Page 57 of The Soulmate

‘What?’ I ask.

‘You tell me,’ she says. ‘What’s happening with Max? And don’t say nothing. I saw him in town yesterday.’

I curse internally. Unfortunately, Portsea is a small place. If I saw him, it wasn’t really surprising that Mei did too.

‘I’m worried, Pip. I know I said I wasn’t going to tell Kat, but –’

‘You can’t, Mei. Please.’

‘I don’t want to, believe me. She’s still sick as a dog, and she worries enough about you as it –’

‘What? Why does she worry about me?’

‘Because you’re her sister,’ Mei says, as if it’s obvious. ‘And sisters worry. But now she’s pregnant, I’d rather not upset her.’

‘Then don’t!’ I say. ‘Honestly, Mei, everything is fine. Max probably has a holiday house down here, that’s all. What rich person doesn’t?’

Mei considers that. ‘So you haven’t see him?’

‘No,’ I say. ‘Of course not.’

‘Good. Because Max Cameron is not the kind of enemy you want. He knows some dangerous people.’

Dangerous. That word gives me pause. Gabe had said something similar.Max Cameron isn’t the nice guy everyone thinks he is. I recall my night with him. The fact that I hadn’t sensed his dark side makes me question my judgement – about everything.

‘So Gabe’s still insisting Amanda’s death was a pure coincidence?’ Mei says, when I don’t respond.

‘Yes,’ I say, ‘because it’s the truth.’

‘All right,’ she says, although it’s clear she isn’t convinced. ‘But if I were you, I’d be asking Gabe a direct question:Is there something going on that I don’t know about?’

‘You’ve got it all wrong, Mei,’ I say. ‘And, frankly, I’m a little surprised by how quick you are to cast aspersions on Gabe’s integrity. I thought you were friends!’

I hear the thump of feet on the floorboards. A moment later, two little faces peer around the doorframe. I wave at them, and they run over and jump onto the bed. But I keep the phone pressed to my ear, waiting for Mei to apologise, to assure me thatof courseshe and Gabe are friends, that she would never think him capable of anything sinister.

Instead she says, ‘Ask him.’

And ends the call.

Ask him.

I’m still thinking about my conversation with Mei as I strap the girls into their car seats an hour later. Why does she keep saying that? It irritates me, because I can’t defend Gabe, and I can’t understand why she is so desperate for me to confront him.

I don’t need to ask him, I want to cry.Because Gabe isn’t the one who did something wrong – it was me!

But of course I can’t say this. I can’t say anything at all.

I’ve rescheduled the girls’ vaccinations for this morning before preschool, and since I don’t have a meeting this morning I decided to go to the appointment with them and Gabe. Once the girls are strapped in, I get into the passenger seat. Gabe is driving.

‘Why do I have to have a shot?’ Asha says apprehensively.

‘Because the shot is full of superheroes,’ Gabe says. ‘The nurse will shoot them into your body, so they can be there to fight against germs. These superheroes stop you from getting sick.’

The girls look doubtful.

‘You can have ice cream afterwards,’ I say.

‘Yay!’ the girls chorus.