by Natasha West
And even Jamie, who she’d been trying to avoid making eye contact with all morning as they silently got ready to leave, was looking at her weirdly. Which wasn’t unexpected. But it was the wrong kind of weird.
‘What’s wrong?’ Molly asked uneasily.
Jamie decided that Max was right, she should be the one to give her the bad news. It was only fair.
‘Max broke the vow. He’s checked the news. Your Mum, she’s… She’s done something.’
Molly’s opening annoyance at Max’s misdemeanour swiftly transitioned into worry.
‘What did she do? Is she alright?’
‘She’s alright. Sort of. But she’s in some trouble.’
‘What do you mean? Why would she be in trouble?’
Jamie sighed, feeling her chest hurt before she even spoke the words.
‘She took the blame, Molly. She told the police that she set up a fake robbery. For publicity. They don’t mention her by name but there’s been a press release and the nationals are picking up on it-’
Molly’s face didn’t change for a second. Because it didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. If this was Jamie’s warped idea of a joke, she wasn’t laughing.
‘Why would she do that?’
‘The police were called out, there’s footage of a robbery. That sort of thing doesn’t just go away. I guess she thought that if the police got to you, that you’d end up going down for it. Because you told her you faked it.’
It was only then that Molly accepted that Jamie was telling her the truth. Of course her Mum had done this. To protect her.
‘Is she in custody!?’
‘No, no, she’s out on bail’ Jamie assured her. ‘Look, this doesn’t have to mean-’
Molly threw the door open and jumped out. She began to stagger away from the car. Not far enough to pull Jamie, but sufficient distance that she felt a small tug. But she didn’t ask her to stop.
Molly walked up the pavement a few feet and then abruptly leaned over, throwing up against the wall of the Gorgon’s Nest. She hadn’t eaten since yesterday’s sandwich, so there was nothing in her stomach except bile. But the heaving wouldn’t seem to stop. With time, it finally subsided. She spat the sour taste out as Jamie clambered over the seat, getting out of the car. Molly felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned, wiping at her mouth.
‘Don’t touch me. Don’t you dare touch me! This is all your fault! Because I protected you’ she yelled at her.
Jamie nodded and said quietly ‘I know.’
‘She’s going to prison!
‘Not necessarily’ Jamie said, knowing what paltry comfort those words were.
Molly looked at her darkly and for a second, Jamie thought she was going to deliver a slap. Jamie decided that if she did give her a crack around the face, the least she could do was take it without protest.
But Molly didn’t touch her. She turned her face from Jamie and walked past her, getting back into the car.
‘Get in the car and let’s go! I want to get this over with. I don’t want to be joined to you a second longer than I need to be.’
Jamie heard those words and she couldn’t really argue with them. But still, they pained her. She felt a sudden urge to cry. Not just because of what Molly had said, but all of it. One stupid, hot headed mistake. And look what it had cost?
After she’d taken a deep breath, she followed quickly, climbing in next to Molly, who didn’t meet her eye.
The car pulled out, driven by a silent Max, headed for the port, and Corai. And, Molly hoped, the end of this stupid curse. And once it was done, she never wanted to see Jamie again.
Seventeen
The ferry ride across the water had taken thirty-five minutes. They’d been tense minutes.
Obviously, Jamie and Molly had to stay within a certain range of each other, but Molly made sure she stayed at the very edge of the boundary, leaning over the rail of the boat, looking into the ocean. She never once looked at Jamie.
Molly couldn’t believe that this morning she’d been avoiding Jamie’s eyes out of awkwardness. And now she was doing the same for such extraordinarily different reasons. But, as Jamie herself had said, the world could turn upside down pretty quickly.
Molly knew that she wasn’t just angry with Jamie. There was a good deal of guilt and shame about how her own actions had contributed to her Mother’s decision. If she hadn’t said it was a prank, there was no chance this would have happened. But her Mother had believed that she needed to take the bullet for her. That obstinate, stern, workaholic Russian had given up her very freedom for Molly. As if she hadn’t given enough already.
There was only one thing for it. Once she was finally free of Jamie, she was going home to try and convince the police that it was her fault, to explain that her Mother had lied to protect her.
Jamie watched Molly gazing at the ocean and all she wanted to do was go to her and apologise. But she knew that an apology was worthless. It didn’t change anything. She’d fucked everything up in a way that she couldn’t even begin to see how she could repair.
But there was something else that was bothering Jamie. It was last night. As mad as all that seemed now, it kept replaying in her head. Looping around and around, like a song on repeat. And Jamie couldn’t do a thing to turn it off.
Jamie had fallen asleep soon after they’d stop talking, after the sex. And then she’d woken up about four in the morning. She’d tried to get back off to sleep but she couldn’t do it. It was Molly’s soft breathing. It had her mesmerized.
