Audrey listened in silence as Lily gabbled a story about Daniel and a redhead, about a pregnancy and a divorce, all the time wondering how it was possible that she could think herself so close to her daughter yet know so little about her life. “Why didn’t you tell me there were problems between you and Daniel?”

There was a microscopic quiver in Lily’s chin that Audrey last remembered seeing decades before in the wake of their double loss, accompanied by the muffled echo of restrained grief.

“He said he just needed some space. I thought everything would go back to normal once he was home.”

Lily’s voice flatlined, and she stared straight ahead as if gazing toward a future she didn’t dare approach.

All this time Audrey had allowed herself to believe that Lily was strong, secure, unshakable. Five months earlier she’d moved in with Jess rather than Lily, to live with the daughter who needed her rather than the daughter whose life, she’d believed, was perfect. Now she felt as though she had failed them both.

With Jess sitting silently next to her, Audrey sensed something stir in the atmosphere, as if somewhere out to sea a hurricane was gathering pace and the winds on land were eddying in response.

Chapter 55

Jess

Jess sat unmoving as her mum held Lily’s hand.

It had always been like this, for as long as she could remember. Lily, the good girl, who could do no wrong. Lily, the chosen one, who deserved the very best life had to offer. Lily, the innocent, to whom nothing bad should ever happen. Except she wasn’t. And it had.

“Maybe it’s karma, Lily.” The words whispered their way through Jess’s lips. Her heart knocked in her chest, warning her of what was to come, cautioning her that once the story was out in the world there was no way of erasing it from their family history.

Jess watched Lily raise her head from their mum’s shoulder, watched her widen her bloodshot eyes, thin red lines streaking above her green irises like a pastoral sunset.

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.” Jess tried to encourage some air into her lungs, willed her voice to stay strong.

Lily glanced at their mum as if she might hold the answer.

“What are you talking about, Jess? What karma? What could Lily possibly have done to deserve this?”

Perhaps it was the incredulous tone of her mum’s voice. Perhaps it was Lily’s self-righteous tears. Or perhaps it was simply the change of scene. But suddenly decades of unspoken fury were erupting from deep within Jess where they had lain dormant for decades. “Stop pretending, Lily. Stop lying. You know what you did and so do I. I saw you. Don’t pretend you don’t remember. You know I saw you.”

She watched Lily turn to their mum, saw the almost imperceptible shake of her head, watched the lines furrow across Lily’s forehead as she turned back to her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do you think you saw?”