“Wow, how cool is that?” coos Chrissy beside her.
Rachel smiles tightly as she looks around for Jack. She’s not surprised to see him at the bar, in an animated discussion with Paige. As she walks toward them, her legs not feeling like her own, she wonders if their conversation will change between now and when she’s standing there beside them. By rights it shouldn’t, but Paige abruptly stops talking when she approaches.
“Jack, can I talk to you for a second?” Rachel asks.
“Yes,” he says, without moving.
Rachel looks from him to Paige. She doesn’t suppose there’s anything she can’t say in front of her, especially now that she’s so deeply immersed in whatever the hell is going on.
“I know where Ali was for those lost two years,” she says, desperately trying to keep her voice from wavering. “The period she assigned to a fictitious company on her résumé.”
Paige tuts. “She just can’t help herself, can she?”
Jack raises his eyebrows, silently asking her to elaborate.
“She was caring for her mother,” says Rachel. “After her accident.”
Jack looks like it doesn’t make any difference to him, but to Rachel, it’s a whole world’s worth.
“Do you think it matters?” he asks, bluntly.
“Yes and no,” says Rachel, failing to understand why Jack’s being so belligerent, with her of all people.
“She lied in order to get a job, and that, in my book, is enough.”
“But you can understand why she felt the need to do it,” says Rachel.
“All she had to do was be honest,” says Jack.
“But you would never have employed her if she had been,” says Rachel. “You’ve admitted to me that you’ve avoided taking on women of a certain age, or those you suspect will be looking to have a baby in a couple of years. If you knew, for just a second, that Ali had a responsibility to care for her mum, you wouldn’t have given her the time of day.”
“Why are you even trying to stick up for her, when she’s done what she’s done?” asks Paige.
“I’m not sticking up for her,” says Rachel. “I’m just trying to understand what’s happening here.”
“I’ll tell you what’s happening,” says Jack. “That bitch over there has been harassing me for nigh on three years, and when she gets called out on it, she claims that I’m having an affair with my wife’s best friend.”
“Is that how long it’s been going on?” asks Rachel, looking from Jack to Paige.
“What?” says Jack irritably.
“The supposed affair between you.” She leaves it hanging there, not knowing what she wants either of them to do with the insinuation.
“We are not having an affair,” barks Jack, looking at Paige.
“I wasn’t talking about you two,” says Rachel. “I’m referring to the affair that you say Ali is claiming to have had with you.”
Jack coughs and takes a swig of his drink. “That’s when she started hassling me, yes.”
“So, before she’d met Will?” asks Rachel, double-checking the facts.
Jack thinks about it before nodding. “Yes, but I don’t see why you’re obsessing over the semantics because whichever way you look at it, you’re dealing with a pathological liar—pure and simple.”
Rachel shakes her head. “Yet the selfless act of looking after her mother only makes her a better person.”
Jack and Paige look at her, their expressions etched with confusion.
“And the lie we thought she told about David Friedman appears to be true,” Rachel goes on.
“What’s your point?” asks Jack.
“My point,” says Rachel, battling to keep her frustrations under control. “Is that it’s already been proven that she’s not quite the liar we had her down for.”
Jack laughs disbelievingly.
“So, I’m left wondering what else she’s said that might not be fabricated.”
Jack looks from her to Paige, like a rabbit caught in headlights.
“Hi, excuse me,” comes a voice from behind Rachel.
She swings around to find Kimberley standing there, Ali’s cousin who she sat with at dinner the night before.
“Oh, hi,” she says, trying to curb her irritation at the untimely interruption.
“I’m really sorry to bother you,” Kimberley goes on, “but I just wondered if everything was all right.” She’s speaking to Paige more than Rachel.
“This is Ali’s cousin, Kimberley,” offers Rachel.
“Hello,” says Kimberley unnecessarily. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be poking my nose in, but when I saw Ali out there with you a little while ago, she seemed to be upset.”
Paige’s jaw tightens.
“Is she okay? Has something happened?”
“She’s fine,” says Paige haughtily. “A few too many drinks have got her a little over-emotional, that’s all.”
“Oh,” says Kimberley, smiling, visibly relieved. “That’s hardly surprising—it’s a big occasion.”
“It’s certainly that,” agrees Paige, taking a cigarette and lighter out of her clutch that’s on the bar. “Can someone keep an eye on my bag? I’m going outside.”
“I’ll join you,” says Jack hurriedly, as if worried he’ll be left alone with Kimberley.
“I didn’t mean to interfere,” Kimberley says, fretting that she’s caused offense.
“You didn’t,” offers Rachel, as she pulls Paige’s bag toward her. “I’m glad I’ve got the chance to speak to you, actually.”
“Oh?”
“Can I be open and honest with you?” asks Rachel.
Kimberley’s brow furrows in anticipation of what she might be about to say. “Of course,” she says.
“Have you ever…?” Rachel starts, before asking herself if this is really the right thing to do.
Kimberley looks at her wide-eyed, waiting for her to go on.
But Rachel knows she shouldn’t, because it will be crossing a line that she would never normally cross. Yet if those perimeters hadn’t already been infiltrated, she wouldn’t be in this position.
“You’re family,” says Rachel, with a smile to soften what she’s about to ask. “So you’ve known Ali for a long time, and you know her well.”
Kimberley nods. “We’ve grown up together.”
“So, have you ever felt that she…?” Rachel racks her brain for the best way to put it. “That she embellishes the truth a little?”
Rachel wants to close her eyes because she’s afraid that Kimberley’s horrified expression will confirm that it’s just her world that she’s messing with. And right now, it would be a great source of comfort to know that she fucks with everyone’s.
But shockingly, and rather unexpectedly, Kimberley throws her head back and laughs. “She’s the biggest exaggerator I know,” she says. “But that’s what makes her so fun and exciting to be around.”
This isn’t going as well as Rachel hoped. She’s going to have to spell it out to her. “Last night, at the restaurant, I heard her tell you that she wasn’t ready to have children.”
At this, Rachel notices, Kimberley balks, showing the first sign that she may have hit some common ground.
“But just the night before, she was telling Will that she couldn’t wait to start a family with him and that she wanted to start trying immediately.”
Kimberley pulls herself up, as if doing so will better equip her to deal with the mud that Rachel’s slinging.
“It’s a pretty big deal,” Rachel pushes on. “She’s either desperate for them or she isn’t, but to lie to Will about something so important on the eve of their wedding is callous and cruel.”
Kimberley nods her head as if she’s in full agreement. “I understand your concern,” she says. “But I really don’t think you should be too worried about what she said to Will.”
Rachel looks at her, taken aback. “But if she’s lied to him—”
“She hasn’t lied to him,” says Kimberley, cutting her off.
“But how do you know?”
“Because she lied to me,” says Kimberley. “And I don’t blame her.”
Rachel can’t get her head around what Kimberley’s saying, or why she’s so accepting of the fact. How is Ali always seemingly forgiven, no matter what she does?
“I’m sorry,” says Rachel. “I don’t understand.”
Kimberley wipes a tear away. “Oh goodness, I’m sorry,” she says, as if embarrassed.