She spent the afternoon reading anything she could about him, studying his photos with Essie again and looking him up online. Hank only used social media to promote his books, and the photos his second wife posted on Instagram shielded their two kids’ faces from view.

She finally found a recent shot of the family at a baseball game. Hank’s daughter looked to be around six, and his son perhaps nine or ten. Liv hummed to herself and ran a quick calculation in her head. Hank’s boy must have been conceived soon after his split with Essie...or perhaps even earlier. The possibility took root in her head.

Liv could go along to the opening night of Hank’s Bar, maybe even gain access and stand at the bar. But how could she get Essie’s good-looking, famous ex-husband to notice an ordinary fortysomething mum of two?

26

WHISKEY GLASS

On the evening of Hank’s bar launch, Liv shaved her legs in the bath. She tied her dressing gown belt and bumped into Jake in their bedroom.

He wore a navy suit and fiddled with the top button of his shirt. When he saw her, he lifted his chin. “Does my tie look neat?” he said.

In that split second, Liv remembered the Paperpress awards were taking place that evening. She cursed herself for forgetting. She’d pledged to make more effort with Jake and was falling at a first hurdle. “Yes, it looks fine,” she said, wondering if her words sounded strangled.

He glanced at his watch. “Are you nearly ready? We don’t want to be late.”

“Um, about that,” she said, dreading her next words. “Sorry, but I have to work tonight.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? It’s Thursday evening. This has been in the diary for weeks.”

“I need to help Essie with something last minute. I go to the awards each year. No one will miss me.” She remembered last year’s ceremony when Katrina ignored her all night. Jake and his parents were busy, too, laying out the buffet and lining up the awards. Liv’s offers to help were batted away, so she ate cold sausage rolls and made small talk with the Paperpress employees instead.

“I’ll miss you,” he said coolly. “And my parents.”

“I can’t get out of this,” she said.

He stormed out of the room, glancing back at her over his shoulder with such disdain it cut her to the core. “Whatever,” he said.

And the thing was, she didn’t want to get out of anything. She wanted to see Hank and find out his part in Essie’s story. She felt like she couldn’t write the end of Book Twenty without knowing what tore the couple apart.

Ten minutes later, Jake left the house without saying goodbye.