Chapter 13

‘Why.' Zelda gives Frank a light slap on the arm with the back of her hand. ‘Can't' Another slap. ‘We go.' Slap. ‘To their barbeque?' Slap. ‘Spoil-sport.'

Frank fills his lungs and then exhales loudly. ‘It was meant to be a surprise,' he says tightly, looking at Tom as if he deliberately ruined everything. ‘I've booked us a trip to Monte Carlo.'

Zelda grabs my hand across the table and squeezes my knuckles. ‘Are you joking me?'

‘We fly tomorrow morning.' Morning? What about our breakfast date where I will expose him for who he really is? ‘Calm down.' Frank dodges as Zelda kisses him all over his face. ‘It's just for five days.' Just? I roll my eyes silently.

‘In a hotel?'

‘No, in a brothel. Of course, in a hotel. A five-star spa, as it goes. You've spoilt all the surprises now,' he whines, pushing his plate away from him like a petulant child.

‘Oh, my dear God.' Zelda holds Frank's face with both hands and gives him a deafening kiss, leaving an imprint of her cerise lipstick on his forehead. I want to scream my lungs out. Zelda can't go away with him for almost a week without knowing the truth about him.

‘How about the following Saturday, then?' Tom suggests, and everyone agrees. ‘That's a date then. I'll get those pastourma you like, Theo, and salmon for you, Linda.'

My phone pings. ‘It's Daisy,' I yell hastily. ‘She's outside. We'd best get off. Don't want to keep the poor girl waiting.'

‘I'm sorry, Mrs Harris…I mean, Bella,' Daisy says, once Tom and I are settled in the back of her car, which smells of burgers and unwashed clothes, like a couple of teenagers being picked up by their mother. Daisy cocks her head at the black bin bags on the front passenger seat next to her. ‘If I'd known your sister needed a lift, I'd have left this lot in my auntie's garage until tomorrow. Is that her?' Daisy motions at Zelda with her head. ‘She's banging.' Daisy shoots a look at me in her rearview. ‘You look alike,' she says, and I smile. ‘Although you're more Cate Blanchett and she's more Emily Blunt. Good genes.' Tom agrees and I go pink. It's lovely of Daisy to compare us to Hollywood beauties but I'm nowhere near as glamorous as Cate, nor Zelda, for that matter. Mum would always introduce her as the good-looking one when we were little. It hurt at the time but as an adult, I've discovered that beauty is only skin-deep. ‘Will they be okay?' Daisy asks, worriedly, nodding at Zelda who is limping along the road, holding onto Frank's arm.

‘They'll be fine, Daisy,' I say, tiredly. I do feel sorry for my sister. Half a mile is a long way to walk in uncomfortable shoes. I do hope she doesn't get blisters, but a part of me is relieved that Daisy turned them down when they asked for a lift, because the thought of being squashed on the backseat with them while they smooched like love-struck teenagers turned my stomach.

Daisy fires up the engine, and it growls – diesel. I look out of the window and wave at Linda and Theo, who are standing at the gate. Linda blows a kiss and I pretend to catch it, and then she makes a heart shape with her hands. My lovely friend put on a great spread for us this evening. Shame Frank ruined it. Tom's phone buzzes in his pocket. I give him a look. ‘Who's that?' It's been going off all evening. ‘Not the eyelash man again?'

‘It's Georgia,' he says sleepily, reading it. ‘Replying to a message I sent her three hours ago.' I shake my head knowingly. ‘She's fine, by the way. They had McDonalds.' Our daughter would live off takeaways if we allowed it.

‘Hope you don't mind,' Daisy says, shooting a glance at us in the rearview, ‘but could you buckle in? Better to be safe than sorry.'

Tom and I reach for our seatbelts tiredly. A phone chimes. Daisy's. It's a message from her auntie, she tells us, then begins texting hurriedly, auburn hair dangling in her face. ‘Sorry, guys. I won't be a mo.'

I gaze out of the window. Ahead, Zelda takes her shoes off and says something to Frank. I watch miserably as Frank picks her up in his arms. A romantic European break, new clothes (she told me he'd bought her the entire designer outfit she was wearing tonight), fancy dinners in top restaurants, versus midday bunk-ups in her flat, the odd clandestine lunch in the countryside where no one knew Chris, and Christmases with us and Mum. No wonder she's besotted with Frank.

Zelda squeals loudly as Frank jogs along the street, holding her on his back. My heart sinks. It'll all end in tears. I can feel it in my gut. I'm about to look away when Frank suddenly puts Zelda down and races back to the house. Zelda must've forgotten something. Probably her phone. Daisy revs the engine. I crane my neck for a better view. Zelda is leaning against someone's wall, texting – not her phone then. Daisy sticks the car into gear with a loud crunch, apologises again for not being able to offer my sister and her boyfriend a lift home, suggests dropping us off and coming back for them, that it's no bother at all.

‘There'll be no need for that, Daisy,' Tom says firmly. ‘Zelda doesn't live far. I'm sure Muscles can carry her home on his shoulders.' Is that a hint of antipathy in his tone, or might it be the drink? I don't question him. We can discuss Frank in the morning with clear heads, and I will tell him he was my personal trainer and how he manipulated his way into my sister's arms. This has gone far enough.

‘It's only a ten-minute walk, Daisy. But thank you. That's very kind.'

Daisy smiles at us in the mirror. The indicator clinks and as we pull away from the kerb with a jerk, I catch a glimpse of Linda, arms folded, flicking a glance over her shoulder. Theo has gone inside. Frank is standing in front of her, hands in pockets. My eyes slide to Zelda, she's still leaning against a wall twenty feet away, putting her shoes back on, and then I look back at Linda. Whatever he's saying to Linda, she doesn't look happy. Frank must've recognised her. I bet he knew who she was all along.