Paige’s mouth drops open, rendering her momentarily speechless.
“And then I found Jack’s watch—the one I gave him for our anniversary—hidden in a drawer in her room.”
“I’ll fucking kill the pair of them,” seethes Paige.
“That’s not going to solve anything,” says Rachel, attempting to smile.
“I am not going to stand by and let this carry on,” says Paige. “She’s supposed to be getting married today, for God’s sake.”
“I know, I know,” says Rachel, already wishing she’d kept it all to herself. It will only serve to complicate matters now that Paige is on the case, as she won’t let anyone get away with anything.
“Have you confronted Jack? Asked him how he can possibly justify what he’s doing to his brother?”
Rachel doesn’t want to tell her that she’s already tested the waters and he just used it as an opportunity to throw Noah back in her face.
She shakes her head. “I think I should talk to Ali first.”
“Why?” asks Paige. “It’s Jack you should be focusing on. He’s your husband. Ask him what the fuck he thinks he’s playing at.”
Rachel sniffs. “I don’t know what to do.”
Paige’s arms wrap around Rachel and she falls onto her shoulder. “I’ll deal with this,” she says, her voice icy.
Visions of Paige storming across the wedding reception to confront Jack and Ali are all too easy for Rachel to conjure up. Never one to avoid a confrontation, especially with Jack, she can imagine Paige’s distorted features as she jabs a finger into his chest, telling him how her best friend is too good for him, and that if he thought half as much with his head as he did his dick, he’d realize that too.
“Look, we don’t have proof yet,” says Rachel. “I don’t have proof yet.”
“You saw her coming out of your room,” says Paige, sounding exasperated. “She’s all over him every chance she gets; she’s forever alluding to some kind of private joke; she bought him a cock, for Christ’s sake.”
“It was a rooster,” offers Rachel, as if it makes a difference.
Any one of those, in isolation, wouldn’t have caused Rachel a second thought, especially when it involved someone as outgoing and gregarious as Ali. But collectively …
“And have you thought that the whole passport charade at the airport might have been exactly just that—a charade?” Paige goes on.
Rachel doesn’t need to have the dots pointed out to her; she’s already joined them up herself. “I don’t want you getting involved,” she says. “This isn’t your problem.”
Paige chews the inside of her cheek, distractedly. “No disrespect, but you’ve just made it my problem. Why don’t you talk to Jack, and leave me to have a word with Ali?”
Rachel can’t think of a worse plan if she tries. If Paige goes in all guns blazing at Ali, Ali would only retaliate by telling her about Rachel and Noah. But then she remembers that they’ve already had a confrontation—well, a heated conversation, at least—when they were on the beach. If Ali was going to tell her, why hadn’t she told her then?
“Have you already spoken to Ali?” asks Rachel.
Paige shakes her head. “About what?”
“About Jack.”
“No,” says Paige, without missing a beat.
“So, what were you talking to her about this morning, then?”
“I haven’t seen her this morning,” says Paige, averting her gaze.
Rachel looks at her best friend and wonders why she’s lying. A tightness coils its way around her windpipe as she weighs whether to push it. It feels too important a point not to.
“But I saw you,” she says quietly, as if hoping Paige doesn’t hear her.
“What’s that?” says Paige, leaning in.
Rachel coughs to clear her throat. “I saw you on the beach together, when you went for your run.”
Paige blinks far more times than is natural. “W-what?” she says, her voice wavering between a laugh and a gasp of disbelief.
“It looked like you were arguing. It was hard to tell through the binoculars.”
“You were watching me through binoculars?” asks Paige incredulously.
When she says it like that, it does sound a little creepy.
“Well, yes,” says Rachel, feeling as if she’s been caught snooping. “Noah was watching the surfers, then happened to see you and Ali on the beach.”