“That’s an outright lie!” Her brain whirled, seeking examples. “When your father died, I took a week’s leave and flew down from Sydney. I did the same thing after the explosion on the platform and when—”

“We’re done, Jess. It’s over.”

“Don’t be stu—” The line went dead, leaving the sounds of silence buzzing loud in her ear. The rum and Coke turned rancid in her stomach, then rose to burn the back of her throat. She determinedly pushed it back down.

“He doesn’t mean it,” she said to the wall.

Except, even after their worst ever argument when she’d fled to Sydney after Libby’s wedding, he’d never called her toxic. She wasn’t toxic! She’d been a good and faithful friend to him for all the reasons she’d just told him, and then some. Back in the days when she had money, she’d even given him a short-term loan when he was buying his house to avoid a costly double mortgage. God!

It wasn’t her fault she’d fallen in love with Nick, any more than it was Will’s for falling in love with her. Hell, he should be grateful she’d been a true friend and protected him by refusing his proposal. Where did he get off calling her toxic?

You don’t know the meaning of the word friendship. Libby’s accusation played faintly in the back of her mind. Before Jess met Libby, Linda had moved them so often that she’d never invested in friendships. If Linda’s relationships with her friends were anything to go by, friendship involved drinking, acrimony, verbal abuse, stolen PIN numbers and the occasional punch. Jess had enough of that going on inside the house with Linda and her boyfriends so why open herself to more heartache and hurt?

But Libby had been determined to be friends. At first it was Libby’s physical generosity Jess found attractive, but it was her emotional generosity that tempted Jess to let her in. It opened her to a form of friendship she’d never known before and she cautiously gave some of herself, waiting for it to come back to bite her. It didn’t. It was a shock to realize that being open actually made her feel better about herself. For the first time in her life, she’d thought beyond herself. She’d been generous and giving in her friendships with Libby and Will, caring for them both and going the extra mile every time.

And now, after years of them happily accepting her love, support and loyalty, they said it counted for nothing?

What the hell did people expect from her?

Chapter Sixteen

August

Karen scanned the park, wondering if Jess would show up as arranged. According to Libby, getting to this point had been rocky.

“The bitch isn’t happy about it,” Libby had said when she’d outlined the terms and conditions of Karen’s offer to be Leo’s conduit.

Karen flinched. “Sweetheart, don’t you think that term demeans you?”