Rival Sisters

by Louise Guy

  Phyllie clapped her hands together. ‘That’s marvellous news! Marvellous. Give me five minutes to change, and we’ll head out to Ms Jones’s for a celebratory lunch. It’s my treat.’ She stood up. ‘How exciting. A trip to Ms Jones’s with something to celebrate. We couldn’t ask for a nicer day.’

  As she sat across from Phyllie, sipping champagne and enjoying a cucumber sandwich, Nat had to agree. It was an excellent way to celebrate. While the pull of the poker rooms was still with her, the fact that she now had a way to pay off the debt removed a tremendous amount of stress. There was no reason anyone would ever need to know what trouble she’d got herself into. She was also giving strong consideration to the suggestions from both Damien and the chat room messages to deactivate her account and put poker blockers on her computer.

  ‘What exactly will the new job entail?’

  Nat explained what a community support officer did, and the specifics of the position based on what Col had told her.

  ‘What will you do about the online swimwear company?’ Phyllie asked. ‘You’ve put so much time and effort into that. Will you be able to do both?’

  Nat nodded. ‘I’ll still have evenings and weekends.’

  Phyllie frowned. ‘But you’ve been working seven days a week on that business. Won’t they notice you suddenly disappearing?’

  ‘I’ll chat to Anita tomorrow,’ Nat said. ‘She’ll understand. Most of the systems are in place now, so my role would have reduced anyway.’

  ‘And you’ll get an income from both jobs?’

  Nat nodded. ‘And I’ll be able to pay you back soon.’

  Phyllie shook her head. ‘Don’t be silly. That money was a gift. I’m just glad the investment looks like it was a success.’ She leaned forward and lowered her voice. ‘There’s a woman in a very flashy yellow shirt over by the fireplace waving at us. She’s about your age. I have no idea who she is, do you?’

  Nat glanced across the room to the fireplace. Her heart caught in her throat. Anita Green. She wanted to dive under the table and disappear.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Hannah watched her husband as he sipped his coffee, the paper spread out on the island bench. He looked happy and content, not like a man who’d recently lost fifteen thousand dollars gambling. He’d had a session with the psychologist the day before and it seemed to be helping with his issues surrounding his parents. His parents. She felt sick to the stomach just thinking of them and Zane Fox’s threats hanging over her.

  Damien looked up, breaking her train of thought, the corners of his eyes creasing as he smiled. He reached out his hand and pulled her to him. ‘Don’t you need to get to work? As lovely and unexpected as it is to have morning tea with you on a Friday, you did say you needed to be in by lunchtime.’

  Hannah nodded. She did, but she also needed to talk to him. It was the reason she’d called the office and said she was working from home this morning. She wanted to talk to him before he started his afternoon shift. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on without knowing the truth behind the money. As LizaE had suggested, she’d put together a lot of information on gambling addiction and where he could get help. She just hoped he was open to her talking to him about it.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Damien held her at arm’s length, searching her face. ‘You look like something’s bugging you.’

  ‘There’s something I need to talk to you about.’

  He dropped her hand. ‘Okay, let’s talk.’

  ‘I have to get something first.’ Hannah climbed the stairs to her office and took the folder she’d prepared from one of her drop files. She wasn’t sure at all how this was going to go.

  Returning downstairs, she saw that Damien had moved into the living room and made himself comfortable on one of the reclining chairs. He grinned. ‘Thought we might as well settle in. The fact you have a folder makes me think we’re here for a long session. It’s not about horse riding, is it?’

  It wasn’t, although it would be very justifiable if it were. Hannah still found it hard to believe that Damien had gone behind her back and signed Amy’s permission slip, which in effect enrolled her in the equestrian classes Hannah had said no to.

  ‘It’s not a big deal,’ Damien had tried to convince her. ‘We can’t mollycoddle her forever. I’ve spoken to the school about the safety equipment and how the sessions are supervised, and there’s no reason to worry. She could just as easily have an accident playing tennis and smash her head on the court. At least with horse riding she’s wearing a helmet.’ He’d pulled Hannah to him. ‘It won’t happen again, babe. Your mum was incredibly unlucky. You need to let Amy experience things.’

