I pour a glass of red for me and one for Sylvie, but as I’m about to give it to her, Dave clicks his fingers and points into his empty wine glass on the side table beside him. “Top up,” he reminds me.
I have to restrain myself from walking over there and tipping the entire bottle over his head. “Sorry, my hands are full,” I say, lifting the glasses I’m holding and giving him a completely fake smile. He snarls at me, and I ignore him as I go into the kitchen.
“How’s it going with Dave?” I say, approaching my sister at the sink and keeping my voice low. I try to keep the judgment out of my tone. He’s not my boyfriend.
She grabs a tea towel from where it’s hanging on the oven door and dries her hands. “Actually, that’s why I asked you over. I have some news.” She holds out her left hand, where there’s a ring on her finger.
My stomach sinks, but I do what I’m supposed to do and step towards her, taking her hand in mine so I can inspect the ring. The diamond is so tiny I have to squint. Not that the sizematters, but if she had to accept Dave, she ought to have made him pay for a bigger one. It’s not like he doesn’t have the money, and some men do need to compensate. “It’s beautiful.”
She pulls her hand back and glances at it herself, a little smile on her face. “He told me I can’t buy anything for six months.”
My fingers tighten on my wineglass. “He what?”
“For the ring. You know. It was expensive, so I’m not to buy myself anything else.” She winces as if she’s bracing for that judgement I’ve been holding back.
I gesture to the living room. “Didn’t Dave just buy a brand new TV?”
“Yeah, but that’s for both of us.” She opens the oven, shaking the roast potatoes, which are hissing in a tray. She shoves them back in, rattling the metal more than necessary and slamming the oven door closed. I flinch. “And Dad gifted me the flat,” she says, spinning back to me, her expression crumpling into an embarrassed grimace.
“Hegiftedit to you?” I say, feeling suddenly unsteady on my feet. I got kicked out, and Sylvie gets the flat as apresent?
She wrings her hands. “Yeah. I was going to tell you before, but you’ve been difficult to get hold of.” Sure, I directed a few of her calls to voicemail, but she never left a message. “It’s an engagement gift. He transferred it to me. Legally.”
“Wow,” I breathe, and we stare silently at one another for a few moments.
I want to run away.
She offers me a tight-lipped smile. “You look good,” she says, waving her hand up and down. “How did you afford the clothes?”
I stare at myErica Lefroyshoes, which I’ve paired with a pale cream cashmere dress and a leather jacket. The whole outfit reeks of designer goods and money. I suddenly feel incredibly awkward, knowing my best friend’s father, whom I secretly sleptwith, bought all my clothes. I should have turned up in my tracksuit. I don’t know what I was thinking.
“Sponsorship,” I lie.
“Nice. What about guys? Is there anyone?”
For a second, I contemplate telling her about Rafe. I miss him. I miss working with him. Seeing him. Swimming with him. I miss all of it; if I’m honest, those months in the Emblem were the happiest of my life.
“There’s no one,” I answer, and Sylvie gives me a sympathetic but pitying smile.
“Well, you look great,” she says.
“Thanks.”
“And business is going well?”
“Yeah. Very well. Finally.”
“Thought so. I saw you were invited to that movie premiere last week. You looked fantastic on the red carpet.”
No one wears a coat on the red carpet.The memory of the night I kissed Rafe tugs on my heart, an internal sting that I try to ignore. They come often, these intrusive memories, even all these months later. “Thanks. I’m pleased it all seems to be coming together.”
“Dad won’t be happy.” She casts me a guilty look. “He’s actually—”
The buzzer rings loudly, and I startle.
“Babe,” Dave calls. “That’ll be your parents.”
I snap to Sylvie. “What the fuck?”