The Hike(20)

Ginny adjusted the straps on her rucksack and started walking again, Cat walking by her side as the path widened. It had turned from a loose beige gravel to a section of flat, silvery rocks. Ginny looked up, shielding her eyes from the late-afternoon sun. The silvery rocks seemed to stretch far off into the distance. It was starting to get steep. She slowed down. ‘Sorry,’ she said, eventually.

Cat said nothing.

Close behind, she could hear the men chattering. Sounded like they were getting on well, now that Tristan had stopped trying to wind Paul up. Tristan had always been good at switching his mood around when it suited him. She was trying to do the same, but it seemed Cat wasn’t biting.

‘Cat? I said I’m sorry.’ Cat still said nothing. Ginny decided to carry on talking, hoping Cat would join in eventually. ‘I finally got a recipe for that weird vegetable. The kohlrabi? Remember, I took one with us to Norfolk and I didn’t have a clue—’

‘Oh, shut up, will you? Let’s just get to the top of this bit in peace.’

Ginny turned her head so hard she almost gave herself whiplash. ‘No need to be such a bitch, Catty-Cat. I’m only making conversation.’

Cat’s eyes flared. ‘It’s always the same with you, Ginny. You think it’s fun to humiliate me, don’t you? Using my interesting stories to make up for the fact that all you have is a boring drivel of a life with a bunch of vacuous followers and a husband who doesn’t give two shits about you. You never ask anything about my life. You never get involved in any of my work—’

‘Jesus. Calm down, will you? It was just a stupid story. Anyway, I’m meant to be a silent partner, remember? I said that from the start . . .’

‘No, you didn’t. When I started the business, I told you I needed help. I told you I could use your social media expertise. You said you were happy to be involved. But you’ve left me high and dry. Then you spend your time messing about with ridiculous recipes, and—’

‘I gave you the money, Cat. That’s what you really wanted, was it not?’

Cat stopped walking. Ginny stopped too. The men were almost on top of them now.

‘Girls? Everything OK?’ Tristan looked amused, but there was steel in his eyes. He could quite easily flip again, Ginny knew.

‘Cat?’ Paul sounded concerned.

Ginny felt the heat rising. She could see from Cat’s face that she was ready to explode. ‘Cat . . .’

‘And where exactly did that money come from, hmm?’

Ginny swallowed. ‘I don’t think this is really the time—’

‘Oh, what better time, little sister.’ Cat snorted. ‘Perhaps the others can help me to understand why it was you who was left in charge of the inheritance, as the younger sibling. Why it was you who decided to keep it all for yourself . . .’

‘I gave you what you asked for, Cat.’ Ginny’s voice rose an octave. ‘I told you, you can always ask me for more . . .’

Cat shook her head. ‘Why should I have to ask you? It should have been an even split.’

Ginny lowered her voice. ‘You didn’t contest it at the time.’

‘I was fucking grieving, Ginny. While you were deciding what to spend the money on . . . while you were already designing yourself a brand-new kitchen. I was grieving.’

Ginny was lost for words. She knew her sister was right, but she’d always hoped that she’d gotten away with it. She had been left all the money to distribute as she saw fit. Cat was well within her rights to be angry. But now wasn’t the time, or the place. So Ginny said nothing and walked on ahead.





Fourteen

SATURDAY, EARLY EVENING

Cat dug her nails into her palms. She wanted to scream. But instead, she kept quiet and watched Ginny march on ahead, Tristan following close behind his wife. What the hell had he been thinking, touching Cat’s leg like that in the restaurant? Thankfully she didn’t think that Ginny had had any idea it was happening, but if these were the kinds of stunts he was pulling, it was no wonder Ginny thought he was cheating. Because, of course, Ginny was right. Bringing up the inheritance had been a way to deflect from talk of sex in toilets and affairs. It would all come tumbling out soon enough, but it had to be on Cat’s terms.

That was the plan.

Cat blew out a long, slow breath, trying to calm herself down.

The path veered off into the mountainside, taking them away from that steep drop down into the valley, and across another meadow. Paul caught up with her, took her elbow. She shrugged him off.

‘What’s got into you? Why bring all that up with her now? She’s hardly going to give you a sensible explanation when we’re eighteen hundred metres up a mountain and we’re all bloody knackered.’

Cat sighed. Paul was right, for once. She had to get her head sorted. There was no point in getting worked up when they still had so much walking to do. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I feel a bit funny. I have done since that dizzy spell back by the lake, when we took the wrong turn.’

‘It’s the altitude, probably. And the heat. That sun has been beating down on us all day, and none of us has drunk anywhere near enough water. It’s no surprise you feel weird. I think we all do—’

‘The rest of you are just hiding it better, are you?’