Reaching up a hand, Mia fingered the thin veil of curtain that hung loosely by the window and then eventually let it fall. As she backed into the hallway and turned towards the kitchen, she considered her sister’s words. Who are you out to get, little sister?

If Jess knew what she was doing, then why hadn’t she said anything? Why wasn’t she trying to stop her?

They’d had a conversation once, maybe a month after Jess’s world had come crashing down, sweeping along with it Mia’s and their mother’s too.

‘What are you going to do?’ Mia had asked her.

Jess had looked up slowly, her brown eyes ovals as deep as the earth, and in them Mia tried to read what her sister was thinking. But by then she found it too hard to know.

‘Forget,’ Jess said eventually. ‘I’m going to do everything I can to forget.’

Mia had shaken her head. She wanted to tell her sister she couldn’t do that, because if she forgot, then someone was getting away with what they had done to her.

And yet she saw the sadness in those brown eyes, and Mia knew it wasn’t her place to tell her sister that forgetting was not the solution. In that moment Mia swore that she would let Jess forget. But she also knew that she herself never would.

Chapter Thirty

Janie had been ready since six p.m. Her hair had been washed and styled at the salon and was hanging in soft curls that fell just below her shoulders. She’d chosen a long kaftan in rich purple that fell open at the knees, and had even had her toenails painted to match while her hair was being blow-dried. All this effort for a party she didn’t want to throw, but at least it gave her the confidence to open the door to a bunch of semi-strangers that she only saw once a year and welcome them into her home.

The other thing that gave her some Dutch courage was the glass of champagne she held in her hand as she opened the door to one guest after another. But Janie knew better than to drink too much too early. At least one of the guests did that every year and she doubted this one would be any different. There were plenty who liked to make the most of the free alcohol supplied at their boss’s expense.

Janie had let Mia into the house and directed her towards the kitchen. She would search her out later, when she got the chance, but for now she had no choice but to leave her stranded in the hallway. Ella had texted from Anna’s house, where both girls were having a sleepover, to say Lottie had been crying for the last half-hour because she couldn’t find her favourite teddy, Blue Ted.