Page 37 of The Good Sister

‘Iknewthe name Rocco Ryan sounded familiar.’ Her voice is high-pitched and excited. ‘I googled him. He is the Rocco Ryan who founded Shout!’

‘I know,’ I say.

‘Fern, it is a HUGE app. HUGE!’

‘I know,’ I repeat.

‘Youknow?’ Rose sounds disbelieving. This irritates me. To think she would know more about my friend than I do.

‘Of course I know. Wally told me.’

A pause. ‘Fern, do you know what Shout! is?’

I roll my eyes. ‘An app,’ I say. ‘Something to do with ordering drinks.’

‘According to the article I read, Rocco and his partner sold it in 2016 for a hundred million dollars. A hundred million dollars, Fern! The article also said that Rocco is one of the most promising computer programmers the world has ever seen. He was in Silicon Valley before he came to Australia. He’s been compared to Linus Torvalds and Steve Wozniak! Apparently, people were lining up to work with him when they sold Shout!, but then he just went off the grid. It was quite mysterious. People assumed he was living it up on a private island or something . . .’

I glance around the room, noticing a spiderweb in the corner that I really must take care of.

‘Fern, your friend is a gazillionaire. Does that interest you even a little bit?’

I sigh, considering her question. Does that interest me? I suppose it does. At the same time, of all the things I know about Wally, the fact that he is a gazillionaire (not technically an actual word) is the very least interesting.

‘Not especially,’ I say, waving again at Wally through the window. As Rose starts to reiterate all the reasons I shouldbeinterested, Wally waves back.

On Monday morning, Wally comes to my door to ask if I’d like to have dinner with him.

‘It’s Monday,’ I explain. ‘I have dinner with Rose on Mondays.’

Wally leans against the doorframe, his gaze resting lazily over my shoulder. ‘Tomorrow, then?’

‘I have dinner with Rose Tuesday nights too.’

Wally narrows his gaze. ‘Do you dine with Rose on any other evenings?’

‘Thursdays, after karate training.’

He laughs. Then he stops. ‘Seriously?’

‘Yes.’

‘Every week?’

‘Mmm-hmm.’

‘Wow.’

I frown. ‘Whywow?’

‘I don’t know. That’s just a lot of dinners with one person.’

‘Is it?’ Given the fact that married couples presumably have dinner together seven nights a week, it doesn’t seem like such a lot. Then again, Rose and I aren’t married.

‘I guess I could cancel,’ I say on a whim. But even as I say it, I get a funny feeling. I don’t think Rose would like to be cancelled on. ‘It’s just one night. She’s probably jet-lagged after her long flight, anyway.’

I expect Wally to smile at this, but instead he gives me a funny look. ‘Who are you trying to convince, Fern?’

Wally leaves and I text Rose. Bizarrely, I feel nervous as I thumb the words onto the screen.