Good Little Liars by Sarah Clutton

Author:Sarah Clutton [Clutton, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838880293
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

Harriet

‘Scarlett’s arriving at three o’clock on Friday,’ said Harriet as she pressed the button on her keys to unlock her car.

Ben was shoving a bag of garbage down into the bin behind the front fence. It was a small bag. He mustn’t be eating at home. When he didn’t answer, Harriet went on.

‘I’ll be in court. You’ll need to pick her up.’

‘Of course,’ said Ben. ‘I’ll move a couple of things around. I can’t wait to see her.’

He looked as if he wanted to say something else. Harriet waited.

‘We need to do something about the house, Harriet. What if I organise a couple of real estate agents to come and do a valuation? It’s time we thought about sorting things out.’

‘Scarlett hardly needs the family home ripped out from underneath her this week, Ben. She hasn’t even been told that we’re separated! For goodness sake, you’re not thinking straight. She needs somewhere to live when she starts university – the granny flat was supposed to be for her!’ Harriet felt the unfairness of the situation folding in on her.

This house, and Scarlett in the granny flat, that was what they’d talked about, planned for. It was part of their future life together. Scarlett would study arts/law at University of Tasmania. She’d still be at home, but she’d have the independence of her own place in the granny flat. She could get work experience with Harriet. It was what they’d both imagined their family journey would be, until Ben decided at some indeterminate time that he wanted to travel a different road. One that had diverted from hers when she hadn’t been paying attention. He was pulling all their plans apart over a tiny slip road that wasn’t even signposted.

‘Harriet, please.’ He said it calmly, as if he were pacifying a toddler having a tantrum. How dare he look so superior.

She squared her shoulders, straightening her posture. ‘Don’t patronise me, Ben. I am perfectly aware that at some time in the future we will need to consider dividing our joint assets. I assume you don’t want to live here alone, in which case I will buy you out. You can have the beach house – and we can do a reconciliation of the rest. But I’d like to delay that discussion until we have given Scarlett a chance to accept this new… situation.’

Harriet opened her car door, then paused. She needed to keep things steady, just until she’d had a chance to let Scarlett settle back in. Plus, there was still a small chance that Ben would change his mind when Scarlett came home. Scarlett was like the glue in the family – something they could jointly focus on. A combined project that unified them.

‘I imagine it might be nice for Scarlett if we all had dinner together on Friday evening. Is that alright with you? I know Clementine is free,’ said Harriet.

‘Of course. What about I book the Lake House for six o’clock? She’s probably missed Tasmanian seafood. Even with jetlag she should still manage to stay awake for that.

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