Jamie turned to look at Molly, a little afraid she’d get caught if she woke her. She’d played it all so beautifully a few hours before and she didn’t want to ruin her cool, casual, player vibe. But something in her desperately wanted to look at Molly.
So she did. For about two hours.
It was madness. Jamie had never done something so utterly strange before. She felt like a creep. But there was something about Molly’s face that she couldn’t stop looking at. It was like Molly was a riddle and Jamie was trying to solve it by staring at her sleeping face.
She supposed at first that it was because Molly hadn’t been the kind of girl that would ever have fallen for Jamie’s smooth act. It was novelty, she told herself. Molly was special because she was a true challenge. But, Jamie realised, she hadn’t actually been trying to get her into bed. There had been no pursuit this time. Somehow, inexperienced Molly had turned the tables on Jamie and broken the routine of stalk and capture. Was that it? Was it as simple as being used to being the one to make the move? Had that shake up thrown her up in the air?
No, she realised a little while later. She hadn’t done her usual dance. But that was what was truly crazy about it. Molly had wanted her, game free. Jamie hadn’t used any of her slick little ways to manoeuvre her into bed and Molly had found her way there on her own. If anything, Jamie had shown Molly the very worst of herself. The ugliest side of her, the one usually so well hidden underneath her pretty face. The reckless idiot, the selfish fool. And still, it had happened. Molly had wanted to kiss her, to sleep with her, to let her see her in a way that Jamie knew was exceptional for Molly.
That was problematic for Jamie. Because the routine was precisely what allowed her to keep the distance that the one nighters were good for. Distance? That was a laugh. Twenty feet was as much distance as she could get from Molly Kaminski. But somehow, she’d ended up getting much closer than that. Without knowing it, without even suspecting it, Jamie had become attached. In the truest sense.
In fact, what had occurred not long before they’d slept together had been more intimate, in its way. Jamie had opened up. She’d talked about her Mother’s absence and the gap it had left. And how hard her Dad had made life for her and Max. And Molly had been open too. It was insane how Jamie hadn’t really noticed it happening. It had just grown. A trust.
Was this what it was like to fall for someone? Jamie didn’t like that thought in the slightest. Falling for argumentative, wil
ful Molly? It was madness. But maybe that was what had bothered Jamie about Molly’s offended reaction at the thought they might be alike. Every time Molly insulted her, she’d felt a hurtful rejection she couldn’t explain.
Well if that’s love, you can keep it, Jamie decided.
But still, she’d kept looking at Molly, turning the problem over in her head, looking at it from every angle, looking for the solution. An answer to Molly.
Eventually, mercifully, Jamie had fallen back to sleep.
And the next morning, it was all very awkward and full of sideways glances. Jamie had decided that she didn’t know whether this was something or nothing, but there was no way to really talk about it until they’d fixed the big problem. And then the several smaller ones.
But once all that was squared away, perhaps Jamie would think about the Molly complication. She couldn’t have dealt with it now, even if she’d wanted to. And thank god for that small kindness. She could decide later if it meant anything to her. And then, if it turned out it did, in that utterly terrifying event, Jamie could think about what she wanted to do about it. If anything.
That led to Jamie trying to imagine courting Molly. It was a ridiculous thought. Imagine taking her out on a date?! They’d go to the cinema and never agree on what film to see. Jamie would want to see a silly comedy and Molly was the type that would want to drag her into some subtitled snooze-fest.
It all seemed so completely unmanageable from start to finish. And yet…
But that was far down the line of concerns. There were so many things higher up the docket than all this schoolgirl crush crap. Or there should have been. And yet, it was at the very front of Jamie’s thoughts. Until she’d gotten in the car and Max had told her what a true shit show this situation had snowballed into.
As soon as she heard that, she knew two things with conviction. Firstly, she was to blame for what had happened to Molly’s Mum. Secondly, Molly would never forgive her.
It was over before it had even started.
On the other side of the boat, Max and Henry were sitting in the ferry’s café, eating stale pastries and drinking lukewarm tea.
‘Molly’s really upset, isn’t she?’ Henry said.
‘Not much gets past you, does it?’ Max replied and Henry’s face fell. Max felt a stab of guilt. Henry wasn’t a bad kid. Bit clueless, perhaps. But he was pretty decent when he wasn’t accidently fucking everyone’s life sideways with his wonky magic.
‘Is it my fault?’ Henry asked hesitantly.
‘It’s a mess, mate. Not yours really. Well, maybe about thirty percent yours. But if you can get your Grandad to sort it… Could be sort of OK? Or better than it is now, anyway.’
‘I can’t fix Molly’s Mum though, can I?’
Max didn’t want to think about that right now. It was too terrible. Poor Molly’s head must be in pieces.
‘What do you think you’re gonna say to this guy, your Grandad?’ Max said to change the topic.
