Mercy took a sip of her beer and turned to Zelda. "And hows Ty?"

Zel smiled a wicked smile, as well she might seeing as how she and Ty had dramatically got back together the night of the slumber party and were now an item. "Oh, hes just fine."

"Not stashed away in the bas.e.m.e.nt tonight preparing for a spot of canoodling?" As had been the case the last time theyd all met up, naughty, naughty Zel.

"Oooh, canoodle," said Zel admiringly. "Good word."

"Thanks," said Mercy with a tiny bow. "Its my New Word of the Day."

Faith raised her eyebrows. "You still do that?"

"Of course."

"What was yesterdays?"

"Shebang."

"Day before that?" asked Faith, looking impressed.

"Piddle."

"Nice," said Zel. "Well, as far as Im aware, Ty is nowhere near the bas.e.m.e.nt, but hopefully warming our bed on the barge instead."

The happiness radiating from both her and Dawn was palpable, and Mercy couldnt help but feel a stab of envy, which she quickly suppressed because it really wasnt warranted. "If I didnt have so much on my plate at the moment Id be so envious of you two."

"I am envious of them," said Faith, pushing her long dark unruly hair off her face with a sigh, "even if the men theyre loved up with are my brothers, which, you know, I try not to think about too much."

Dawn smiled the smile of a very happy woman. "So who has news?"

"Not me," said Faith a bit morosely. "Same old, same old, here."

"One of our wines has just won an award," said Mercy. "Best white under twenty-five dollars. The presentation dinner is here in New York at the beginning of December."

"Wow, thats great," said Dawn. "Congratulations."

Mercy grinned. "Thanks. Its a Torrontes. Crisp and fruity. Quite light. Think lychees, grapefruit and peaches."

"Im thinking breakfast," said Zel, raising her gla.s.s in a toast. "But congratulations."

"And from me too. Thats fantastic," said Faith with a smile. "Although Pop would say that iron, hops and horse blanket are the only tasting notes worth knowing," she added, referring to her father, JP, who owned the pub although he largely left the day-to-day running of it to her.

"Is JP not around this evening?" asked Dawn.

Faith shook her head. "Not tonight."

"Thats a shame," said Mercy. "Hes such a charmer." And totally unlike her own father, who, although hed unbent slightly over the years so that they no longer locked horns quite so often, was hardly all smiley and twinkly-eyed like JP.

"Hed be here if he could," said Faith with a smile. "He has a very soft spot for you, Mercy."

"The feeling is entirely mutual. Please give him my love."

"I will."

"Hows he doing?" asked Zel.

Faith shrugged, her smile fading. "Hes doing OK. He has good days and bad days. Increasingly more of the latter. If only hed have the surgery..." She gave herself a quick shake and fixed another bright smile to her face. "Anyway, lets talk about something else."

"How about my news?" said Zelda casually, lifting her drink and taking a long suck on her straw.

All eyes swivelled in her direction, dropping to her abdomen and she nearly choked on her mojito. "No, not that," she spluttered. "G.o.d, you guys. That would be pretty quick, even for me. No. Seb called. He wants a reconciliation."

Silence fell. Jaws dropped. Mercy nearly slid off the bench. "A reconciliation?" she said, once shed recovered the power of speech.

"Apparently."

"How?" she said, a bit dazed. "What? I mean, why?"

"Im not entirely sure," said Zelda, looking pensive as she twiddled her straw. "He called me a couple of days ago. He said he wanted to talk."

Seb, the man who resolutely didnt do talking, wanted to talk? What on earth was going on? Mercy blinked. "Is he ill?"

Zel shook her head. "He didnt seem to be when I saw him."

And, wham, there was another shock to her system. "You saw him?"

"Of course," said Zel. "Ive spent half my life trying to get him to talk. He says he wants to talk? Im not going to pa.s.s up the chance."

"When?" said Mercy.

"Yesterday. I went round to the house."

"What did he say?"

Zelda frowned into the middle distance as if trying to remember. "He didnt say all that much, actually. There was lots of hair tugging. Lots of teeth gritting. Lots of jaw tightening. But once hed got over his discomfort he muttered some stuff about responsibilities and guilt in relation to the two of us and then said hed like to try and work it through." She shrugged. "At least I think that was the gist of it. He wasnt the most coherent Ive heard him, to be honest."

Mercy sat back, reeling. "My G.o.d," she said because that was all her stupefied brain could manage.

Zel nodded. "I know. I was pretty astonished too."

"Do you think he means it?" asked Dawn.

"He seemed to. And why would he say it if he doesnt?"

"He wouldnt," said Mercy.

"No." Zel paused. Frowned. "He blames himself for the accident. Thats sad. I never fully understood that, probably because he wouldnt ever talk about it. But it explains a lot."

It did. And Mercy had known, although shed never said anything. Initially, in the days following her and Sebs one night stand, she hadnt wanted to rock Zels recovery. Then she hadnt wanted to have to explain the circ.u.mstances in which shed guessed. But perhaps she should have done, she thought as another wave of guilt washed over her. Perhaps she would have saved Zel a whole lot of heartache.

