Cadence stood up and backed away. ‘No,’ she said. ‘There’s no way. None of this is even possible! You’re telling me that for the last three months of our relationship, he’s somehow been in a simultaneous relationship with you? How would he even manage that?’
‘Okay, tell me something, where did he tell you he was over the weekend? This weekend just past?’
‘He was away for work. He has to travel a lot for work.’
‘Cadence, I’m really sorry, but no, he was with me on the weekend. We went out to the Hillside Tavern on Friday night.’
Cadence shook her head. ‘No! No way! He messaged me from Adelaide. He even made a joke about how quiet the nightlife was there.’ Cadence snatched up her own phone, opened up the messaging app and thrust it in Georgia’s face. ‘See! Right there, that’s the message he sent me.’
Georgia glanced at the message but she didn’t want to keep looking at it. The idea of him sending secret fake messages to Cadence while he was with her made her feel sick. Not to mention the lies he must have sent to her when he was actually with Cadence.
She tried to keep her face deadpan, her voice steady. ‘He lied to you. He wasn’t in Adelaide. Actually, he told me he hated flying and he only ever travels within the state for work.’
‘Luke isn’t afraid of flying! He has to go overseas for his job all the time!’
‘Jesus. Why would he make something like that up?’ Georgia thought of how scared he’d been as they waited to board their flight to Melbourne. Was that all an act? How could he? She’d been so worried for him. Or was it real and he’d he been lying to Cadence about flying for work?
She hated this. She hated that she was having to untangle all his lies. She still couldn’t reconcile the idea of Luke — her amazing boyfriend who she’d shared so much with — being a cheat.
‘Here’s the other thing,’ Georgia said. ‘He also told me that you were there watching us when we were at the Hillside. That you were stalking us.’
‘I wasn’t at the Hillside on Friday! I was right here at home. There’s no way I could have been there because I can’t . . .’
‘Can’t what?’
‘Nothing, never mind. Just trust me, I wasn’t there.’
‘He let me believe you were following me home from work once as well. I kept looking at this red hatchback in my mirror —’
Cadence cut her off. ‘I don’t drive,’ she said. ‘I don’t have a red hatchback. I don’t even own a car.’
‘Fucking hell.’ Georgia thought back to all the times she’d believed Cadence had been stalking her. The note at the Persian restaurant — he must have slipped it to the waiter and asked for it to be delivered to their table. The phone call from Luke when she’d been at the Bella Vista Hotel. But Cadence was there, wasn’t she? She’d known that Georgia was wearing her green top. But no. Luke had asked what colour she was wearing first. Then there was the blonde woman in the bathroom who winked at her — she really was just a stranger being friendly. She didn’t look anything like Cadence. Georgia had frightened herself and then Luke had gone along with it seamlessly. Time after time, Cadence had been an invisible presence and Georgia had filled in the blanks.
‘Listen,’ Georgia said, ‘I’m still coming to terms with all of this myself. I came here hoping that maybe there was going to be an explanation for the weird things going on with him. I don’t know what, I don’t know how you could have explained any of it away. Or maybe I came here because I knew . . . I knew that if he’d lied about the other stuff then maybe he’d lied about you as well. But I needed to find out for sure. The thing I don’t get though, is why he’s doing this. Why would he pretend he’d broken up with you and that you were stalking us? What’s the point? What did he have to gain?’
‘I don’t know!’ Cadence’s hands were shaking and Georgia was worried she was about to kick her out, but instead she walked over to a shelf and took down a small pill bottle. Her hands were shaking so much she was having trouble opening it.
‘Do you need help?’ Georgia offered.
Cadence tried one more time to open it and then relented.
‘Okay, thanks.’ She passed her the bottle and then disappeared into the kitchen. Georgia glanced at the label. ‘Nature’s Choice Serenity tablets’. She used to take these back when she was going through her darker times, before she was properly medicated.
