Amanda Brittany - Her Last Lie

‘Well, you’re much cuter,’ she said, but her eyes had drifted back to her phone screen.

‘Coffee?’ Jack asked, and Isla startled. ‘Bloody hell, you’re a bit edgy,’ he continued, getting up after a bite of his roll. ‘You OK?’

‘Yes, yes I’m fine. And yes please. Love one. Thanks.’

Jack headed for the coffee machine, as she tapped the phone screen to open the event.

The cover photo was Wetherspoon’s in Cambridge.

Event Invitation:

University Reunion, Wetherspoon’s, Cambridge. Friday, 28 October 7.30 p.m.

INVITED: 6

COMING: 3

NOT COMING: 2

I’m trying to get together a few old uni friends for a reunion. I thought it was about time. It’s been years! Do you guys fancy it? Trevor

Isla looked to see who’d been invited. Roxanne wasn’t there, but then she’d fallen out with Trevor. Sara Pembroke, who had studied chemistry with him, had already accepted. Isla hadn’t had much to do with her at university, but recalled she was tall and overweight, with short dark hair. An insular girl, if she remembered rightly. Super-intelligent.

She clicked on Sara’s profile to try to find out what she was like now, but there was a hedgehog for her profile picture, and a field of poppies as her cover photo. Her friends list and settings were private.

The declines were Stephen Grant and Jenny Dawson. They’d been the dream couple at university and were getting married on 28 October. The other acceptances were Veronica Beesley and Ben Martin. Their profiles were set to private too, their friends lists hidden, but Isla recognised them, even though they’d matured over the years. They’d unfriended Isla on Facebook a long time ago, at a time when they were clearing out old university friends and moving on. She was amazed they’d agreed to meet up with Trevor. But then Trevor had been popular at university.

She read the comments on the event page:

Veronica Beesley: Sounds like fun. I’m in! x

Reply: Trevor Cooper: Great. Looking forward to it! What are you up to now?

Reply: Veronica Beesley: Fashion design. I’ll bore you about the last eight years when I see you. Can’t wait!

Isla’s eyes widened as she took in the words. She could hear Jack talking in a cute voice to Luna as he made some coffee, but she was fully locked in cyber-world.

She did a quick search for Veronica’s company and clicked on her website. She sold her own designs, with a quirky vibe about them. They were the kind of things Isla loved to wear, but were way out of her price range.

She clicked back to Facebook.

Ben Martin: I’ll be there if it kills me, Trev, mate .

Reply: Trevor Cooper: Great news. Be good to catch up. Are you still in publishing?

Reply: Ben Martin: I am indeed. See you Friday!

‘What’s up? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,’ Jack said, sitting back down and placing two freshly poured mugs of coffee in front of them.

‘I think I have,’ she said in a whisper. ‘Well, a haunting of ghosts, actually.’

‘A haunting of ghosts?’

‘Like a gaggle of geese, but ghosts,’ she said, with a smile.

‘Pretty sure you just made that up.’

She hadn’t really looked at Trevor’s Facebook profile when he’d added her in July. She’d just registered at the time that his profile picture was a wolf howling on a mountain and his cover photo a generic beach somewhere. But she looked at it now. He had a dozen friends, including those he’d invited to the reunion.

‘Isla?’

‘What?’ She glanced up and met Jack’s enquiring eyes. ‘Sorry. Sorry.’

Jack placed his hand over hers. ‘I was thinking, do you fancy taking off on Saturday? Maybe have a picnic by the sea? I know it’s October but …’

‘Yes, yes, why not? Sounds great,’ she said, barely hearing his words.

‘So when is this reunion?’ He removed his hand from hers and nodded at her phone.

She sucked in a breath. ‘Friday night.’

‘Where?’

‘Spoons in Cambridge.’

‘Will you go?’ He swallowed a gulp of coffee.

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Could be fun meeting up with old friends. And I’ve got a backlog of Game of Thrones to watch, so I need you out of the house.’ He laughed.

‘Yeah, maybe I will.’ She looked at the phone once more. ‘Ben Martin is going. He’s in publishing.’

Jack’s eyes widened. ‘That could be good, right? He might publish your book.’

She smiled at his naivety. ‘I’m not sure he’d be best pleased if I started bombarding him with questions, but you never know.’

‘You should go, Isla,’ Jack said, his voice serious. ‘You’ll have a great time.’

She returned her eyes to the screen, clicked yes before she could think too much, and put down her phone. ‘Done,’ she said, leaning over the breakfast bar and pressing her lips on Jack’s, kissing him long and hard.

‘That’s more like it,’ he said, slipping down from the stool. Taking her hand, he led her to the bedroom.

***

Later, Isla spotted a butterfly on the work surface next to the kettle. Her stomach leapt, as she reached out to touch it, expecting it to spring into life and flutter around the kitchen, but it didn’t. She stared at the bright turquoise triangles on its wings, the deep black around the edges, recalling the photos she’d taken of the species when she was in Sydney.

Carl had called her Butterfly Girl because she took so many pictures. He’d teased her, saying the Blue Triangle was common out there – nothing special. ‘You need to search out a Richmond Birdwing,’ he’d said, his smile seeming so genuine. She’d thought he loved her. Perhaps he had in his warped way – that’s what Roxanne had said in a bumbled attempt to heal her.

‘The Richmond’s wings stretch almost sixteen centimetres,’ Carl had gone on. ‘Saw one once when I was a kid.’ Now the thought of his smile – and the way he’d later morphed into a monster – sent a shudder down her spine.

‘How did it get in?’ she said, her words barely audible, as she glanced around at the sealed apartment windows.

Jack looked up from shoving clothes from his holdall into the washing machine. ‘Sorry?’

‘A butterfly.’ She felt strangely helpless. ‘Where did it come from?’

‘Ah.’ Jack rose and slammed the washing machine door closed. ‘I found it by our front door yesterday. Forgot to say. I know you like butterflies, and—’

‘On our doormat?’

‘Yeah. But I’m pretty sure the poor thing’s dead.’

She gently touched its wing once more. ‘It’s not dead, Jack. I don’t think it’s real. It’s made of silk or something. What the hell was it doing on our doorstep?’

He shrugged. ‘No idea. I just brought it in. Thought it might get a new lease of life.’

‘It’s silk, Jack. I just told you that.’

‘Yeah, well I didn’t know that at the time.’

She held it in her palm, a slight tremor in her hand. ‘What was it doing out there?’

‘I guess somebody must have dropped it. The bloke upstairs likes weird and whacky things. Maybe it’s his.’

‘What bloke?’

‘Some professor type, moved in while you were away.’ He stepped towards her, and she flinched, dropping the butterfly, and it floated to the ground. ‘It’s just a butterfly, Isla.’

‘No, it’s not just a butterfly, Jack.’ She was close to tears. ‘It’s the Blue Triangle, found in Australia.’

He looked at her for a long moment. ‘Isla, I don’t get what the problem is. Is this something to do with Carl …?’

‘No. No, of course not,’ Isla cut in. ‘Ignore me, I’m just a bit jet-lagged, that’s all.’ She pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes to stop the tears.