Willow was glad she was sitting down on the closed toilet seat, but she put her hand on the bathtub to stop herself from falling. “Done what? You’re scaring me.”
“I told your dad.”
The tears that she’d managed to keep at bay spilled free. “You did what? Why would you do that?”
“I’m sorry, Will. You’re my best friend. And I was desperate. I needed some cash to go to Hawaii, and my cards were full.”
She felt light-headed. Needed water. Carefully, she lowered herself from the toilet seat to the floor, leaning her back against the tub. “You offered information about me to my dad in exchange for cash?”
“No. No. Well, at least, that wasn’t what I planned. I just . . . The ten thousand you loaned me wasn’t enough. And I knew Dad would lose his shit if I asked him for money. So, I went to your dad and asked if he’d loan me the money. He gave me two options, Will. He said I could sleep with him or tell him what was going on with you. I tried to say I didn’t want to do either, but I’d already told him that I was in dire financial straits and didn’t want Dad to know. He threatened to tell Dad I was in a mess again if I didn’t pick one.”
For a moment, Willow thought she was going to throw up. Saliva pooled in her mouth, a sure sign. “So, you got yourself in a mess, you went to my dad to help you out, ended up in a bigger mess, and decided the only way to avoid wrecking your own life was to wreck mine?”
Riley’s eyes went wide. “No. Can’t you see? I couldn’t tell Dad, or he’d cut me off. I mean, where will I live? What would I do?”
“And what do I do now you’ve blown my career to pieces? Where do I live?”
“But you have access to the funds from your movies.”
“Do you know how many sponsors have already withdrawn their sponsorships, or have put me on notice that I need to answer to them to decide if their sponsorships can continue?”
“I didn’t know he would do this, though. He told me he just needed it to stop your lawsuit and to give him any information that would make you drop the case against him.”
“Drop the case? My dad is looking for things to support his case that I am out of control and need to be put under conservatorship. Creating a media storm about this works in his favour. He probably shared this in the hope it would discredit me. Which it has, Riley. This has way bigger implications than you can imagine.”
“It was all I could think of. Please, don’t be mad at me. It’s been a tough twenty-four hours. I mean, your dad basically gave me a choice between prostituting myself or telling him.”
“My dad is an asshole. He shouldn’t have offered you that choice.” Willow slammed her hand on the toilet seat. “But if you’d taken accountability for your actions, you wouldn’t have ended up there. You could have told your father. He loves you. He only wants to cut you off financially so you can learn some impulse control. But he loves you, Riley. He wouldn’t kick you out or not feed you. He just wouldn’t let you spend so much. You need to go to the police about Dad.”
Riley swiped the tears beneath her eyes furiously. “And then what? The police interview him, and he lies. Says he didn’t. Hell, he could even say I tried to proposition him for cash.”
Willow clenched her jaw. “I hate to ask this, being a sexual assault victim myself, but did you? Is that what really happened? You mentioned finding a sugar daddy when you asked me for the money.”
“I was joking. You know me better than that.”
“I don’t know who you are. Except, you are just like everyone else. Only friends with me to see how much you can get. And you just showed me what your price was. Our friendship was worth fifty thousand to you, and when I only gave you ten thousand dollars, you had no use for me.”
Emotions getting the better of her fury, she began to cry again. The bathroom door pushed open, and Nan stepped inside and took the phone out of Willow’s hand, glaring at Riley.
“You, young lady, have done and said enough. I don’t like the idea of karma. I don’t feel like you should suffer an equal punishment to what you’ve just put this girl through. But here’s the thing my seventy-some-year-old behind knows that you don’t. When you get to my age, the only thing you have are the people you love and those who love you. And you, my dear, are going to be really fucking lonely. Now, tell your dad what you did, get a job, and go to church or something and ask God to forgive you, because we sure as hell won’t.”
Willow looked up at Nan in shock.
“Put me back on to Willow, I need to—”
“How do I hang up on her ugly mug?” Nan asked, holding Willow’s phone at arm’s length while she squinted. “Ah. There.”
Suddenly, the bathroom was filled with silence.
“So now you know,” Nan said. “I bet there was a moment earlier, when you were trying to figure out who had told them, when you thought it might be one of mine. I’m glad I don’t have to give one of the lads or one of those women down there a good hiding with my slipper.”
“It never occurred to me that it would be Riley.”
“No. I don’t imagine it did.”
Willow used the bath to climb to her feet. “Do you really not believe in karma?”
“Never said I didn’t believe in it. Just always thought the whole eye-for-an-eye thing a bit archaic. But I wouldn’t be upset if she got a really bad case of diarrhoea and shit herself while stuck in a traffic jam.”
Willow laughed. She couldn’t help it. The mischievous glint in Nan’s eyes sparkled.
Nan pulled Willow into her arms. The faint scent of roses comforting as they embraced. “You’re good for him. I’ve heard enough chatter between you all this morning to get a grasp on what was going on. It made no sense at all to me until I heard that call. People always wanting their pound of flesh from you, eh?”
“Pound of flesh?”
“Merchant of Venice. Luke and Matt studied it for GCSE English. I don’t even remember the quote properly, but it’s about everyone wanting their pound of flesh, and he gets out of it by saying they can have the pound of flesh as long as they take no blood. I don’t know. Something like that. Shakespeare always was a macabre little clever clogs. I’ve lost my train of thought now. Pound of flesh. Oh yes, everyone always wants something from you. Does Luke?”
Willow shook her head. “He hasn’t asked me for anything.”
“Well then. All this family needs are more faces to love. And grandbabies. May I?” Nan asked, her hand over Willow’s stomach.
Willow smiled. “Please.”
Nan rubbed her hand over her bump. “This will be my first, you know.”
“Will you still think of it as your first, even though . . . ?”
“Luke’s mine as much as the other four. When he was fourteen, he hung over that sink while a cut he’d got at rugby bled. At sixteen, after his first under-age drinking binge, he was throwing up in that toilet. At eighteen, I held him in this bathroom, just like I’m holding you, when his dad died. He’s ours. Just like you are, now.”
“Thank you, Nan.” The idea of belonging settled the turmoil her call with Riley had caused. “Knowing does help.”