“Scarlett’s business partner’s number.”
“Zoe?”
Milly shrugs. “Yeah.”
“Fuck me, Mills, you could’ve said something.”
Picking up the phone, I call Zoe.
“Ilahi Design and Interiors, Zoe speaking, can I help you?”
“Zoe, it’s Jack Cole. Is Scarlett with you?”
“Nope, not doing this,” she responds before ending the call.
“The fuck?” I say to the phone as I hit redial. The call goes straight to voice message.
“Zoe, what the fuck? I’ve lost my fucking phone, the police have been here and only just told me what happened last night, and I can’t get hold of Scarlett. Can you please ask her to call me back on this or one of the numbers I’m about to text to her phone?”
I end the call, reach for my sister’s phone, and send the office, Milly’s, and Finn’s numbers to both Scarlett and Zoe.
On top of my exploding head, I now feel like I’m about to have a heart attack. How did everything go from a perfect Saturday arvo to such a catastrophic shit show disaster of a I morning? And I’ve yet to even deal with Eden and her bullshit.
“Can you text me the address of Scarlett’s showroom?” I ask my sister.
“I could, but it’d be pretty fucking pointless.”
The dumb fuckedness of my question hits me before Milly even finishes telling me I’m an idiot without actually telling me I’m an idiot.
“You’ve lost your phone, remember?”
“Fuck.” I once again throw out to the Universe. “Can you just do it the old-fashioned way and write it on a piece of paper for me then, fucking smartarse?”
She flips me her middle finger while at the same time scribbling on a post-it. Handing it to me, she says, “Good luck.”
“Thanks,” I say at the same time as I stand and let out a deep sigh.
“Stay,” I tell Mick as I head towards the door.
“Jack,” Milly calls as I reach the door.
I turn and give her a chin lift. “Don’t let Eden ruin whatever it is you’ve got going on with Scarlett. I know she’s Finn’s mum, but she needs to go, and I mean gone, cut all communication.”
“I know. Let me sort things with Scar, then I’ll go home and talk to . . .”
“Repeat after me, Jack, ‘I’m not just gonna talk to her, I’m gonna tell her she needs to go’. I’m not coming home till she’s out. I’ve no fucking clue what she’s doing here anyway.”
“Me neither, but she’s gone, don’t stress.”
“Love you,” my sister calls as I turn back to face the door. The first smile of the day hits my lips. It’s soon wiped off my face when I reach into the pocket of my work pants for my phone to call Scarlett. Once again, I throw my head back and shout another “Fuck” to the world.
* * *
The only peopleI find at Scarlett’s showroom are a couple of blokes putting in a new window, and a bloke who tells me he’s from the insurance company.
The place is a mess. Pretty much everything has been smashed and is covered in spray paint. The word cunt sprayed on nearly every surface.
With no sign of her there, I head to her apartment, and again get no response when I press the buzzer. Making my way around to the underground carpark, I find her car in its designated spot, but Zoe’s is missing. Making myself comfortable, I sit down on my arse and wait.
