her eyes. ‘I shouldn’t be burdening you with my crap when you’ve got so much more to deal with.’
‘Psht.’ I wave away her worries about me. This isn’t like Fi. She never has emotional outbursts. She’s usually the calmest, most self-controlled person I know.
‘Kelly, I’ve done something stupid.’
‘Haven’t we all, love,’ I quip, trying to put her at ease.
‘This is really stupid though. And now I think I’m going to lose everything because of it.’
‘You mean Salinger’s?’
‘I mean everything.’
‘Nathan?’
‘He won’t forgive me. He’s got such high expectations, Kelly. You don’t know what he’s like. He thinks I’m this perfect wife. He thinks I’m so successful and in control, but I’m not. It’s all falling apart.’
I can’t imagine what Fiona can have done that could be so awful. I bet it’s not as bad as she thinks it is. She puts such pressure on herself. She always has. ‘Just tell me, Fi. You know that if I can help in any way, I will.’
She sniffs. ‘I know.’
I go over to the dresser and fetch her a tissue.
‘Thanks.’ She wipes her eyes and nose.
‘So?’
‘Earlier this week I had a visit from a couple of tax inspectors. They’re doing an audit of my business.’
I relax a little at discovering her worries are business related. Not that I think it isn’t important, but compared to her marriage or her health, hopefully this is more easily fixable. ‘Try not to worry. I’m sure tax audits are quite common, aren’t they?’
‘I don’t know. But… well… I think someone reported me.’
‘They reported you to the tax office?’
She nods earnestly, her eyes still red.
‘Why would anyone do that?’
‘Lots of reasons. People don’t like me, Kel.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, of course they like you.’
‘They don’t. They think I’m a cold, snooty bitch. But it’s only because of what happened. I just can’t seem to connect with people.’
‘You mean since…?’ I don’t finish my sentence; we both know what I’m talking about.
She shrugs and nods. ‘But anyway, this is nothing to do with that. I’m rambling about stuff that isn’t relevant. Basically, someone reported me. I think it could’ve been Molly, or maybe even Paul Barton—’
‘Really?’ I curl my lip. I’m not keen on our childhood dentist either. Even less so nowadays.
‘Yeah, and he was all over you at my birthday night out.’
‘Ew, don’t remind me. He visited the school this week and told Sonny to say hello to “his beautiful mother”.’
‘He visited the school?!’ Fiona’s eyes widen.
‘Only as part of a dental-hygiene thing. Nothing sinister. Barton’s a prat, but I don’t think he’d do something as awful as reporting you. Surely not. You think it could be him because he wants your premises?’
She nods and then shrugs. ‘Maybe. But even though the thought of someone reporting me is horrible, that’s not actually why I’m so upset.’
‘So what is it?’
‘I’ve done something stupid…’
I wait for her to go on, but she’s obviously having a hard time getting it off her chest. ‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’
‘No, it’s, well it’s embarrassing and humiliating, and I feel awful admitting it.’
‘No judgement here.’ I hold up my hands.
‘Okay, so…’ Fiona carries on staring at her mug of tea. ‘I used money from the business to buy personal things like clothes, jewellery and home stuff. Things that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford.’
‘I don’t understand, Fi. What’s wrong with that? It’s money you earned, right?’
‘Yes, but the things I bought weren’t strictly things that related to work, I just paid for them as if they were.’
I still don’t understand what the problem is.
She looks up at me and lowers her voice. ‘I treated them like business expenses when they weren’t. What I did is illegal. I could go to prison.’
‘Oh.’ I’m not sure what to say to her. Aside from the fact that I’m in shock we could both end up behind bars for completely different reasons. How did our lives start falling apart so quickly? Now I’m really beginning to worry for my friend. ‘Well, I’m sure if you put the money back into the business it’ll be okay.’
‘I’ve spent thousands over the past few years. Too much to pay back.’
‘Really? Look, Fi, I’m sorry if I’m way off the mark, but I thought you and Nathan were well-off. Like, multi-millionaire well-off.’
‘We are. But I haven’t exactly been straight with Nathan. In fact, he’s the main reason I’ve been doing it in the first place.’
My blank expression must show that I’m not following.