The Family Next Door(39)

Fran felt a little shaky herself.

Ange wrenched open the door.

“Oh no no no!” Essie flew to her feet. “Ange, please don’t slam the…”

She closed her eyes at the same time as, in the next room, Polly began to wail.





24


ANGE


Ange gave Essie’s door a terrific slam on her way out. It felt surprisingly good to be angry. So much of her life was spent controlling anger—when speaking to clients who had messed up, with her children whose life’s purpose seemed to be testing her limits, and even with her parents. At some point, clearly, she had internalized the belief that anger was meant to be tempered. What a ridiculous idea. Feeling it, as it turned out, was pretty fantastic.

She charged her way down Essie’s path, but annoyingly she had nowhere to go. It was Sunday afternoon. Lucas had gone to the supermarket, and then was headed to the gym—and the boys were with friends. Ange wondered if she should go kick-boxing or running—something to get all this adrenaline out of her.

She noticed Isabelle coming out of her house.

“Isabelle,” she called.

“Hi, Ange.”

“I’ve been meaning to catch up with you.” Ange said, heading up her path. Annoyingly, she already felt herself reining in her anger, her polite voice going on. The euphoria of her rage faded as though it had never existed.

“I had a call from my assistant about your employment checks. She has been in touch with your nominated workplace and they haven’t been able to confirm your employment.”

“Oh.” Isabelle seemed to flush. “Yes, well, they wouldn’t. Actually I don’t work there anymore. That was my job in Sydney, but now I’m here I’m looking for something else.”

Ange blinked. “You’re … not employed?”

“Not currently. But I have enough money to cover the rent, don’t worry.”

Isabelle smiled. Ange felt a flicker of uncertainty. Hadn’t she said she was moving to Melbourne for work? Ange was sure she had.

“We really require our tenants to be employed when they rent a house. If I’d have known—”

“Is that Lucas?” Isabelle said, pointing over Ange’s shoulder.

Ange turned. Lucas’s car was turning out of the cul-de-sac. “Yes, I think so.” He’d probably dropped off the groceries and now was headed for the gym. But as she watched him turn out of the street, a funny feeling came over her.

She turned back to Isabelle. It took her a moment to recall what they were talking about. “So … er, you’ll give me the details of your new employer once you find a job?”

Isabelle smiled again. Her smile, Ange noticed, wasn’t entirely warm. “Of course. You’ll be the first to know.”

“Well … good. Thanks.”

Ange turned and scurried down the path. When she reached the bottom she pulled up short, realizing what had caused her funny feeling.

Lucas had turned right. The gym was left.





25


BARBARA


“Barbie?”

Barbara suppressed the urge to snap at Ben for calling her that since he had, after all, answered the phone. She knew a lot of sons-in-law who would have let it go to voice mail, and she knew she should consider herself lucky.

“Yes, it’s me,” she said. “I need to talk to you.”

“All right,” he said, but he sounded distracted. She could hear someone talking to him in the background whispering something about a Zumba class.

“Ben,” Barbara said, “I really need you to listen.”

There was a bit more whispering and then Ben said, “All right, Barbie. You have my full attention.”

“Thank you. Look, I was just over at your place and Polly hadn’t slept.”

Ben was quiet a moment. “Okay?”

“She doesn’t seem herself, Ben. I’m worried about her.”

“Polly?”

Barbara dug her nails into her palm. She wondered if Ben was intentionally trying to infuriate her. She wouldn’t have put it past him. “Essie.”

“Essie doesn’t seem herself?” Now she had his full attention. “In what way?”

“She’s exhausted. She’s irritated with Mia and she’s struggling with Polly. And I wonder if she’s become a little too consumed with Isabelle?”

“Isabelle?” From Ben’s tone, he clearly didn’t share her concern. “What has she got to do with this?”

Barbara tried to figure out how to explain it in a way that Ben would understand. The fact was that ever since Essie was a little girl, she had gotten into these intense friendships. She’d become friendly with a girl from school that Barbara had never heard of, and all of a sudden, the girl would be coming for sleepovers every weekend. Essie would be constantly on the phone with the girl and mentioning her name in every other sentence. Often she’d even start dressing like the other girl. And she’d lose all sense of who she was. It made her a good target for people who needed something. All they had to do was offer their friendship and Essie would offer everything she had in exchange.

“I just think she should be focusing on her family right now,” Barbara said. “After last time, I don’t think she can afford to be investing all this time in a new friend.”