Knife Edge Read Online Free PDF Page A

initial panic was gone now but she remained on edge, unable to settle back into the normal routine of the weekend.
    She needed to calm down, get her head together before she ruined everything.
    Rob had disappeared upstairs to do some work and she moved restlessly between rooms, looking for something to distract her. Pouring herself a glass of wine, she picked up a magazine from the worktop and sat down at the kitchen table, flicking through the pages.
    The phone startled her when it rang.
    Kim twisted around to retrieve it from her pocket, then peered down at the screen to see who was calling.
    Sarah.
    Normally a phone call from her big sister was something she looked forward to. True, they hadn’t always been close, but in recent years things had improved between them and they’d begun to confide in each other once again, whether the news was good or bad.
    Kim hesitated, a sudden doubt gnawing at her as she let the phone ring in her hand. She wanted to tell Sarah everything, but this was no petty regret or bedroom confession, to be whispered into the microphone and absolved by a gasp and a squeal of suppressed laughter. What was she going to do?
    Her sigh was drowned out by the ringtone as she resigned herself and answered it.
    ‘Hello?’ Trying to sound cheerful, as she propped her forehead on her free hand.
    ‘Hey, sis!’ On another day, Sarah’s bubbly, high-pitched voice might have made her smile. ‘So, how was your little holiday?’
    Kim shut her eyes. She’d been dreading this, on some subconscious level, ever since the night he’d told her. Keeping secrets was alien to her, especially keeping someone else’s.
    ‘It was fine.’ Her own voice sounded so flat.
    ‘Was the cottage nice?’
    ‘Yes, lovely.’ She needed to say more, anything. ‘It was this really remote place, miles from the nearest village. And it was right on the cliffs. You could look out of the windows and see the sea.’
    ‘Mmm, sounds very Daphne du Maurier. Did it rain much? It was bloody awful here.’
    ‘Once or twice. But it wasn’t too bad.’
    Her sister gave a dirty laugh.
    ‘Yeah, well I’m sure you and Rob found ways to entertain each other. Remember that time when Simon and I were in Italy and we had that downpour that lasted three days …?’
    Her voice babbled on, but Kim couldn’t follow her. She wanted to say something, but every sentence threatened to get away from her, to reveal what Rob had told her, and she knew now that she couldn’t tell anyone about that. Not her sister, not anyone. And yet, how could she keep something so awful to herself?
    ‘Hello? Kim?’ Her sister’s voice was calling to her impatiently.
    ‘Sorry, Sarah. What were you saying?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter. Are you OK? You don’t sound like your usual self.’
    She couldn’t tell Sarah, could she? Sarah wouldn’t understand. But then, she didn’t understand herself …
    ‘Kim?’
    ‘I’m just tired,’ she managed, painfully aware of the weariness she felt. That much was true at least.
    ‘Have you and Rob had a fight?’
    For a moment, she was surprised by the notion. But it was a natural assumption for her sister to make, so much easier to accept than the truth. Should she take refuge in that idea? Use it as a cover, to deflect more difficult questions? No, she didn’t want Sarah asking Rob what was wrong.
    ‘Kim, tell me … What’s the matter? Have you guys had a fight?’
    It was the whole truth or nothing. Kim bowed her head in frustration, rubbing her eyes with her free hand. If she told Sarah, she could never take it back, never unsay it. She’d be stepping beyond the point of no return, turning her back on Rob—
    ‘No,’ she said, straightening. ‘I’m just exhausted. Too much fresh air and a lot of late nights – you know what I mean.’
    She felt the moment slipping away, and then it was gone.
    ‘Anyway, how’s Simon liking his new job?’
    She had committed herself to Rob, to keeping a secret that she