‘But it’s the latest of them all that I saw him with,’ Molly picked up. ‘Then he goes, he goes, I didn’t even sleep with that one!’ She lowered her voice to match Patrick’s tone in a way that would have been comedic under other circumstances. But despite us all being three sheets to the wind, we knew there was nothing funny about it. ‘I saw him and her, cosied up, talking like they went back bloody years, while he was out with a group of the others.’

‘Babes …’ Lily leaned over to hug her.

‘I bet she wasn’t even anything special,’ Cora added, and I saw Lily throw her a warning shot. It was one of Lily’s least favourite things: one woman taking it out on another. But Cora wasn’t taking it back. She shrugged. ‘I’m just saying.’

‘She was beautiful,’ Molly said. ‘Beautiful, with one of those pretentious, glamorous artsy names.’ She exhaled slowly while Lily rubbed the spot between her shoulder blades. ‘Fucking Grass or Cloud or—’

‘Skye?’

Molly looked at me. ‘That was it.’ She tried to click her fingers. ‘Skye.’

*

When I asked Lily for a cigarette, that’s when my cover was blown. She said, ‘Course, babes, I’ll come with you …’ and led me into the smoking area, with Faith close behind. They even went as far as letting me spark up and inhale a blissful drag before Lily snatched the cigarette away.

‘Right, that’s your fill.’ She pulled on it herself. ‘What’s going on?’

My kneejerk was to continue in my protests, but Faith held up a finger. ‘Be. Honest.’

‘Rowan and I had a massive shitty discussion about the whole shitty situation with dating other people. He’s been sleeping with other people already and, fuck, I don’t even care about that because we agreed it. But he’s telling the boys bullshit about how long this is all going to last and I hate it now; I hate who this is making him; I hate how easy it is for him to be sleeping with other people and for him to welcome, so fucking freely, more time to be doing that. Do you know?’ I looked from Lily to Faith and back again. ‘Do you get it?’

Lily pulled me into a hug. ‘I know, babes.’

‘Who is Skye?’

I pushed away from Lily and shot Faith a look that would worry Death. ‘What?’

‘Skye. The woman Patrick didn’t sleep with. Who is she?’

‘How should I know?’ I looked to Lily for support but she shook her head.

‘No, Edi, I saw your face, too.’ She rubbed my shoulder. ‘I’m just too nice to ask.’

Faith snorted. ‘Sure, okay. But who is she, Edi?’

‘Belly breath, babes, a big belly breath and then—’

‘Rowan slept with her.’

‘Ewwww.’ Faith recoiled.

But Lily guessed. ‘You don’t mean recently.’