"So how do you feel?" asked Faith.

"Honestly?" said Zelda. "A bit wary. I dont want to get too excited in case he changes his mind but I cant seem to help it. Its what Ive wanted for so long. You all know that. And now its finally within my reach."

"Did he say why hed had a change of heart?" Mercy asked.

Zelda shook her head. "No."

Dawn picked up her drink. "Maybe what you said to him the night of Zels party did make an impression, Mercy, despite what you thought."

"Maybe," she said doubtfully, trying to keep a lid on the hope that was welling up inside her at the thought that perhaps she hadnt failed after all. That perhaps she had actually managed to fix things. "But it could have been anything. An epiphany. A blow to the head. Anything."

"Pretty coincidental timing, though, you must admit," said Dawn.

"I guess," said Mercy.

"I think it was because of you," said Zelda. "Because what I said to him that evening certainly didnt seem to make an impression. But even if it wasnt, thank you anyway for sticking up for me and being so loyal."

"Youre welcome."

"There was one thing I was curious about, though..."

For some reason Mercy felt a flicker of apprehension. "What?"

"Seb said that he came to see me just after I went into rehab to see how I was doing. Apparently I told him he was too late and to f.u.c.k off." Zelda frowned and bit her lip. "I dont remember it. I was in a bit of a state at the time. But it sounds plausible."

"Could he be making it up?" asked Dawn.

Zelda shook her head. "He knew too much about the center. Details. He was there. The thing is," she said, looking a bit bemused, "how did he know where I was? I mean, that information never appeared in the press."

Ah.

Mercy felt her heart lurch and her cheeks heat and looked down at her drink because the conversation was now heading into dangerous territory and maybe if she didnt draw attention to herself everyone might just skip over it.

"Did you ask him?" asked Faith.

Zelda nodded. "He was vague. Said hed been told."

"Who by?"

"He didnt say."

"Maybe he had his finger on the pulse more than any of us realized," said Dawn.

"I dont think so. It sounded like a visit on impulse, which is unlike Seb."

Silence fell then for a few heavy, awkward moments, and Mercy was just considering a timely trip to the bathroom when Zelda suddenly turned her gaze on her.

"Youre the only one who knew where I went, Mercy," she said, fixing those piercing blue eyes that had looked out of many a billboard on her. "You found it. You researched it. You helped me get there."

Mercys mouth went dry and to her appall she could feel the burn in her cheeks spread across her whole face. "Dawn knew," she pointed out, just about resisting the urge to press her cold gla.s.s against her forehead. "I told her."

"Only quite a while after," said Dawn.

"Oh, yes," she muttered. "Thats right."

"Why have you gone red?" asked Faith, peering at her way too closely for her liking.

"I havent gone red," said Mercy, doing a Seb and going for denial because actually maybe there was something to be said for it.

"Yes, you have," said Faith. "Youre as red as a beet."

Mercy blinked as if uncomprehending. "Beet?" she said slowly. "What is this 'beet?"

"Nice try, Mercs. Problem is, your vocabulary is better than mine, Miss Piddle Canoodle Shebang."

"I think youre hiding something," said the annoyingly perceptive Dawn.

"Youre wrong," said Mercy firmly, wishing like h.e.l.l she was a better liar.

"No, she isnt," said Zelda slowly, her eyes widening with dawning realization. "You spoke to Seb, didnt you?"

Mercy swallowed, her heart thumping. "You know I did."

"No, before the night of my slumber party, I mean."

Dropping her hand Mercy squirmed on the banquette and opened her mouth to deny it again, but she knew her friends, knew they werent going to let it go, and anyway, maybe it was time she came clean and faced the consequences. "OK, fine," she said with a little huff. "Yes. I did."

"When?"

"Five years ago. Youd just gone into rehab. I know wed agreed to keep it a secret but I thought he ought to know how bad things had gotten. I wanted to make him see."

"Why the flaming cheeks then?" asked Faith. "What is there to be embarra.s.sed about? Seems like a pretty decent thing to do to me."

"And why have you never mentioned it before now?" added Zelda.

Mercy felt a bead of sweat trickle between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and wished someone would switch on the d.a.m.n air conditioning. "Well...I...you know..." she said, sounding so pathetically unconvincing she wanted to kick herself. "I didnt think hed listened to me...I thought Id failed..."

"Theres something else, though, isnt there?" said Dawn.

"No," said Mercy, widening her eyes in a stab at innocence. "Why? What else would there be?"

"Im not sure," said Dawn.

"Must have been a pretty short conversation," said Zelda. "The name of the clinic was pretty much all Seb knew. He didnt know about anything else Id been up to. Not in great detail anyway. And he didnt know about you pulling me out of that squat in the Pigalle. He didnt know much actually."

"No. Well. Youre right," said Mercy, panic fluttering inside her. "It was a short conversation. Very short. He was busy, I was busy, you know how it is... And I was in New York on business anyway. Not a lot of effort had to be made."

"Hmm. Well. I dont know about the rest of you," said Dawn dryly, "but Im sensing evasion."