Pictures of Lily

pounding.
    ‘Really?’ he asks with interest.
    ‘Yeah. Anyway, we caught up today.’
    ‘That’s bizarre because I heard from an old friend, too, yesterday.’
    Is that it? Am I off the hook? ‘Who?’
    ‘Do you recall me telling you about a girl called Ally who I met in England?’
    ‘Of course I do.’ My heart plummets. ‘She was your girlfriend, wasn’t she?’
    ‘She was,’ he admits. ‘Only for a couple of months. We broke it off when I came back here. We hadn’t been together long enough to put our lives on hold for two years.’
    I only knew Ben for a few weeks and I’ve put my life on hold for a decade . . .
    ‘I remember,’ I say. ‘She was staying on in the UK, but you only had a three-month work visa.’
    ‘That’s right. Don’t worry about it,’ he says quickly, touching my arm.
    ‘Is she back?’ I ask.
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Why is she calling you?’
    ‘Lily, it’s okay,’ he insists, sincerity radiating from his warm brown eyes. ‘She was only calling to say hi. I told her about you. About how we’re engaged. She was really happy for me.’
    ‘Oh.’ My voice softens. ‘Are you planning to see her?’
    ‘Nah,’ he says. ‘I realise that would be a bit weird.’
    How bad do I feel now? ‘You can if you like,’ I say begrudgingly.
    ‘No!’ He laughs and wraps his arms back around me. ‘There’s no point.’
    I sigh and settle into his chest, guiltily.
    ‘How are your family?’ he asks.
    ‘Good. I saw them this morning. Dad mentioned about coming here for dinner tonight, but I thought you might be too knackered.’
    He yawns. ‘I am a bit, but we can have dinner with them. I guess I’d better get showered.’
    ‘Me too.’
    ‘So where have you been today?’ he asks as he gets up.
    Dammit! ‘Er, I went fishing, would you believe?’ I turn away quickly and lead the way to the bedroom.
    ‘Fishing!’ he echoes. ‘Is this friend male or female?’
    ‘Um, male.’ I try to sound casual.
    ‘Right.’ There’s uncertainty to his tone.
    ‘He’s an old friend of Michael’s. He’s, like, forty or something. He used to look out for me when I worked at the park.’
    ‘Sounds a bit dodgy if you ask me.’
    ‘Richard!’ I turn around and slap him, relieved to see he’s joking. ‘He was a good mate.’
    ‘As long as he wasn’t a cradle-snatcher.’
    I laugh, long and hard. A bit too long and hard because he’s looking at me in a funny way. ‘Don’t be a dick. Get in the shower.’
    He grins and walks out of the bedroom to the bathroom.
    Shit! I sit on the edge of the bed. That was horrible. Horrible! I cover my eyes in consternation, then immediately sit up straight again in case Richard returns. The shower turns on in the bathroom so I relax. But it’s only a momentary respite. I know I’m going to feel on edge for some time to come.
    ‘What did you get up to today?’ Dad asks me when the seven of us are seated at a huge wooden oblong table in Manly’s fancy new fish restaurant.
    ‘I went fishing actually, with an old friend.’
    ‘Did you catch anything?’
    ‘I did indeed.’
    ‘Did you?’ Richard interrupts with surprise.
    ‘Yep. I caught a whiting.’
    ‘Where is it?’
    ‘Oh, I left it with Ben.’ His name is out of my mouth before I can think of how else to say that sentence.
    ‘Bummer.’ Richard laughs.
    ‘He was going to fillet it.’
    ‘I know how to fillet fish,’ Richard says casually.
    ‘Do you?’
    ‘Yeah. I used to go fishing with my uncle all the time.’
    ‘I didn’t know that.’
    ‘There are a lot of things you don’t know about me,’ he says jokingly, then puts on a comedy voice. ‘At least we’ve got our whole lives together to find out.’
    My dad looks across at us and smiles warmly.
    Holy shit! I haven’t told him I’m engaged! I cannot believe I forgot to tell my dad – my DAD! – that I’m supposed to be getting married. I’ve been waiting to tell him in person, but then it didn’t even occur to me with everything else that was going on. How can I get out of this without Richard killing me?
    I glance at Richard and smile serenely. ‘I haven’t told them yet,’ I murmur.
    He looks at me, dumbstruck. ‘You haven’t?’
    ‘I wanted us to tell them together.’
    ‘Oh.’ The relief on his face is palpable.
    ‘Go on,’ I urge, plastering the smile even tighter to my face.
    Richard looks momentarily panicked and then gazes across at my dad’s expectant face. ‘Er, I probably should have