The Secrets Women Keep Read Free

at every conversation. Everyone who heard him was impressed in equal measure by his efforts and his cloth ear. Rose was used to having to
explain for him later.
    As she followed him up the garden, she watched the way he held himself, confident, easy and unconcerned. Despite her efforts to control it, anxiety was knotting itself tight in her stomach,
making her almost oblivious to anything else. All she wanted to do was lie down and pull a sheet over her head, shutting out the world while she tried to digest the awful nagging suspicions that
wouldn’t leave her alone. But she couldn’t. She had to go through the motions of normal behaviour, however desperate she felt. They rounded the corner of the house as a small black car
reversed into the space beside theirs. An arm emerged from the window to wave a greeting, sun glinting off a gold bangle. The car had barely stopped when the passenger door was flung open and Eve
burst out of it.
    ‘At last! I thought we’d never get here. Terry wouldn’t rent anything faster or bigger than this. But you know what he’s like about saving the planet!’ She embraced
Rose warmly, and Rose responded, inhaling her friend’s familiar floral scent. The cavalry had arrived.
    Eve turned to Daniel. ‘Come here, you gorgeous man.’
    As she hugged him, Rose watched for a second, amused to see how unprepared Eve seemed for the simplicity of villa life. There was no compromise in her wardrobe. A fashion guru would never be
disappointed walking through her door. ‘If I’m run over by a bus tomorrow, at least they’ll know I had taste,’ she once said to the accompaniment of her friends’
laughter. ‘Teaming and toning’ was her watchword, demonstrated in her tan sandals, cream Capri pants, voluminous swirly top in various shades of brown and coral, and gold jewellery.
Rose wished that she herself had changed into something more chic than shorts and shirt. She ran a hand through her cropped hair, tucking it behind her ear, aware how dull it must look beside
Eve’s expensive streaks. But those hours in a hairdresser’s chair weren’t for her.
    ‘Rose. You’re looking great,’ said Eve. Daniel’s arm lay loosely round her shoulder.
    Terry stood in front of Rose, arms held wide, expectant. Unusually unshaven, his face looked thinner, emphasising the narrowness of his nose and the set of his ears. She was immediately ashamed
of her uncharitable thought that her brother was not at his best in shorts. He’d never quite grown out of the lanky stage that had disqualified him from the sports pitch at an early age,
despite his enthusiasm for it. Perhaps it was just that she was more used to seeing him in a suit and tie: the uniform of accountancy. She smiled her welcome before being caught up in an awkward
embrace, her face rasped by his stubble. Even as brother and sister they didn’t do closeness well. She extricated herself as swiftly as she could and took a step back. She ordered herself to
make an effort.
    ‘Good to see you both,’ she said. ‘Shall we take your luggage in now?’ Terry had already lifted the boot of the car and was hauling out a single small case.
    ‘Just the one? You’re usually much less restrained.’
    Terry looked sheepish. ‘They’ve lost one of them. But—’
    ‘Not just one of them, Terry,’ interrupted Eve. ‘
My
one!’
    ‘They’ve said it’ll be with us by nine o’clock tonight,’ he explained, obviously in the wake of a major row. He spoke carefully. ‘They’re putting it on
the last flight out of Stansted.’
    ‘We’ll see,’ muttered Eve. ‘Bloody disorganised hellhole. And in the meantime, I’ve nothing but what I’m standing up in.’
    Rose made sympathetic noises, aware of the amount of clutter that would be airborne in their direction that night.
    Eve saw her expression and slipped an arm through hers. ‘You know I can’t travel anywhere without my straighteners, my hairdryer and all my creams and lotions, plus