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“Roo, listen to me. Someone tried to kill Griffin. I can’t have you or the kids put at risk.”
Roo gestures around the kitchen. “I have a lunch service to run. I have—”
“Screw the lunch service!” Cara shouts. “I’m not asking you, I am telling you—you need to take your car and go with Noah. Pick the kids up from school and head to the lodge. You’ll be safe there.”
“For how long?” he asks, stunned.
“Until this is over.”
“Until …” His voice trails off. “This is absurd,” he mutters, but Cara knows he’ll do as she asks. “I’ll call Lauren. I’ll get her to pack the kids’ things.”
Cara shakes her head. “No. Not with Lauren,” she adds quietly.
Roo stares at her.
“I know, Roo,” Cara says. She’s aware her voice is wobbling; she can’t fall apart now. “I know what you’ve been doing. Together.”
He stops. She notices his cheeks color slightly. “I haven’t …” he starts, but she can tell by the tone of his voice that she’s right. “But we can’t leave her here,” he manages to stutter. “If we’re in danger, then so is she.”
“She’s not going with you.”
Cara turns away.
“But Cara …” Roo starts.
“Do not fuck with me!” Cara’s shaking, she’s so angry. “My brother is in the hospital, there’s an insane serial killer on the loose, and you want to take your mistress to our holiday lodge after having an affair under my nose for the past God knows how long?” She’s shouting, knowing she’s getting looks from the other chefs in the kitchen, but not caring. “Roo, get your stuff and go with Noah. Now!”
She walks out the back door of the kitchen and stands next to her husband’s car. She’s crying now, big snotty tears, and she angrily wipes them away with her sleeve.
Deakin appears by her side. She glances at him and he hands her a tissue.
“I’m sorry, Noah. This isn’t fair on you.”
“It’s fine. Really. I’ll take them to the lodge and get back as soon as I can. Listen, Cara?”
Noah looks uncomfortable, his hands shoved in his pockets.
“Yes?”
He goes to say something but then notices Roo coming toward them.
“It doesn’t matter,” Noah mumbles.
The two of them get into the car, and her husband winds down the window.
“Call me when you have the kids,” she says, and Roo nods.
Once the car turns the corner, out of sight, Cara instantly feels better. Her family will be safe; that’s all that matters for now. She’ll deal with the shit between Roo and Lauren later.
A waiter rushes out of the kitchen, a mobile clutched in his hand. “Chef!” he calls down the deserted road. But it’s too late. “He’s forgotten his phone,” he says.
“I’ll take it,” Cara replies, and he passes it across. She’ll give it back to him later. There’s no reception at the lodge anyway.
But as she gets back into her own car, throwing her husband’s phone on the passenger seat, she remembers Deakin and wonders what he was about to say. She shakes her head. It can’t have been that important.
It can wait, she tells herself. It’ll have to wait.
She needs to go to the hospital, see her brother, make sure he’s okay.
