BooksBarbecue
Back One Year Later
Chapters (49)
  1. PROLOGUE
  2. PART I
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. PART II
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. PART III
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. PART IV
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. EPILOGUEAMY
  48. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  49. BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS

She’s standing so close to me I can smell the pina colada of her suntan oil. I open my mouth to speak. I’m about to retort, Is he really? Or did you lie from start to finish? But before I can say anything, Bethany says, ‘If you’d actually been on time for once in your life, you could have looked after Ruby-May. But no, as usual, you were late. Spectacularly late. Because,’ and she pokes me in the chest with her finger, in time with her words, ‘everything is always about you. You’ve never cared about us – about Amy and me.’

‘Stop it!’ shrieks Amy.

I feel as if my breath has been sucked from my body at the magnitude of my sister’s unfairness.

I seize Bethany and shake her as hard as I can, and I shout in her face, ‘I will never forgive you!’

When I finally release her, I expect her to hit me again, but she doesn’t. She staggers, then steadies herself against a chair. When she’s recovered, she marches over to the fridge, grabs a bottle of Prosecco and walks out of the front door, slamming it behind her.

Matt stands up. He’s trembling. ‘Get out. Get out now!’

I do. I go in the opposite direction to Bethany, through the kitchen and towards the pool. Luca is sitting outside with Lotte and Theo, his travel chess set on the table in front of them.

‘Nick,’ he says.

I ignore him and keep going.

‘Nick,’ he says again, more urgently. He stands up and comes over, reaching out an arm to detain me. ‘I saw…’

I dodge him and break into a run. I’m so angry my heart is hammering in my throat and my hands are bunched into fists. I sprint through the stiff grass and into the olive grove, and keep going up the hill until I can’t breathe and my throat feels raw, blood pounds in my ears and the cicadas throb like the dullest of aches.

29

NICK

I return as dusk is falling. The house is in darkness and there’s no one by the pool. For one moment I think they’ve all left and gone back to Bristol, leaving me behind, and my breath catches. I walk silently through the empty sitting room; Chloe and Amy’s iPads are on the table and the full-size chess set is laid out with a black king and a white queen facing each other in a silent stand-off. I go into the coolness of the archway connecting the two parts of the former barn and see my family in silhouette.