  Hannah’s anger had left her eventually, and she did see that she was being overprotective, but could anyone blame her? If you knew someone who’d died in a motorcycle accident would you encourage your kids to get one? Of course not. So why was it any different with horses?

  Because they’re not at risk from other traffic like motorbikes are. Damien’s sensible words filled her head. He’d had an answer for every objection she’d raised, and in the end, she’d conceded.

  Now she looked at him and remembered LizaE’s advice on showing him how supportive she was planning to be. That the money he’d lost wasn’t the problem, but ensuring he quit gambling was. She sat across from him on the couch with the squishy blue cushions that Bear appeared to have claimed as his.

  ‘I’m worried about your online poker games.’

  Damien stared at her for a moment and then laughed. ‘That’s what this is about? Poker?’

  She nodded. ‘It’s addictive, and many people get into trouble with it. I don’t want that to be us.’

  ‘You want me to stop playing?’

  ‘Definitely. As of right now I’d like you to deactivate your account and consider putting blocks on your computer to stop you from accessing poker sites.’

  Damien kicked the footrest down and sat forward in his chair, an incredulous look on his face. ‘Is this a joke?’

  Hannah shook her head. ‘I don’t want you using our savings for your habit. It worries me.’

  ‘My habit? I don’t have a habit. I play after work a couple of times a week and on a weekend if there’s time. I don’t even bet half the time. I play the free tables because it’s fun. Jesus, you spend more on boots than I do on poker.’

  ‘How much money have you lost to date?’

  Damien shrugged. ‘As I told you last time, I haven’t lost anything. I had a gift card with free starting credits. Since then I’ve been winning here and there, and the overall balance is in credit.’

  ‘You haven’t run up any other debts with it? Used money from our investments for your gambling?’

  He shook his head. ‘Nope, and anyway, you’d see it on the statements if I had. I’m pretty sure it would show up as Poker4Me or something similar.’

  Was he really going to lie about it?

  She handed him a piece of paper she’d printed with the balance of their investment account.

  His face immediately paled.

  ‘Fifteen thousand dollars was withdrawn from this account a couple of months ago. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?’

  Damien shook his head. ‘It’s not what you think.’

  She waited for him to continue.

  He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I’m sorry, okay. I had to use this money for something, and I promised I wouldn’t tell you what for. It will be paid back by the end of August. As you don’t do the accounts until September, I thought you wouldn’t notice. You only ever use that one-page summary they send you, without looking at the transaction history.’

  ‘That’s because we never make any transactions. Where did the money go?’

  He shook his head. ‘I told you. I made a promise.’

  Hannah stared at her husband. Who could he be giving that kind of money to and wanting to hide it from her?

  He sighed. ‘You’re not going to let it go, are you?’

&
nbsp; She shook her head. ‘How can I? Would you if you suddenly discovered I’d spent thousands of dollars without telling you and had done my best to hide it from you?’

  ‘If I tell you, I need you to promise me you won’t say anything to the person I loaned the money to. She would never forgive me.’

  Hannah nodded, not having any idea who he could have given the money to.

  ‘I gave it to Mum.’

  ‘Trish?’

  He nodded. ‘They got themselves into a bit of financial trouble a few months back. They received a tax bill on the investment property they sold last year that they weren’t expecting. It turns out my father, the savvy investor, didn’t realise he had to pay capital gains tax.’

  ‘Couldn’t they use the money from the sale of the property?’

  Damien shook his head. ‘They invested it in a six-month investment that has hefty penalties if they withdraw the money early, so I suggested I loan them the money as our account allows one withdrawal without penalty. I was going to tell you, but Mum made me promise not to. She said they were so embarrassed to be in a situation of needing to borrow from us that she would be mortified if you knew.’

