‘Hannah…Hannah…are you out here?’
‘Over here,’ I say, turning and walking quickly across the gravel, stumbling in my stupid shoes. Rob meets me halfway across the car park and I fall into his arms, looking back over my shoulder.
There’s no sign of Jack.
Later, at home, Rob and I stand in the kitchen. The rest of the party passed in a blur, but Belle seemed to have a good time, at least. Amber has already gone up to bed and Natalia is ferrying leftover food in from the car. The remains of the cake sit on the island worktop.
‘I should go and help her,’ I tell Rob – the first thing I’ve said to him since we left the party. I’m still furious at him.
‘Han, what was I supposed to do?’ He grabs my arm, stopping me from leaving.
‘You invited astrangerinto our home.’
‘It was that or have Belle go off with him tonight. I didn’t hear you coming up with an alternative. Isn’t it best we have Belle here with us, even if that means him too?’
When I saw him back inside the barn again, Jack had reverted to his other self, the man that Belle attached herself to for the rest of the evening as he charmed her friends and various members of our family. Apart from Rob, his parents and me, no one seemed particularly bothered that my daughter was engaged to a man over twenty years older than her. He made sure to catch my eye a few times, shooting me looks that only I would understand. Anger raged furiously in my chest.
‘The whole thing’s a nightmare,’ I say, leaning against the worktop. ‘And what am I supposed to do about her present? I’ve scouted around here, but there’s no sign of it anywhere. IknowI put it in my bag.’
‘That’s the least of our worries right now,’ Rob says. ‘We can claim on the insurance. Look, let’s just get tonight over with. In the morning, we’ll tell him we have plans and hopefully he’ll take the hint and leave. Then we can talk some sense into Belle when we’ve got her alone.’
‘I suppose,’ I say. ‘I could have punched Jack’s smug face when he announced Belle was going back to his hotel with him. I mean…it’s her eighteenth birthday, and she’s been away for two months.’
‘That’s exactly why I suggested he come and stay here,’ Rob says, and I suppose I see his reasoning. But if he only knew what he was doing…what he was opening our family up to.
‘Here, let me help you with that,’ I say to Natalia as she comes into the kitchen, her arms laden with silver trays of food stacked on top of one another.
‘Is done now,’ she says, lowering them onto the counter beside the fridge. ‘I lock car for you.’ She puts the keys on the hook beside our family noticeboard. It’s covered in our favourite snaps, plus takeaway menus and silly notes we’ve all left for each other over the years. I don’t wanthimseeing any of it, and I know I won’t sleep a wink while he’s under our roof.
Then I hear the front door open and close and the sound of Belle’s voice as she chatters excitedly in the hallway. She insisted on coming home in his car. A moment later, and she and Jack are standing in the kitchen only a few feet away from me.
‘Mum, thanks so much for a wonderful party. It was just the best.’ Belle slips off her heels, making her suddenly seem more childlike as she stands there, her hair not quite so neat now and her make-up fading.
Then she comes and gives me a hug. At first, I don’t realise why I’m suddenly feeling stunned and dizzy, what it is my eyes have seen that my brain hasn’t caught up with. I try to convince myself it’s the drink I’ve had, but I know it’s not.
‘And look what Jack just gave me,’ she says, beaming as she steps back. She touches her neck and sweeps back her hair to expose her ears. Then she holds up her left hand, fanning out her fingers. ‘He pulled over into a bus stop on the way home and gave me these. It wassoromantic. Aren’t they beautiful? I’ve finally got the engagement ring of my dreams. It’s a matching set!’
Belle shows off the necklace, earrings and ring – the ring worn on her wedding finger, of course – and it takes all my willpower not to rip them off her and hurl them at Jack.
She’s wearing the jewellery Rob and I chose for her.
I slide up to Rob and squeeze his hand tightly, praying he won’t say anything.
‘They’re…they’re beautiful, darling,’ I manage to get out. ‘Aren’t they, Rob?’ If he sees me playing along, perhaps he will too. I have no idea how I’ll explain it away to him when we’re alone, but I’ll think of something.
