BooksBarbecue
Back What You Did Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Epilogue
  43. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  44. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

‘Course not,’ said Mike, but there was something uneasy running between the five of us and I didn’t understand what, and for a moment I was angry at him, at the one postcard all Easter, at the distance he’d placed between us this term – sleeping in his own bed most nights, spending hours in the library – so I stood up, wobbling over against Bill. For a second I felt his hand catch me, steady me. The warmth of it, the strength of his wiry arm. I wanted to stay. I didn’t want to go and get ready, leave this sunny lawn. I had the sense that, once I did, I was going to lose my grasp on something intangible. That everything would be over. College. My youth. And Bill. Which was stupid, because I’d always be friends with Bill.

‘Well, you’re right, I better get started on the de-trolling process. Kar? You coming?’

She looked at me over her sunglasses, inscrutable. Callum was already passing her a cigarette. For some reason, he never minded funding her habit.

‘You go on,’ she said after a moment.

I couldn’t very well stay now, after I’d said I was going, but all the same I didn’t want to, didn’t want to leave Karen there in the sun with all three boys. For just a moment I lingered, unsure.

And that was when Jodi came trotting towards us, self-important, her hair twisted up in rollers under a ridiculous net cap.

‘Ali,’ she said, slightly out of breath, rushing to bring bad news, her favourite thing. ‘I thought you should know. Your dad is here.’

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Our house was full of photos. It was something I’d pushed for. Paid for developing, cut snapshots to size, picked up shabby frames in charity shops. Nagged Mike to put up nails. I didn’t think a house was a home without pictures. And I realised, as I stood in my hallway, just back from the police station to a silent house – everyone in bed, probably – that Karen was in every one of them. At our wedding, standing behind me in a blue bridesmaid’s dress. At graduation, in the tight group of the six of us, hugging, throwing mortar boards. At Cassie’s christening, proud godmother. She’d turned up in jeans and stilettos to the church, which had scandalised Mike’s mother. Karen was there every step of the way, standing over my shoulder. The worst thing was I wasn’t even surprised by what Mike had told me. Shocked, shaking, sick to my core, but not surprised, not really. Maybe, on some level, I had always expected this.