wallet. Nothing there that is interesting. His heart pounds as he pulls out a few credit cards. Her UK driving license. All is as it should be. Annabel Plowman. He shakes his head. He can’t believe Kit. Will have to phone her later and tell her that, as he suspected, her mother is nuts.
And then her passport. Burgundy. He flicks through to the picture page. There, as he thought, is a picture of Annabel looking just as beautiful as she always does. Typical. Everyone else has a passport picture that makes them look like a washed-out, unhappy criminal, but Annabel looks glowing and gorgeous. Just as she is.
He reaches down and pulls out a sheaf of papers, and as he opens them he has to focus properly to understand what he is seeing. There are printed statements of a bank account and two credit cards.
Not Annabel’s bank account and credit cards.
Kit’s.
Oh Christ. He didn’t expect this. Instantly, he knows Kit is right. Annabel cannot be trusted.
Annabel yawns as she comes into the kitchen, and she puts her arms around Adam, leaning her head against his back, but he stiffens.
“What’s the matter? ” she says.
He almost says, “Nothing.” But it isn’t nothing. It’s very definitely something—he just doesn’t know what to say.
“I tripped over your bag,” he says eventually. “Some things fell out.”
Annabel’s face hardens.
“What things? ”
“These, for starters.” He picks up the statements, where they have been waiting, on the kitchen counter, and lays them back on the counter. “What are you doing with Kit’s bank statements and credit card statements in your bag? ”
Annabel stares at the statements, and he can almost see her brain working furiously, trying to come up with an excuse.
“You didn’t trip over anything,” she says slowly. “You were going through my things. How dare you? ”
“How dare I? I was trying to prove to myself that Ginny was wrong, and forgive me for going through something so personal, but that doesn’t explain what the hell you are doing with Kit’s statements.”
“I have no idea how they got in there,” Annabel says defiantly. “I’ve been staying in her office and I swept some things into my bag that were on her desk. Those papers must have fallen in there by accident.”
Adam snorts. “Is that really the best you can do? ”
“No, that’s the truth.”
“I’m not stupid, Annabel. And I’m not going to give you the benefit of the doubt. What the hell are you up to? I’ve just lent you money, which I presume I won’t be seeing again, so what are you doing with her statements? ”
“I told you.” Annabel sounds more and more like a child. “I have no idea.”
“Annabel, this is a breach of trust, on every level. I can no longer trust you and, once I phone Kit, she will not be able to trust you either. You might as well tell me the truth.”
Annabel breathes. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh no? I have to.”
“If you phone her,” Annabel says slowly, a glint of menace in her eye, “I’ll tell her about us. That her precious ex-husband is sleeping with her sister. I’m not joking. I will tell her, so if that’s what you want, to ruin your relationship with your ex-wife forever, fine. You go ahead.”
“First of all,” Adam’s voice is steely, “she may be my ex-wife but she’s also your sister. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is the greater transgression. And second of all, she already knows.”
“What? ” Now Annabel is shocked.
“So frankly, Annabel, at this point I have nothing further to lose. I suggest you go upstairs to get your things, and leave this house immediately.”
“Oh shit,” Annabel whispers, as the realization of what she has caused finally hits her. “What am I going to do? ”
Adam turns away. It’s not what are you going to do, he thinks. It’s what is he going to do. He has a lifetime to make amends, and make amends he must. The guilt and shame and regret are almost unbearable, and whatever he has to do to make it up to Kit, he will.
Keeping busy is what is preventing Kit from crying. Every time she stops to think about Annabel and Adam together she starts to feel physically nauseated, and she pushes it down by cleaning, by packing up Annabel’s things, knowing that until every last trace of her is removed, she will not be able to relax.
Everything she looks at that belongs to Annabel seems tainted. Dirty. She