Well, clearly something had gone wrong today.
She stomped into the kitchen and found Jemima in her highchair, tears streaming down her cheeks and leaving track lines in what looked like cream on her face. Gemma unclipped her from the chair and lifted her at arm’s length. She really didn’t want to get that white stuff on herself.
‘Greg? Where the hell are you?’ she shouted.
There was no answer. Grabbing a wet wipe from the pack on the table, she wiped Jemima’s face and gave her a brief cuddle before noticing the cake box on the table. That explained the cream then.
‘Greg! Where did these cakes come from?’ No wonder he hadn’t lost much weight this week.
Now she was really annoyed. Jemima was still screaming into her ear. All she could think to do to get her to stop was to grab a bit of the chocolate cake left in the box and hand it to her. Jemima stopped screaming, her little body heaving in sorrow as she sucked on the chunk of cake.
Thankful the screaming had stopped, Gemma headed into the hallway to see if Greg was in the loo. Either he was hiding because he knew he had been caught in the act or he was on the phone in his office. Either way, she’d be having a word. Her mind switched to a few days ago, seeing his car at Maddie’s, knowing he had lied to her. Was this what it had felt like for Maddie all those years ago?
Gemma didn’t like it, not one bit. She would’ve happily killed him last night, sitting across from her at dinner like the cat who had got the cream, all while she was trying to figure out what was really going on between him and Maddie.
His office door was open, but he wasn’t inside. Looking up the stairs, she noticed a brown sock on the landing. There was a foot in the sock. Gemma slowly climbed the stairs, a frown wrinkling her brow. The foot was attached to a leg, which was attached to Greg, who was lying on the carpet. What she could see of his face was blotchy, his lips were blue and his eyes stared at nothing.
It took her a second to comprehend what she was seeing. Why was he lying there like that and why were his trousers wet around the crotch?
Her next thought was, Be careful what you wish for.
Then she started to scream.
*
Maddie sat at her laptop, trying to work her way through the logistics of creating a website to distract herself from her conversation with Peggy. But the website was proving more complicated than she thought. So much for the adverts telling her how quick and easy it would be.
Maybe she should call Greg and ask him for help.
No. She could call Luke though.
She moved the text box to the other side of the screen and began to fiddle with the fonts. Which one looked more professional? And would anyone notice?
Luke would probably know best. If she couldn’t figure it out soon, she might go and knock on his door. Maybe take a bottle of wine. She had started working on his books earlier and it was really good to engage her brain again. It would also give her a chance to talk to him about Jade and Peggy too before she confronted Jade about it. Best to have an impartial point of view before accusing someone. And she just liked spending time with him… the idea made her smile.
Her phone vibrated on the table next to her.
A Snapchat alert. That meant a message from Jade. Her stomach sank.
As well as watching YouTube videos on how to create a website, Maddie had been reading up on the latest social media tools too. She needed to know what was going on in the world if she was to start a business. She would need Twitter, LinkedIn and all those things. After years of ignoring it all when her mind was occupied with other things, she realised she needed to bring herself up to date now.
She opened Snapchat and pulled the message to the side without clicking on it – a trick she had learnt that meant she could read the message without Jade knowing she had seen it. It was a way of buying her time and she figured it could be useful, especially since Jade was in the habit of texting her repeatedly if she read her message but didn’t reply immediately.
The message read:
I’ve done my part. Now it’s over to you. You can thank me by repaying the favour.
Maddie frowned and read it again, then closed the app.
What did she mean? What had she done?
She chewed on the end of her pen, mulling it over. It must be something to do with Ben. Maybe she’d taken Maddie’s advice and found a lawyer or something.
Maddie pushed it from her mind and got up to make more tea. She’d add it to the list of things to talk to her about later.
13
Her phone was ringing, the insistent chime pulling at her, dragging her from sleep.
Maddie squinted into the semi-darkness. The television had gone into standby mode and a message scrolled across the screen. No connection. Moving in green letters across the charcoal grey background.
The phone stopped ringing, then immediately started up again as a voicemail came through.
Maddie sat up slowly and wiped the dribble from her mouth. She was on the couch under her duvet. She must’ve fallen asleep in front of the television. She had no idea what time it was.
The ringing stopped again, but Maddie knew it would just start up again until she listened to the voicemail. She had to figure out how to change that setting. She looked over to the clock on the kitchen wall, but couldn’t make out the time. Her eyes were still blurry with sleep.
Nobody called her at night.
That was the thought that eventually got her to her feet.
She dragged herself towards the kitchen where her phone was charging. It was 23h15, so she hadn’t been asleep that long. But it had felt like hours. She unplugged her phone and listened to the voicemail.
It was Gemma, but her voice sounded weird, all tight and raspy, like she had a sore throat. She was saying something about Greg, that he had been taken to hospital.
Her heart seemed to stop beating for an instant, then lurched into overdrive. She called Gemma back, both desperate to hear what she had to say while also wanting to put the phone down and crawl back under the duvet.
If Gemma was calling her, then it was serious. She thought about Gemma’s car driving away the other day.
The phone rang for what felt like an eternity, then went to voicemail. She left a rambling message and disconnected the call.
She pulled herself up onto the kitchen counter, letting her legs dangle and sway, her hands tucked under her thighs, waiting for Gemma to call back.
It was mere minutes before her phone rang again. ‘Hello? Gemma?’
The voice at the end of the line didn’t sound like the Gemma she knew. ‘Maddie, hi. I thought you should know. It’s Greg. He’s…’
Then she started to weep. Not ugly crying like Jade yesterday in massive, melodramatic gulps and wails, but a solitary keening sound that cut straight through Maddie.
‘Gemma, what is it?’
‘He’s dead, Maddie. He’s dead.’
Maddie felt the phone drop from her hand. It bounced on the countertop, landing face-up. The caller ID photo attached to Gemma’s contact taunted her. It was a photo of Gemma and Greg when she was pregnant, all bulging bellies and wide smiles.
She picked up the phone again, both to talk to Gemma and to not have to look at the photo again. ‘What happened? He was fine the other day.’
‘He ate some cake and the doctor thinks it had nuts in it.’
‘But he’s so careful with that.’ But was he? Maddie had been the careful one. She was the one who had made sure his epinephrine was in date, checked the ingredients on food labels, alerted waiters in restaurants. Then her mind made a leap she wasn’t expecting. Had Gemma done this? Because she had found out about them? No, she couldn’t have, surely. Maybe she only meant to frighten him, but hadn’t appreciated how fatal his allergy was.