The Secret Ingredient (10 page)

‘Have you ever seen her before, did you recognise her?' Joanna was asking.

Andie had blurted out the whole thing right there on the doorstep, and Joanna had promptly ushered her inside, sat her down, and poured them both a stiff drink. Andie had tossed hers back without even tasting it. Joanna refilled her glass, and she'd done the same again, anaesthetising the pain. So Joanna refilled it a third time, and Andie finally slowed down, taking just a few sips before she set it down on the coffee table in front of her.

‘I didn't even really see her face,' said Andie. ‘Just black hair swinging about, and those jiggly, pert little breasts.' She sighed. ‘Twentysomething breasts, you know. I used to have those.'

‘You haven't had children,' said Joanna, ‘then you can talk.'

‘Gravity doesn't discriminate, Joanna.' She looked down at herself. ‘I used to have breasts that jiggled. Now they dangle.'

Joanna considered her. ‘Andie, why are you dressed like that? Aren't they chef's pants?'

She nodded. ‘I had a trial run at a restaurant this evening. Ross organised it. He obviously had ulterior motives.'

‘How did it go?' Joanna asked. ‘At the restaurant?'

She really didn't want to talk about it. ‘Oh, okay . . . not so great. Okay.' Oh God, could she be any more pathetic? ‘You must think I'm crazy showing up here like this.'

Joanna shrugged. ‘We've all done crazy things at one time or another.' She paused. ‘Do you remember that time I confronted you? Came to your flat . . . Your roommate – what was her name?'

‘Jess.'

‘She wanted to call the police, do you remember?' She shook her head. ‘Madwoman in full flight. She really thought I was going to do damage to something, or someone, namely you.'

‘Well, you had every reason.'

‘I don't know . . . My rage should have been directed at Ross, not you.'

Andie thought about it. ‘But I get it, I do, Joanna. I feel so much anger right now towards that woman. I think if I'd been any closer I would have been tempted to slap her. And I don't even know her. I know nothing about her. And I have no idea what she knows. Maybe she doesn't even know he's married?'

‘They were in your apartment, Andie,' Joanna said plainly. ‘She knows.'

Andie gave a heavy sigh. ‘And I knew Ross was married.'

Joanna didn't say anything.

‘He said the marriage was over, that you were just staying together for the sake of the kids . . .' She stared out in front of her. ‘He said I gave him his life back, that he felt young again, excited about the future. Because of
me
,' she emphasised. ‘I wonder if he's saying the same things to this girl . . .'

Andie looked over at Joanna then, her expression was grim. Oh shit. What was she saying?

‘I'm sorry, Joanna. I shouldn't have come here, I shouldn't have bothered you.'

She didn't respond. Andie picked up her glass and sculled the rest of her drink. She put it back on the coffee table as she got to her feet.

‘I'm going now,' she said. ‘I'm sorry, this was wrong of me.'

Joanna stirred then, looking up at her. ‘You can't drive, Andie. You've just downed three of those in less than an hour.'

‘Oh . . .' she hesitated. ‘It's okay, I'll get a cab.'

‘Where will you go?'

‘I don't know,' said Andie, ‘but that isn't your problem, Joanna. You've been incredibly kind, really, way beyond the call. And now I'll leave you be.'

Joanna stood up. ‘Look, it's getting late, we have a sofa bed in the study.'

‘No, I couldn't —'

‘It's no big deal, Andie,' said Joanna.

‘It is, it is a big deal!' she insisted, wide-eyed.

‘It's not like I'm inviting you to move in. It's just a bed for the night.'

Andie took a breath. ‘Well . . . I don't know. What about the kids?'

‘They're both out, but if they were here they'd be insisting you stay, especially Brooke.' Joanna paused. ‘I know how many times you drove out late at night and picked her up from parties and nightclubs when she'd had a bit too much and didn't want me to know about it.'

Andie opened her mouth to speak but Joanna held up her hand.

‘Brooke always confessed to me later,' she said. ‘I was only glad she had someone she could call.' Joanna walked over to the hall. ‘So I'll get you some sheets, you can make up the sofa bed yourself if it makes you feel better.' She looked back at Andie. ‘Well, are you coming?'

Andie blinked a few times, looking around. Where the hell was she? She didn't know this place. She gave herself a minute, and everything started to flood back . . . the fiasco at the restaurant . . . running away . . . Suddenly the image of the woman and Ross came hurtling into her head like a meteor crashing through the atmosphere. She sat bolt upright, breathing hard. She was at Joanna's, for godsakes! Had she lost her mind completely?

She had to get out of here. She shimmied off the bed and crept over to the door. She could hear muffled voices. She didn't even know the layout of Joanna's house all that well; she had only ever stuck to the main living areas. Andie closed her eyes to recall last night. They went down a hall off the family room, stopped at a linen cupboard, Joanna handed her some sheets. There was a bathroom on the left, the study straight ahead. She was at the back of the house, and this room did not open directly onto the family room. So she could risk opening the door without being seen, try to work out who the voices belonged to, and plan her getaway.

She turned the handle very slowly and inched the door open.

‘You have got to be kidding, Mum.'

