Impatience pinched Livvy’s skin. ‘Why are you telling me this? So Dominic had a girlfriend and he was more keen than she was. What’s the big deal?’
Bea’s shoulders rose and fell. ‘She said he started getting quite possessive with her. Wanted to spend every night with her, didn’t like her going out with her friends—’
‘That’s totally normal at the beginning of a relationship. That’s why it’s called the honeymoon period—’
‘Six weeks after they met, he asked her to marry him.’
The words were like a sledgehammer across Livvy’s thoughts. ‘That’s absurd. There’s no way Dominic wouldn’t have told me.’
‘Maybe he didn’t tell you because Daisy said no. She told him it had all got too heavy, and she broke up with him.’
Livvy shook her head. ‘Dominic wears his heart on his sleeve. He would have told me if he’d proposed to someone else. There’s no reason for him to lie about it.’
Bea softened her voice. ‘Maybe the reason he didn’t tell you was because when Daisy broke up with him, he didn’t take it very well. She said he wouldn’t leave her alone. Kept calling her, sending her messages, turning up at her flat at all hours of the day and night.’
Livvy closed her eyes, tried to visualise what Bea was telling her, but it was like a scene that had found itself in the wrong story. ‘Dominic wouldn’t do that. He’s not like that.’
Bea paused, swallowed, breathed slowly. ‘She went to the police. She tried to get a restraining order against him. But it hadn’t been going on long enough, and there weren’t any obvious threats to her safety. But she felt stalked. That was the word she used. Stalked. She was scared and overwhelmed. She ended up moving back in with her parents for six months.’
‘Her parents?’
Bea eyed her for a moment, as if toying with a silent dilemma. ‘She was twenty-four when it happened.’
‘Twenty-four? This is absolute rubbish. There’s no way Dominic would have dated a twenty-four-year-old. That’s practically half his age.’ Livvy reached for a strand of hair to twist around her finger, discovered it was missing. ‘Why are you doing this? You find some random woman on the internet, and she makes up a bunch of stories about Dominic, and you choose to believe them? You’re my sister, you’re supposed to support me.’
‘That’s exactly what I am doing.’
‘What, by telling me a bunch of lies?’
‘They’re not lies, Livvy. I met her. I’ve seen it all with my own eyes.’
A silence fell on the room, like the pregnant seconds between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I met her for coffee. Yesterday morning. She showed me photos of her and Dominic together. They were all dated on her iPhone – there was no way she could have been lying. And there were dozens of messages – texts, WhatsApps, emails – all from his number and his email address. She wasn’t making it up.’
Livvy grabbed Leo’s change bag from the floor, began stuffing his toys inside.
‘What are you doing?’
‘What do you think I’m doing?’
‘Livvy, please—’
Livvy spun around, anger throbbing in her cheeks. ‘You play amateur detective and think you’ve found some dirt on Dominic – who, let’s be honest, you haven’t liked since day one – and you expect me to stay and listen to it?’
‘For god’s sake, Livvy, he told Daisy he was adopted.’
Livvy stopped abruptly, as though in a game of Musical Statues. ‘That’s ridiculous. Why on earth would he say that?’
‘I don’t know. But that’s what he told her. He said he was adopted as a baby, and when he tried to find his birth parents, they didn’t want to meet him. He told her his adoptive parents felt so hurt that his relationship with them had broken down. Daisy said it made her feel sorry for him, but after things got weird between them, she wondered if it was even true.’
The story lurched inside Livvy’s head.
‘Something about Dominic doesn’t add up, Livvy. He never told you about Daisy. He’s told you completely different stories about his parents. And there’s a pattern to the way he dated you both, love-bombing you, reeling you in. Can’t you see that something’s just not right?’ Bea paused, as if rehearsing what to say next. ‘I’m worried about you. It’s like you’ve lost all sense of yourself, as though you just go along with whatever Dominic wants. Do you really think that’s what a marriage should look like?’
Livvy gripped the handle of Leo’s change bag tight in her fist. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this. I know you’ve never liked him, but this is actually crazy. You say this woman felt stalked by Dominic? What do you think you’re doing, tracking down his ex-girlfriends, talking to his ex-colleagues? Can’t you see how crazy you’re being?’ She grabbed Leo’s sippy cup, thrust it in the bag, ignored the spray of water that dripped onto the rug. ‘Why are you the only one who can’t see how good Dominic is for me? Mum’s always said our relationship is like something out of a fairy tale. Why can’t you just be happy for me?’
Bea eyed her sadly. ‘Because that’s what bothers me. Fairy tales don’t actually exist.’
Livvy threw her hands into the air in exasperation. ‘Dominic can’t win, can he? One minute you’re accusing him of lying to me. The next you’re saying our relationship is too good to be true. Make your mind up.’
They held each other’s gaze for a few seconds, the conversation pounding at Livvy’s temples.
‘I don’t want to fight with you, Livvy. I just wish you could take a step back and see what’s really going on.’
‘What, because you have more insight into my marriage than I do? Do you have any idea how arrogant that sounds? You haven’t had a boyfriend for twenty years and yet you expect me to take relationship advice from you?’ Livvy stood up and slung the bag over her shoulder. Lifting Leo into her arms, she headed for the door.
‘Please don’t go. Not like this. I’m just trying to look out for you.’ Bea rushed after her, handed Livvy the cloth book she’d left on the rug.
Livvy took it without meeting Bea’s eyes, shoved it in the bag. ‘I don’t need looking out for. And I certainly don’t need you going behind my back, snooping into Dominic’s past. Stop trying to sabotage my life.’
‘I’m not—’
‘Really? Well, you’re doing a pretty good job of acting like it.’ She shifted Leo to the opposite hip, her son heavy in her arms. ‘I need to get Leo home.’ She turned, walked towards the front door, felt her sister close behind.
‘Livvy, please—’
‘Thanks for looking after him this afternoon.’ Livvy’s hand trembled on the front-door lock. Opening it, she stepped through without looking back.
‘Livvy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m just worried about you . . .’
Bea’s voice followed her down the stairs, chasing after her, trying to haul her back, but Livvy kept walking, into the wide expanse of communal hallway, out through the front door and into the street, heart thudding with fury all the way.