Henry shrugged. He’d been trying to come up with something for most of the trip. But he was going to ask a stranger for a big favour. And the only thing he had to offer in exchange for help was shared DNA.
On top of that, who the hell was this man? His Dad had never really talked about him. All Henry knew was that they’d fallen out. And that his Dad didn’t have a very high opinion of his own father. How had he described him? A selfish old fucker. It didn’t really inspire Henry to want to meet the man.
It would have been weird enough if the family had trooped over to see him for some sort of normal but stilted reunion. But this? It was not the way anyone expects to climb another branch on their family tree.
An announcement over the tannoy broke Henry’s contemplation, letting them know that they were about to dock at Corai.
‘Better round the girls up’ Max said and stood, not looking forward to trying to put the group back together. Molly, who seemed by no means placid at the best of times, was beyond angry. Not that he could blame her.
And Jamie? Max didn’t think he’d ever seen her like she was right now. She looked like a toy with its batteries worn out, nothing left in her. It scared Max to see her like that. She was usually the one pushing things forward, even if it was in the wrong direction. She always kept going, no matter what. He was only just realising, seeing her look so un-Jamie-like, just how much he’d depended on that.
Watching her duck and weave through life, past their Dad, past the law, past anything the world threw at them, it had been a counterbalance for him, keeping his life afloat. Somehow, he had thought his Dad was the one that provided stability in the absence of their Mother. But it was occurring to Max, for the first time, that perhaps what he truly provided was only dead weight.
‘Hey’ Max said, putting a gentle hand on his sister’s shoulder. ‘Ready to roll?’
She turned and nodded.
‘Molly?’ he called over to her, still looking at the ocean’s depths.
‘I’m coming’ she replied brusquely as she waltzed past Jamie without looking at her, headed for the ferry’s carpark. The siblings followed, leaving some space between themselves and Molly.
‘Hey’ Henry said to her, falling into step. ‘Are you alright?’
‘I’ve had better days’ Molly replied dryly.
Henry didn’t know what to say to that. They walked in silence for a while, until they arrived at the SUV. Jamie was trailing behind at the boundary of the tether. It was a mildly painful tug, but she bore it.
As Molly went to open the back door, Henry had something he could say. And what he’d decided on was ‘Sorry ‘bout your Mum, Molly.’
Molly turned to see Henry’s face. He really did look sad for her.
‘Thanks Henry. That’s sweet’ she said to him. Henry felt the first real warmth from Molly that he’d ever had.
She got in the car. Henry decided to climb in the back with her.
‘What do you think you’ll do?’
‘Only thing I can. Once this is done, go straight to Biddlesworth Police station and confess that I was the one who faked it all.’
‘But you didn’t. Why don’t you tell them the truth?’
Molly glanced out of the back of the car, at Jamie and Max.
‘I can’t do that. I thought about it. And maybe they deserve it. But I can’t.’
Henry found Molly unimaginably brave in that moment. And although he’d meant what he’d said to her about being sorry for the way things had turned out, he was still just a teenager. And Molly was opening up to him, giving more of herself than he’d ever seen before. So he decided, while he had a private moment with Molly before Max and Jamie could get in, that now was the perfect time to try and kiss her.
Needless to say, his mouth never touched Molly’s. The second he began to lunge with puckered lips, Jamie slapped him around the cheek, crying out ‘Henry! What the hell are you doing!’
‘I, I, I…’ he stuttered.
‘You’re sixteen. I’m twenty. Don’t be ridiculous’ Molly said, harshly. Any other time and she might have a been a little kinder with his feelings. But today had been a rough day and she didn’t have the energy to explain patiently to Henry why she wouldn’t touch him with a bargepole.
Jamie and Max got into the front of the car, with Jamie in the driver’s seat. Max turned to say buckle up and saw Henry clutching a red cheek, looking mortified. It took him a split second to figure out what had just happened.
‘You didn’t, did you?’ Max asked the boy. Henry didn’t say anything. He couldn’t say anything. He was frozen in shame.
Jamie turned around to see what Max was talking about. But she wasn’t so quick to understand what had occurred. Henry’s crush had flown completely over her head.
‘What did he do?’ she asked, confused.
‘Nothing’ Henry and Max said together.
Jamie shrugged, not really caring very much about why Henry’s face had a hand shaped red mark on it right now, and turned back to the fron
t as she started the car. It was the last thing on her mind.
They drove off the ferry and onto the island of Corai.
Eighteen
‘What’s that address, again?’ Jamie asked Henry over her shoulder, two hours later. After they’d driven past the lighthouse, the quaint town with its dainty cottages, the open-to-the-public farms, the tearooms, all the shit that the tourists usually came for, they’d kept going until the signs of human life had lessened and then vanished altogether. Apparently, that was where Ronan O’Donnell had chosen to make his life. The middle of nowhere.