Andie's heart sank. That was Lauren.

‘Seriously, what kind of a nutcase is she, showing up here? And then you let her stay?'

‘Lauren, don't be like that, she had nowhere else to go.'

‘She has a home. That she shares with my father, in case you'd forgotten that little detail.'

‘Yeah, well, be that as it may, it wasn't an option for her last night.'

‘What on earth happened?'

Bugger. The whole sordid affair was about to become public knowledge.

‘It's not my place to say,' said Joanna. ‘It isn't any of our business.'

‘She made it your business when she barged into your house and stayed the night.'

‘That's the thing, she came to
my
house, Lauren.' Joanna's voice was calm but firm. ‘This actually doesn't have anything to do with you, darling.'

Andie closed the door again carefully. Wow, Joanna was shaping up to be quite the good stick. But Andie was still going to have to get past Lauren the guard dog to get out of here. Maybe she could just sit and wait it out. No, that was ridiculous, for all she knew, Lauren was here for the day. Andie picked up her bag off the floor and found her phone, checking the time. It was after eight already. Who was opening the shop today? Her brain was pretty scrambled, but she had a sickening feeling it was her. Bugger. She had no change of clothes, nothing, not even a toothbrush. Even her phone didn't have much charge left. She did have a charger in her car, so that was something. She couldn't risk going back to the apartment, she wasn't ready to deal with Ross, nowhere near ready, she didn't think she could even look at him without feeling sick. No, she needed to stay right away from him until she got her head together. Because Ross would have a story, and it would be persuasive. And Andie needed time to prepare herself for that.

It occurred to her that it wasn't even safe going to the shop. That was sure to be Ross's first port of call this morning when she hadn't returned to the apartment all night. Blast. Okay, think. Jess had worked a full shift last night so she'd likely still be asleep, Andie couldn't expect her to leap out of bed to go and open the shop. She could try Donna, but that would depend on Max. She could start with her anyway. But first she needed to get out of here so she could make some calls.

She'd slept in just her T-shirt, so she pulled on her chef's pants that had been lying crumpled at the end of the bed. She looked like a wreck, which was probably appropriate. It would just confirm everything Lauren thought of her already, but that was the least of her worries right now. As quietly as she could manage, Andie stripped the bed and converted it back into a sofa. She could still hear voices, and the baby occasionally, so hopefully their attention was occupied elsewhere. Andie folded the sheets and left them in a neat pile – the only evidence that she'd been here at all. She pulled on her big chunky work shoes and gave her hair a quick brush. There was no mirror in here, so that would have to do. She grabbed her bag, pausing at the door to take a breath, before she opened it and walked determinedly up the hall to the family room.

Joanna was standing in the kitchen, Lauren was sitting on a couch with Emily propped on her lap and Brooke was slumped beside them, bleary-eyed; she must have only just got up. The look on her face suggested she hadn't been brought up to speed yet.

‘Hi everyone,' Andie spoke up. ‘Um, I have to get going,' she said, moving past the kitchen. She made eye contact with Joanna. ‘Thank you, so much.'

Joanna nodded with a faint smile. ‘Take care, Andie.'

‘I will,' she said. ‘I'll see myself out. Bye,' she called over her shoulder, not looking back at the girls, as she strode up to the front door. She could only imagine the conversation that was going to follow; Andie hoped she'd get a chance to explain it to Brooke herself sometime.

She raced out to the car, jumped in and took off immediately, the dashboard beeping, insisting she put on her seatbelt. She drove around the block into the adjacent street and pulled over, cutting the engine. The beeping stopped. Andie rummaged in her bag for her phone and plugged it into the charger. There were several missed calls from Ross and some texts, but she wasn't going to read them. What the hell could he say in a text message? Her hand was trembling as she deleted them all. Then she rang Donna.

‘Hi, Andie,' she chirped a moment later.

‘Hi, Donna. Look, I have a favour to ask. I suppose you weren't opening this morning?' she thought to check first.

‘Oh, no, I don't think so,' she said. ‘Oh, was I? Oh no, I —'

‘No, it's okay, Donna. I don't think you were. But is there any chance you could?'

‘Oh . . .'

‘It's okay, you've got Max?'

‘Well, yes, I didn't think I was on today, so he doesn't have child care.'

Damn. ‘That's okay.'

‘Is something wrong? Did someone call in sick?'

‘No, I think I was opening this morning,' Andie assured her. ‘And something's come up.'

‘Um, well, I could see if Toby's mum's available.'

‘Oh, I couldn't ask you to —'

‘Come on, Andie, you're always doing favours for me.'

‘Thanks, but I need someone to open, and you can't organise Max and get there in enough time,' she said. ‘And I wouldn't expect you to,' she added, over Donna's protests.

‘Well,' Donna said, ‘I seem to remember Steph is on today, maybe she can come in early?'

Double damn. Of course, Friday was their busiest day, there needed to be at least two staff on, and a third from lunchtime . . . though that was probably Jess. Andie realised she didn't want to be there at all today if she could help it. Ross could show up any time.

