‘She’s your co-star, isn’t she? Doesn’t she play your sister?’ I ask.
‘Yes. But I can’t quite get a handle over whether we’re friends or not. She’s already put half of this evening on her Insta stories.’ I see Ruby studying the girl’s face, trying to work her out. Like Sonny, she’s also twenty-four. They’re in a cut-throat business and just trying to work out who to like, who to trust.
‘I met two girls you went to school with before, they seem nice?’ I say, trying to divert her attention.
‘Oh my god, yeah. They’re my bridesmaids. Known them since year eight. They were raving about your party bags by the way…’
‘Oh, well… That’s my pleasure for their pleasure,’ I say, thinking of the very excellent sex toys I’ve put in. ‘You know, it’s the friends who’ve been around for years that count. Hang around with them, enjoy yourself. Tonight is about you.’
She comes in to hug me. ‘You’ve always been really nice to me. Thank you. I’m so glad we’re going to be sisters.’
It’s a drunken hug, but it’s welcome. I do like you, Ruby. I like how happy you make my brother and how behind that media personality there is someone who cares. She bought me a hamper at Christmas, not just some random thing ordered off a website but full of my preferred peanut butter, green tea body scrub, my favourite Prosecco, and it was even personalised. I also know it was not from my brother, who is king of the gift card. I hold her close. I especially like how she walked into our very colourful family and didn’t flinch at all of the madness.
A waiter comes up to us and offers us some more canapés. I can see your willy but you’re offering me smoked salmon so I don’t mind. I down some of my cocktail to go with it.
‘While I’m here too, I’m so sorry it didn’t work out with Cam. Sonny’s been telling me bits and pieces. I never knew whether to say anything.’
As soon as she says Cameron’s name, my paintbrush moves on the canvas, so it now looks like Julius has a hammer for a schlong. It’s just been one yo-yo of a day from hash browns to my ex-fiancé’s wife and now a very in your face hen do. I’m not sure I can process anything else but the way Ruby says Cam feels familiar.
‘You knew him? Cameron?’ I ask.
‘Indirectly. He’s good friends with my assistant. It’s why he was at the Halloween party.’
I pretend to paint, holding the paintbrush up to the air and closing one eye like I’ve seen artists do.
‘I hadn’t realised you two were a thing. I heard bits and bobs off Sonny, but somehow I never worked out that it was Cam. I think I’ve just been too consumed by the wedding…’ she says, her teeth gritted. ‘I only realised after that debate thing.’
‘How much do you know about him?’ I ask.
‘Well, he’s been through it all,’ Ruby continues. Do I stop her? Or do I need to know? ‘Him and his girlfriend had his daughter when they were just out of university. And it just didn’t work out. He was so broken. It took him a while to get to where they are now. Have you met his daughter?’
I pause for a moment to hear of his relationship trauma, my heart somersaulting with sadness.
‘No. He hadn’t really told me about her.’
I can’t tell if this makes me feel better or worse, the fact that Ruby knew.
‘His family don’t see the granddaughter. They don’t even acknowledge her. My assistant was ready to go to the papers when his crappy dad went on that debate, mouthing off.’
OK. So now I feel doubly worse. It makes me understand why he never said anything. He was protecting her, he didn’t want me involved in a messy situation if we weren’t really a thing. I think back to the dinner party at his parents’ house where his sisters waxed lyrical about their kids and all their achievements and he kept quiet, sitting there like his daughter was a secret.
‘So, he supports her alone?’
‘In a way. He didn’t get to see her on Christmas Day, which was a bit rubbish. But he balances looking after her with work and does his best. He’s one of the good guys.’
I swallow as she says that. He is. Where’s the naked man with the smoked salmon? I need him now so I can stress-eat through all this emotion. In the corner of my eye, I see Mum stop painting to earwig and look down to her lap. It’s just the saddest of stories from all angles and it needed a happier ending, but I guess that’s gone now.
‘Oh god, I’ve upset you, haven’t I?’ Ruby says, worried.
I shake my head. She wasn’t to know. It was all shrouded in secrets and misunderstanding. It wasn’t even a thing, to be fair. In the greater scheme of things, it was a glorified fling.
‘I should have told him about me too, been honest from the start. But when I first met him, I didn’t know where it was going… He’d just broken up with Imogen.’
‘Oh god, nasty girl. Energy vampire… The one who cheated on him with…’
‘His best mate?’
‘Yeah, that one. The best mate was renting a room to help with his mortgage and now’s he gone…’
