Karly refused to acknowledge the fear that twisted her gut into knots and ruined her appetite. Bad enough her best friends Summer and Nevaeh knew something was up; she didn’t need to tell them about it. Besides, a time would come very soon when they’d know everything and her life would irrevocably change.
‘Not hungry?’ Summer nudged the fish and chip packet towards her. ‘You’ve hardly touched your flake and your potato cake is getting cold and soggy.’
‘I had a snack before I came,’ Karly said, the lie sliding easily from her lips. She’d been doing a lot of that lately: lying to her friends, to Pop, to herself. Pretending everything was okay when she knew nothing could be further from the truth. How could it be, with an impending call from the last man she wanted to hear from?
Nev tut-tutted. ‘Honey, we’ve been catching up for Friday night fish and chips on the beach since we were twelve, and you’ve never left a single chip let alone an entire potato cake untouched no matter how many snacks you had beforehand.’ Concern darkened her eyes. ‘We know something’s wrong and while we haven’t pushed, surely you know you can confide in us?’
‘It might help,’ Summer added with a shrug. ‘It’s not like you haven’t heard me whinge about my complicated life over the last year.’
Karly refrained from pointing out that Summer’s complications had resolved in the best way possible: she now had a hot live-in boyfriend who’d moved from Melbourne to Acacia Haven to be with her, she’d connected with her biological father, discovered she had a half-sister who was due to move to town any day, and was now teaching full-time.
‘It’s work. Nothing major,’ Karly said, knowing she’d have to give them something to avoid a haranguing…
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