‘Listen, Donna, if I get on to Steph, do you think you could make it in later? I don't mind what time, I don't mind if you bring Max in with you for a while, till Toby's mum can pick him up. Really, whatever's easiest for you.'

‘Oh, sure, of course, I'll sort something out,' said Donna. ‘Are you okay?'

‘Yes, I'm fine,' she lied. ‘I'll call you later and let you know what's happening.'

She hung up the phone and scrolled down her contacts. She came to ‘Casual Steph' and pressed
Call
. She had to list the casuals that way or she'd never remember them. She'd only worked with Steph a few times; Jess had recommended her, she was the sister of a friend as Andie recalled. Anyway, she seemed like a good kid, Andie hadn't heard any complaints. Fortunately Steph answered almost straightaway in a bright, perky voice, and it didn't sound as though she'd just woken up.

‘I hate to ask you this, Steph,' said Andie, ‘but do you think you could open today . . . it doesn't matter if you're a little late.'

‘Oh, sure, that's not a problem, except I don't have keys.'

Of course. ‘Where do you live again?'

‘Clovelly.'

Well, at least that made it easier. ‘Look, I'm not far from you right now, I can drop keys around to you.'

‘Great,' she said. ‘Actually, the only thing that's going to hold me up is the buses. Seeing as you're coming past, if you can drive me to the shop I'll be able to open up on time.'

‘Good idea.' It was the least she could do, but Andie really didn't want to go anywhere near the shop. She took down Steph's address and hung up. She sat for a moment contemplating her options. There might just be a way she could get this to work in her favour.

Andie pranked Steph's phone when she pulled up outside her apartment block, as they had arranged. Steph came running out soon after and jumped into the car.

‘Thanks for doing this,' Andie said, pulling out from the kerb. ‘You've got me out of a real bind.'

‘No worries.'

‘Look, this might sound weird, but I've got this whole surprise thing planned for Ross.'

‘Aww, that's so sweet,' she said. ‘What's the occasion?'

Bugger, she hadn't thought of one.

‘Well, it's an anniversary . . . of sorts. Not of our wedding,' she added quickly. ‘It's just one of those silly ones. I don't even think he'll remember, but I wanted to do something special.' It was a wonder she wasn't choking on her words.

‘I love it,' Steph gasped. ‘Dean and I had to make up our anniversary, because, you know, we didn't really have a first date, we just kind of hooked up at a party. And you know, then we were just kind of together. And I said to him one day, I said, Dean, what's our anniversary? And he said, why don't we make it today! And so we did! Ha.'

Andie smiled. ‘Anyway, I left early this morning before Ross was awake, and I left a note for him to meet me at the shop, but I want to go back to the apartment and set up the surprise.'

Steph's eyes lit up. ‘What are you going to do?'

‘The less you know about the details the better,' Andie said with a wink. ‘That way you won't give anything away.'

Steph giggled. ‘Okay. Go on.'

‘So, just in case, I'm going to drop you around the corner from the shop . . .'

‘Uh-huh.'

‘. . . and if Ross arrives as you open, and he asks you where I am, you can just tell him that I called and said I was on my way, and that he should wait. That'll give me time.'

‘Got it,' said Steph. ‘But then what? Won't he wonder after a while?'

‘I'll call you as soon as the coast is clear, okay?' said Andie. ‘Then you can tell him that I'm waiting for him back at our apartment.'

She grinned. ‘This is so exciting! I hope I don't give it away!'

‘Just stick to the script. You don't know anything else. You haven't seen me this morning, okay?'

‘Okay.' Steph frowned. ‘But what if he's not at the shop? You might show up at your place while he's still there.'

That was a good thought.

‘I know,' said Steph. ‘I'll call you, either way . . . No, wait, I'll text you if he's at the shop. That way he won't know.'

‘Excellent. And remember, don't act as if you expected him to be there.'

‘But you said I should tell him you called me and asked for him to wait.'

Thank God someone was thinking straight.

‘Okay, so don't say that. Just say I called you to open the shop, and that I said I was on my way.'

‘That'll work,' Steph grinned.

After Andie dropped Steph off around the corner, she headed for Potts Point. If Ross had decided just to wait for her at home, this was not going to work, whatever Steph said. But he had to leave the apartment some time, and when he did, Andie was going to get in and grab as much of her stuff as she could in one hit. She was pretty confident he would try the shop, though. Ross would want to spin the story as soon as possible. And he would count on her showing up at the shop eventually.

As she drove into their street, Andie felt sick in the stomach. The whole thing began to replay in her head again, however much she tried to blot it out. As she glanced at the entrance to their building she panicked. What if he drove out of the garage now? Her heart was racing as she accelerated past the driveway. But he could pull out behind her, right this minute, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. She drove on, one eye on the rearview mirror. She turned out of the street again and drove around the block. Their building was surrounded by a circuit of one-way streets, so this time Andie pulled up short, around the corner from the entrance. Ross couldn't pass her without driving the wrong way up a one-way street, and there was no reason for him to do that. Andie would have to just sit here and wait for the message from Steph. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, her stomach churning. It occurred to her that life as she knew it was over. Nothing would ever be the same again. Ross had cheated on her, in her bed, with some tramp.