Cadence returned with a glass of water, and Georgia watched her tip two tablets out onto her hand. She frowned. ‘Those don’t look right.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘I used to take Serenity,’ said Georgia. ‘They were small round white tablets, not big yellow ones. Those aren’t Serenity.’
‘Yes, they are,’ said Cadence. ‘Maybe they changed since you last took them.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Okay.’ Cadence seemed to calm down a little having taken the tablets, likely a placebo effect as they wouldn’t have had time to do anything for her that fast. ‘I think we need to talk to Luke, the both of us together, see if he can explain.’
‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea. This isn’t some small misunderstanding that he can explain away. This is serious. He’s been living a double life. And he’s been terrifying me into thinking I was being stalked these past two months. Why is he doing this to us?’
‘I don’t know if I can act like I never met you. I want to give him the chance to tell me his side.’
‘His side? Cadence, there is no “his side”; he’s a liar and a cheat.’ She paused. ‘Wait, do you still not believe me? Do you still think I’m the one who’s crazy here?’
Her eyes slid away from Georgia. ‘Well, it’s not that . . . I . . .’ she stammered.
‘Cadence! I showed you proof, I showed you the photos! I’m telling you, he’s playing us, he’s playing the both of us. I mean, shit, I don’t know, maybe he’s even dangerous. I think he trashed my apartment just to stage that break-in.’
‘He did what? No, that’s not right. That doesn’t sound like Luke; he’d never do something like that. He could never be dangerous.’
Georgia felt like grabbing Cadence by the shoulders and shaking her. She was clearly in denial. Her world was crashing down around her and she was trying to prop it back up with sticks and Blu-Tack. But there was no way Georgia could leave here until she convinced Cadence she was telling the truth. Or else the first thing Cadence would do was call Luke and tell him everything, and then Georgia might never find out exactly what he was up to: Why had he sought her out and faked their chance meeting at The Crooked Tailor? Why had he quizzed Lena about her past? Why was he systematically tearing her life apart?
‘Cadence, what happened to your eye?’
‘I told you, it’s nothing. It was an accident.’
‘What kind of an accident?’
‘He didn’t mean to . . . He was upset and when he swung out . . . He wasn’t meaning to actually hit me.’
Georgia knew what the answer was going to be, but it was still a shock. ‘Luke did that to you? This is bad, this is really, really bad. He is dangerous. We can’t “talk this out”. We need to go to the police.’
Thinking about the police made Georgia remember the restraining order, the police report from the break-in. Had he somehow faked all of that as well? It was possible. She’d never actually spoken to any of the cops herself. They were already gone when she’d arrived home after the break-in. Later, he’d asked her to write the letter for the restraining order, then he’d offered to drop it into the station on his way to work. None of it was real, was it?
‘Has he hurt you before?’ Georgia asked.
Cadence shook her head. ‘No, never. I told you, this was an accident.’
‘Okay,’ Georgia said. She knew if she kept pushing Cadence on this, she might end up shutting her out. ‘Can I show you some of the messages I’ve been getting? Here, I took photos of the ones that were left on my car. Luke said they were from you.’
Georgia held out her p
hone once again.
Cadence read one out loud. ‘You know you’re not going to be able to keep him, right? He’s mine, bitch.’ She looked up at Georgia. ‘Luke said I wrote that? I would never! I don’t even . . . I mean, I don’t talk that way. That doesn’t even sound like me.’
Georgia took the phone back and went into her email. ‘And this,’ she said, passing it back across, ‘look at this email.’
Cadence’s eyes widened. ‘This is my email address. How is this possible? I didn’t send this. I didn’t take these photos.’
‘Cadence, it’s possible because Luke did it. He must have been the one to send it. He must have followed me, taken those photos himself.’ Georgia shivered, it was a horrible thought.
‘You fucking slut, you think you can steal my boyfriend and then cheat on him?’ Cadence read out. ‘I’ve never called anyone a slut in my entire life.’
