Page 32 of Duplicity

‘Okay, first,’ I say with a watery smile at them all, ‘I got a really good job.’

Their faces light up right on cue, and Tabby pushes back her chair so she can round the kitchen table for a hug.

‘That’s amazing, honey!’ my dad says. He’s a quiet Englishman, far more mellow than his fierce Dutch wife and, since the appearance of his granddaughter, anyway, a total softie.

Mum nods at me. ‘Huge relief. Well done. Doing what? Daniel, comehere.’ She’s still formidable, a former model and singer with posture that puts mine to shame. At fifty-six, her pale blonde hair is growing silvered. She has it up in its usual dignified French twist, and her don’t-mess-with-me vibes are as strong as ever. They don’t go unnoticed by Daniel, who reluctantly abandons his sentry position next to Tabs andambles stiffly to Mum’s side. At eleven years old, her beloved golden show cocker spaniel is starting to show his age.

Here goes. ‘So Athena introduced me to her boyfriend Gabe’s brother Brendan. He runs the family construction company—he’s the CEO. Anyway, he needed a new executive assistant and, thanks to Athena putting in a good word, he agreed to interview me. And, well, I got the job!’

Mum and Dad exchange a delighted look. I know they’ve been worried sick since Dean the Dick fired me.

‘That’s amazing,’ Mum says. ‘And it’s a good job?’

‘It’s a great job,’ I say softly, hugging Tabby to my side and enjoying the sensation of her arms around me. ‘The pay’s a lot better than the RA, too.’

Dad reaches across the table and squeezes my hand as it rests next to my bowl of stir-fry. ‘That’s bloody marvellous, honey. We’re so proud of you. Isn’t your mummy clever, Tabs?’

I allow myself a second of genuine pride and happiness before the guilt kicks in. Yes, it’s great news. Yes, it’ll change Tabby’s life. And yes, I’ve taken this role for all the right reasons. But my parents are looking at me like I’m their golden girl, and it’s the way they’ve always looked at me, and I don’t deserve it.

I fell for my professor and for all the silken lies he poured into my ear, and I got myself knocked up, and I had to take a year out, and since then, my parents have made sacrifice after sacrifice for me and Tabs. And now I’m selling my body and agreeing to be the fuck toy of some rich, entitled guy, and it makes me feel so dirty and grimy and sullied and ugh. Justugh. So yeah, it’s shitty to sit here and feel the light of their pride shining on me when it would one hundred per centkillthem to know what I really have planned for my summer.

It would finish them off, truly.

A swift gulp of water has me pushing on. ‘The other news is even better, guys.’Here goes. The lie won’t hurt them, becausethe news is so wonderful.I twist my body so I’m facing Tabby and wrap an arm tightly around her. In this position, we’re exactly at eye level. ‘We’ve been awarded a grant, my love, and it means we can go to America, you and I, and get your heart fixed very safely by doctors who are the best in the world at what they do.’

Mum’s whimper is matched by Dad’s shocked inhale, but my gaze is fixed firmly on my daughter’s face, which seems to light up before my eyes.

‘America?’

‘Yep,’ I tell her with a smile that feels far too wobbly. ‘You and I are off to the States in a month or two.’

She gasps theatrically. ‘Can we go to Disneyland?’

That makes me laugh. ‘Not Disneyland this time, I’m afraid. We’re going to a very fancy hospital that has very good doctors and very clever machinery, and they’ll be able to replace your valve without even opening you up. They’ll make a tiny hole the size of a keyhole, and they’ll do it that way.’

‘No open-heart surgery?’ Dad asks, his voice cracking, and I tear my eyes away from Tabs.

‘Nope. No open-heart surgery. They can do it laparoscopically. They’re experts in this kind of procedure for kids.’

My parents are staring at me like I’ve pulled off nothing short of a miracle. If you remove the ethics from the situation, I suppose I have.

‘But how?’ Mum says. ‘How did you get it?’

‘The grant? One of the applications finally came through.’ I clear my throat and blink away the tears from my eyes as I stroke up and down Tabby’s back. ‘Here’s the thing, though. It covers a lot, but it doesn’t cover everything, so this is where the new job is really important. I’ll be able to afford it all,’ I add hurriedly, because I absolutely don’t want my parents worrying about themoney side when I’m about to have the fruits of my prostitution raining down on me.

‘But the downside is that, for the next month or two, I really have to put my nose to the grindstone.’ I turn back to Tabs. ‘That means I have to work really, really hard. So Nana and Grandpa will start picking you up from school again, if that’s okay with them?—’

‘Of course it is!’ Dad interjects forcefully.

‘Okay then. Thank you. But the other thing is’—I scrunch up my face—‘I have to prove to my boss that I’m really committed. So if you have to go to hospital during school hours, it might have to be Nana and Grandpa who go along with you and not me.’

I can’t believe I’m saying this. I can’t believe I’m telling my daughter that I’ll have to prioritise my new job over being there for her during one of her terrifying trips to A&E.

‘But it’s just for the first few weeks,’ I hasten to add. ‘Because once we’re back from the US, you should be right as rain and you won’t need any more hospital trips. Not emergency ones, anyway.’

‘Really?’ she asks, her brown eyes wide.

Yeah, she got my eyes. Fuck you, Professor Joseph Penn, and your recessive genes.

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