This Could Change Everything(7)

‘OK, look . . . I didn’t do anything. I know what’s happened,’ Jay said suddenly. ‘It was the cat. She walked across your keyboard. I bet that’s what it was. You know what cats are like.’

Essie stared at him. ‘Are you seriously saying that’s how the email got sent out?’

‘Yes!’

Her voice rose. ‘And you’re actually expecting me to believe it?’

‘That’s what cats do! They walk over things!’ Still on the floor, Jay made cat’s paws out of his hands and mimed them padding along.

‘So you reckon Ursula pressed All and then she pressed Send. Of course she did. Oh God, Paul’s going to dump me, his mother’s going to sack me, my life is going to be over and I’m never, ever going to forgive you for this . . . Aaargh!’ Essie let out an even louder shriek of alarm as behind her, someone cleared their throat. She spun round wildly. ‘What’s going on? Who the hell are you?’

‘I’m Lucas. I’m sorry. I did it. It was me.’

‘You what?’ Essie stared at the stranger in the living room, then back at her brother on the floor. ‘Who is he? What’s he doing here?’ It was like the worst kind of dream, except she wasn’t dreaming. That would be far too easy.

Jay shrugged. ‘His name’s Lucas. I met him at the party last night. He’d lost his jacket with his wallet and keys in it and couldn’t get home. And it was, like, four in the morning, so I said he could stay here. I knew you wouldn’t mind.’

‘You’re telling me a complete stranger spent the night in our spare room, even though he could have been anyone. And you didn’t even think to ask me if it was OK?’

‘Oh come on,’ Jay protested. ‘At four o’clock in the morning? You told me not to wake you up! Anyway, if I had asked you earlier, you know you’d have said yes.’

‘I offered to sleep on the sofa,’ said Lucas, ‘but your brother insisted I took the bed.’

‘But first you sent my letter to everyone?’ Essie could scarcely bear to look at him; she was shaking. ‘Why? Why would you do that?’

‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It was such a bad idea.’ He shook his head helplessly. ‘We’d been to a great party, we’d had some drinks . . . well, quite a few drinks . . . then we came back here in a taxi. Jay picked up your laptop to move it somewhere safe, and that was when all the stuff you’d been writing appeared on the screen. So we read it, and we thought it was hilarious, then Jay went off to the bathroom and I just . . . you know, kind of . . . sent it.’

‘Because?’

He shrugged. ‘I guess we’d thought it was funny, so why not give more people a laugh? It was one of those stupid, spur-of-the-moment decisions. The next thing I knew, I was pressing Send to All, then I closed the laptop and headed up to bed. It wasn’t your brother’s fault. He didn’t know I’d done anything. It was all me.’

Through gritted teeth, Essie said, ‘Great.’

‘Again, sorry. I’m an idiot.’

‘I wrote some awful things about my boyfriend’s mother. It was a private joke between my best friend and me. No one else was ever going to see it, let alone the people I’d written about. But now you’ve sent it to them.’ There was a dull ache in Essie’s chest. She knew she was in shock; her brain was doing its best to protect her by shutting out the worst of the panicky thoughts that were ricocheting around it.

‘Is there any way we can delete the email? There must be,’ said Jay.

‘There isn’t.’ Essie shook her head. ‘Not once it’s been sent.’

‘Well there should be.’ Jay frowned. ‘Someone needs to invent an app for that. They’d make themselves a fortune.’

Lucas looked at him for a long moment, his jaw taut. Then he turned back to Essie. ‘OK, I’ve got it. You tell them it was nothing to do with you. I’ll say I wrote the whole thing. They can’t blame you for that, can they? Not if I go and see them and confess.’

Essie considered this option, willing it to be possible but already aware that it wasn’t. The details she’d included in the letter had clearly come from her. No one else would have been able to invent them.

‘It’s no good, it wouldn’t work. They’d know it was me.’ Tears of frustration sprang into her eyes as she realised there was no way out. No amount of grovelling would ever make up for this.

‘I’m sorry,’ Lucas repeated.

‘You keep saying it, but it doesn’t help. You have no idea what you’ve done. You’ve ruined my life, quite literally ruined it.’ The words caught in Essie’s throat as she took a shuddery breath. ‘I don’t even know you, but I despise you.’ She hated crying, but it was happening anyway; the tears were sliding down her cheeks and dripping off her chin. ‘And I never, ever want to see you again. Go, please. Just leave.’ She looked at him and pointed to the front door. ‘You’ve done enough.’

Breaking the ensuing deathly silence, Jay said, ‘What about me? Do you want me to stay?’

Essie shook her head. ‘No point. There’s nothing you can do.’

‘OK.’ He glanced at Lucas. ‘Come on, let’s go. I’ll call a cab.’