‘Are you sure, Mum?’ Rachel said. ‘Are you sure Stephen never hurt you?’

Mum shook her head and her gaze slid away from Rachel. A moment later, she looked back. ‘He’s married, you know.’

‘Who?’ Rachel said.

Mum rolled her eyes. ‘Stephen, obviously.’

Rachel took a moment to consider that. ‘Who is Stephen married to?’

Mum leaned in close, lowering her voice, ‘Her name is Fiona Arthur.’

38

TULLY

Tully had always thought that her wedding was the day she reached maximum levels of manic. Even the half a valium she’d taken that day had barely taken the edge off. She’d barely managed to sit still while she had her make-up done and she’d stuttered her way through her vows. But she’d now realised she had a new, hidden, maximum level of anxiety reserved especially for the auction of her beloved home.

If only she had some valium handy today.

Tully had always thought it was a particularly sadistic practice of Australians, selling their homes by public auction. She yearned to be one of those people she saw on the American property shows where a ‘realtor’ passed on an offer that the vendors could choose to accept or reject after thinking it over or sleeping on it. The Australian way seemed unnecessarily savage, both for the buyer and the seller, forcing people to compete to be the winner when the hammer went down.

It was a bright, blue-skied day, and most of their neighbours were milling about the Harrises’ front yard as if it were a garden party. Half the pre-school mums were there in their activewear, with prams and coffee. Men in sportswear were shaking hands with acquaintances they’d encountered unexpectedly. Tully saw a woman from her Pilates class (Celia, whom Tully always referred to behind her back as Snobby Celia) greet a friend with a double air kiss. The friend looked familiar, but Tully couldn’t quite place her. Tully only knew of two seriously interested buyers; everyone else had just come along for a stickybeak. Tully herself had done this very thing at countless auctions. Looking into other people’s homes was a particular pleasure of hers. Often, before bed, she scrolled through realestate.com.au on her iPad just looking at beautiful houses. Sonny called it ‘property porn’. She’d gone to half-a-dozen auctions in her local area, simply because she’d always wanted to see the inside of a particular house, or to get an idea of her own house’s worth. It had felt so normal when she’d done it. Now that she was on the other side, it felt vaguely grotesque.

Tully’s family were all here, and she felt a wave of gratitude for that. Dad had greeted her with a kiss on the head and a handshake for Sonny, and Heather had brought her a tiny rabbit foot for luck. Tully thought it was a sweet gesture but also kind of disgusting – yet she gripped that little foot with all her might.

Rachel had arrived a few minutes ago with freshly brewed coffee for Sonny, camomile tea in a thermos for Tully (because the last thing Tully needed was caffeine while she was so hyped up) and homemade apple cinnamon muffins for everyone (which Tully actually stress-ate, for once). Rachel was garnering even more surreptitious glances than usual, which may have been due to the fact that for the first time in forever she was wearing her hair out. Tully couldn’t stop thinking about what Rachel had told her the last time they talked. She had been raped when she was sixteen. It felt unimaginable that she had been carrying that secret around all these years, never telling a soul. Several times this week, as Tully reflected on it, she became so angry, so utterly furious, that her entire body began to shake. Now though, alongside the horror, Tully felt a wave of hope – that now that Rachel had shared this, maybe she’d have the chance to heal. Maybe they both would?