  ‘But that’s ridiculous. Of course I would have been fine with it, especially as it’s being paid back. Even if it wasn’t being paid back, I would be fine with helping your parents.’

  Damien crossed the room and took Hannah’s hands. ‘And that’s why I love you. I’m sorry, Han. I was put in a horrible position. Mum was really upset about it, so I thought it was easier to just do what she asked. You know what Dad’s like, he would hate you to know that he’d messed up something like that.’

  ‘So, all of the money went to your parents and none to online poker?’

  Damien’s face softened and he smiled. ‘Yes, all to my parents. You have nothing to worry about with me and poker.’

  Hannah stared at him for a moment.

  Damien’s smile slipped. ‘You don’t look convinced.’

  ‘It’s just very convenient, that’s all. You’ve loaned your parents the exact amount you told me a friend owed to a gambling debt and I’m not allowed to ask them about it because they’ll be embarrassed. I’m not sure I buy it.’

  Damien ran a hand through his hair again. ‘I can’t stop you from asking Mum about the money, I’m just asking you not to. If you really don’t trust me then go ahead and ask.’

  Hannah hesitated. Up until now she’d trusted him implicitly. Whether his reasoning was justified or not, he’d still deceived her.

  ‘I know how I can prove it.’ He held out his hand to her. ‘Come with me.’

  She took his hand and allowed him to lead her up the stairs to the office. He sat at the computer and pulled her down next to him. ‘Let me drive for a minute.’

  Hannah watched as he opened and logged in to one of the poker sites he played.

  ‘Let’s look at my balance. Like I told you, I was given a hundred dollars of free credit from the gift card I won at one of the poker nights. You’ll be able to see my current balance, and then the daily transaction lists that show if I’ve won or lost. It’s quite an interesting document to study. You can see different patterns in the results for different days and times.’

  He opened the balance page, turned the screen slightly to face Hannah and relinquished the mouse. ‘Scroll through and see what I’m talking about.’

  Hannah did. The available balance was six hundred and thirty dollars. She started to scroll through the daily transaction history. It showed each game he’d entered, what he’d invested and his net result. Most of the games he entered were free, or a maximum of a two-dollar buy-in. As she scrolled down further, she stopped when she found a fifty dollar buy-in.

  ‘Oh, that freaked me out! I entered by mistake. I’d been doing well the previous few games I played on the two-dollar tables and decided to be adventurous and try a five-dollar table. Except I clicked on the fifty by mistake. By then it was too late.’

  Hannah looked along the transaction line. ‘You walked away with a hundred dollars?’

  ‘I was lucky. Placed third. Pure luck, as I was dealt some very favourable hands.’

  ‘That must have felt amazing to win?’ Hannah wanted to gauge his reaction. Was he going to launch into a monologue of just how wonderful it was and how he couldn’t wait to play more?

  ‘Amazing? More like terrifying. Imagine if I’d lost or if I was playing those tables all the time. For a one-off, it wasn’t the end of the world, but I was gutted at first when I assumed I would lose. You’re up against professional players on those tables. Your odds are so bad you might as well just set fire to the money to start with. I can’t imagine anyone, other than the professionals, enjoying those tables. It would be soul-destroying, let alone financially crippling losing such large amounts.’

  Hannah continued scrolling down the huge list of transactions. When she got to the bottom, she realised it went back three years. She looked at Damien. ‘You didn’t spend anything the first six months you played?’

  He laughed. ‘I was too scared to lose, even if the money wasn’t mine to start with. I moved on to the paid tables when Poker4Me sent me a message saying the free dollars would expire unless I started using them. I stuck to the one-dollar games for most of the time and occasionally played a two-dollar one.’

  The transactions matched what Damien was saying. It was surprising looking along the line items to see how often he’d walked away with more money than he’d invested. That he’d built his original investment to over six hundred was impressive, especially when you saw the consistent wins and adding of small amounts to up the total.

  ‘This is quite fascinating,’ Hannah said. ‘Your win rate is high. Doesn’t that make you want to play more often or for higher stakes?’