‘Cadence, I know. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I know now it wasn’t you. But you have to believe me when I tell you that Luke isn’t who he says he is. Oh my God,’ Georgia said suddenly. ‘That word —slut — that’s what Brett kept calling me as well.’
‘What? Who? Who’s Brett? There’s someone else involved?’
‘Brett must be Luke. He must have used a fake profile to meet me, and then to taunt me as well.’ Georgia felt sick. How could he say those things to her while simultaneously telling her he loved her? Was he some sort of sociopath?
‘This is too much,’ said Cadence. ‘You come into my home and you tell me all these things. You tell me my boyfriend’s left me, that I’ve been stalking you, that I can’t trust him . . . Well, what if I can’t trust you?’
‘Take a look in the goddamned mirror. That’s how you know you can trust me, because I’m not the one who did that to you, he is. He did that, he hurt you.’
They stood staring at one another and Georgia knew this was make or break. Either Cadence was about to break down and accept the truth, or she was about to dig her heels in and push Georgia away.
But she didn’t get the chance to decide. Because that’s when they heard it. The sound of keys jangling outside the apartment door.
Georgia’s breath caught in her throat. ‘Is that him? Is that Luke?’ she hissed.
He was supposed to be away in Armidale right now. But of course he wasn’t. Of course, every time he told her he was travelling for work he was actually with Cadence. And now he was here and she was trapped.
Cadence nodded, her eyes wide, but with maybe, just maybe a hint of relief in them. In her mind, she was about to get the reassuring explanation she wanted.
‘Cadence, please,’ Georgia whispered, ‘I need to hide. I don’t want him to know I’m here.’
Cadence looked unsure and Georgia pleaded with her eyes. She saw her face change, give in, and next thing, Cadence was pushing her towards the leather couch.
‘Back there,’ she whispered, ‘behind the couch, under the window. That’s all there’s time for.’
Georgia didn’t think it was the greatest hiding spot; she would have preferred to be in a wardrobe or somewhere she’d be properly out of sight. But Cadence was right, there was no time, the key was in the lock. Georgia dove behind the couch and curled herself up in a ball, desperate to make herself as small as possible. Then she did her best to slow down her breathing so she couldn’t be heard.
She heard the door open. Footsteps. Cadence’s voice, saying ‘Hello’.
And then she heard it: Luke’s voice. Her own boyfriend lovingly greeting someone else: ‘Hi, babe!’
She waited. She held her breath.
Was Cadence going to turn on her?
PART TWO
Cadence
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I wouldn’t say that the start of our relationship was especially romantic. Certainly it was no epic love story. It was messy from day one. And there were warning signs from the very beginning, too. Red flags that should have made me stop and ask questions. But I was caught up in it all and I pushed those red flags aside. Six months later, when Georgia turned up at my door, I knew right away that something wasn’t right. I argued with her anyway. I didn’t want to believe that it was all about to come crashing down around me. Plus, it seemed so implausible. Not only was he supposed to have left me, but he’d started an entire relationship with someone new? All while the two of us were still very much together. Impossible. How could he achieve that? Who would have the time? But you clear your mind — you need to clear it up first — and you start back-tracking, and you realise — of course it’s possible. And more and more you realise you knew it all along.
I’ll start at the beginning though. Explain it so you can understand how I could have let all of this happen.
When Luke first spoke to me in the middle of the cereal aisle in the grocery store, I assumed he thought I worked there. My first thought was, Oh God, did I dress in the same colour as the staff again? I looked down at my top and saw that it was green. The staff in Coles wear white shirts. Maybe he thought we were in Woolies? They wear green. I was so caught up in this thought process that I didn’t even hear what he actually said and my autopilot response was to smile and nod and hope I’d catch on. Obviously, this was wrong though, because he got this bemused expression on his face and I knew I had to come clean.
‘Sorry, can you say that again?’
This time I would listen and obviously it would be something like, ‘Can you tell me which aisle the chicken stock is in?’ And I would have to decide whether to save him the embarrassment of having mistaken me for someone who worked there and just send him to aisle 6, or come clean yet again and admit that I was another customer but that it was okay because it happened surprisingly often.
But then he said something that came completely from left field.
‘Your shoes are awesome. Where did you get them?’
I had to look down at my feet to see which ones I was wearing. They were my rainbow Converse and, well, once I realised, three thoughts went through my head in quick succession.
One: Yes, I know, they are brilliant, aren’t they?
Two: He probably wants to know where I got them so he can buy a pair for his girlfriend.
Three: Oh fuck, no he doesn’t. He’s being sarcastic. He’s making fun of me because I’m a thirty-eight-year-old in rainbow shoes and I look like a twelve-year-old.
Because all of these thoughts went through my mind so quickly, I got confused and reverted back to my original theory: He thinks I work here. He needs my help to find something.
‘I don’t work here,’ I blurted out in response.
He cocked his head on the side and I swear to God his eyes actually twinkled at me. I haven’t mentioned yet how good-looking he was, have I? That was part of it. Part of the reason I was so goddamned flustered. Extraordinarily good-looking guys don’t usually just come up to me and start chatting. He had blond hair that flopped into his pale grey-green eyes (did I notice the colour of his eyes right then? I’m not sure actually; maybe I didn’t know the colour until later, but it feels like I did). You could tell by the way his T-shirt sat that he was muscular, but not too muscular, if you know what I mean. Broad-chested, nice shoulders.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘I was just wondering about your shoes.’
At this point I was feeling completely humiliated.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘They’re from an online store, PixieButter. com.’ I was back to assuming he didn’t really want to know where to buy them, back to assuming his admiration of my shoes was sarcasm.
‘Okay, confession, I don’t really want to know where they’re from.’
Bingo. I knew it.
‘It was a lousy pick-up line, but I didn’t know how else to start up a conversation with someone in the middle of the supermarket.’
A pick-up line? I had to replay his words in my head. It seemed so unlikely that he’d be trying to pick me up. Not only unlikely, unfathomable. Impossible. He was ridiculously hot. Th
is entire thing was ridiculous. Someone was playing a practical joke on me. And what was I supposed to say to that? I had no idea, so I didn’t say anything at all. I stayed quiet.
‘I’m really sorry,’ he continued. ‘I’m Luke.’
He waited and I realised I was supposed to reciprocate. ‘Oh, I’m Cadence.’
What now? That was when I became acutely aware of the contents of my shopping trolley. First off, I should note that I’ve always had mild anxiety. Back then it wasn’t nearly as bad as it is now though. But at the time, I’d been reading up on natural remedies to help with anxiety, and my trolley was full of bizarre items from the health food section with names I couldn’t even pronounce — amaranth and acai berries and cordyceps mushroom powder. Luke seemed to become aware of the things in my trolley at the same time. Or maybe it was my fault that he noticed them. He followed my line of sight and locked on to one of the items.
‘Maca root. Is that stuff good?’ he asked.
‘Umm, I don’t actually know. I haven’t tried it before.’
‘How about the propolis? I’ve heard good things.’
‘I don’t know about that one either.’
He grinned at me. ‘New health kick?’
I felt like a complete moron. He was going to think I was one of those people who jumped in and out of fads all the time. Atkins diet one week. Paleo the next. Sugar-free the one after.
The thing was, each time I expected him to scoff and walk away, each time I thought we were about to reach the moment where he’d realise he was bored with making fun of me — he didn’t. He kept chatting to me. And slowly, I had to come to a conclusion. He actually wasn’t making fun of me at all. He was being perfectly nice.
He put down his basket and placed one hand casually on the end of my trolley to lean on it, and he told me how he’d heard that amaranth was a great substitute for rice and even better for you than quinoa. He said the chia seeds were really good sprinkled over smoothies and he warned me that the cordyceps mushroom had a very bitter flavour. He said he worked as a pharmaceutical rep for a company that was in the process of branching out into more natural remedies, which was how he knew so much about several of the products I was buying.
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