  ‘My win rate isn’t that high. I tend to place second or third a lot. Like I said before, the higher-staked tables have professionals on them. If I’m coming second or third on a one- or two-dollar table, I’m unlikely to place in the money at all on the higher-staked tournaments. The fifty-dollar one was a fluke that I’m happy to take and not risk again. And no, I wouldn’t play more often. It’s a fun thing to do occasionally after work with a beer. I usually only play two or three games.’

  Hannah leaned back in the chair, relief flooding through her. Damien didn’t have a gambling problem, and he hadn’t lost fifteen thousand dollars. She turned to him. ‘I’m sorry I thought you were doing something deceptive. I was really worried about you. When you said you knew someone in gambling trouble, you looked suspicious, and I just assumed it was you.’

  His eyes dropped as the words left her mouth.

  Okay, this didn’t add up. ‘Why can’t you look at me when I mention someone being in trouble with gambling?’

  He lifted his eyes to meet hers. ‘Because I promised the person I wouldn’t say anything to anyone, and making promises like that always makes me uncomfortable. You know what I’m like. I hate keeping secrets.’

  Hannah nodded. It was true. Damien preferred not to know a secret at all than be expected to keep it.

  ‘I don’t need to worry about you?’

  ‘Of course not.’ He took her hand. ‘I’m sorry now I didn’t tell you about the poker. If I’m honest, I knew you wouldn’t like it, but I also knew it wasn’t doing any harm. We should never have secrets, not ones that could lead to hurting each other.’

  Hannah nodded again, not daring to speak. It was bad enough she’d held the truth about his birth parents from him but paying off Zane Fox made it a million times worse. She couldn’t imagine any scenario where telling him the truth now would work out well.

  He pulled her to him and kissed her softly on the lips. ‘I love you, Han. I’m sorry I made you worry. I’ll do my best to always be open from now on.’

  She kissed him back, wishing she could go back twelve years and change what she’d done.

  The rest of Friday dragged for Hannah. She’d double-checked the clock on her office
wall numerous times, willing it to be five thirty, but it was still only early afternoon. She had too many personal issues plaguing her at the moment, uncharacteristically drawing her attention from her work. She was relieved to have spoken with Damien and even more relieved to realise he didn’t have a gambling problem and they weren’t in financial trouble. However, Zane Fox’s beady eyes and smirking face continued to dominate her thoughts. She had seven more days to decide what to do about him, and so far all she’d done was try to push the situation out of her mind, hoping it would miraculously solve itself.

  She needed advice. She needed a chat room that wasn’t gambling specific, that just gave life advice. She wondered momentarily if such a place existed. But LizaE and PinkFish88 had been fantastic in making her think through her approach to Damien on the gambling issue. Maybe they’d be able to help her with this too?

  The universe was obviously tuned into her situation, as just as Hannah had the thought, an email arrived on her screen. It had come via Gambler’s Aid, telling her to log in to her account as she had a private message. After BBrooter had hijacked their chat room conversation, Hannah had been reluctant to revisit it. Although hopefully he’d been blocked from the site by now.

  She logged in to Gambler’s Aid and clicked on the envelope icon. An inbox appeared. There was one message from LizaE.

  LizaE

  Hi BrownDog40, really enjoyed talking to you the other day. What a shame that idiot hijacked our chat. It is a problem with an open forum. Lots of legit people and then losers like that. Wondered if you wanted to keep chatting? We can set up a private account and invite in people we’d like to include. PinkFish88 might like to join us? Let me know what you think. Hope you are having a good week, and if you confronted your husband, that it went well. Eliza.

  So LizaE was just a mix-up of her name. Hannah smiled. Even though they were only messages, she’d felt a connection with LizaE. She seemed easy to talk to and non-judgemental. She had her share of problems to deal with, of course, but that was the beauty of it being online and anonymous. Although it appeared Eliza was happy to out herself – as far as her first name went, at least.