Ken nodded emphatically. ‘Probably, yes, if he had inherited it. You can have some really impressive bruises too that are all sorts of colours. It can create problems during surgery of course because it’s hard to stop the bleeding, while aspirin is off limits. It’s particularly bad for females, for obvious reasons.’

Jessica squirmed uncomfortably, thinking he couldn’t have picked a worse time to tell her that. She took a notebook out of her jacket, ensuring she had asked everything she wanted to. She then got Ken to spell out the name of the disease so she could look it up herself.

As she stood to leave, Jessica realised there was something else. ‘Can I ask you one final thing?’ she asked politely.

The man was running his finger around the edge of the bowl but looked up, grinning widely. ‘Of course, dear.’

‘Is your first name Kenneth?’

‘Oh no, of course not.’ He looked at her with the same ‘are you stupid look’ he had before, although she had little time to query why he had asked her to call him by a nickname when he added: ‘It’s Kendall.’

‘Kendall Kenyon?’

He licked the remaining custard from his fingers. ‘That’s right,’ he confirmed, as if it was the most natural revelation. ‘Perhaps you’ve read one of my theory papers?’

Jessica shook her head and said her goodbyes, thinking that, if that’s what the custard did to you in this place, she had made a wise decision turning it down.

Kendall’s information had given Jessica something to think through but without checking more details, she only had the inklings of a theory. She would much rather have continued to work but, seeing as Adam had apparently chosen tonight as the night he was going to finally come clean, Jessica figured it was as good a time as any to get the showdown out of the way.

Wanting to avoid both Dave and Izzy, she went to a restaurant around the corner from the university and treated herself to some chicken and chips, at least wanting to confront Adam on a full stomach.

She ate slowly, keeping an eye on the clock as she wanted to ensure he would get home before her. Usually she would have gone out of her way to avoid the main roads but now Jessica willingly sat in the evening traffic, crawling a few car lengths at a time.

By the time she had parked and taken the lift up to their floor, Jessica was ready for whatever Adam might have to say. She had worked out a few different speeches, some more venomous than others but ultimately she wanted to tell him that she understood. As much as she hated him for lying and going behind her back, she couldn’t deny that she was hard to live with. She deliberately worked long and late; she didn’t sleep well, she had a short attention span, she swore a lot and it was her who had originally broken up with him a few years ago.

Whatever he had done, she accepted she deserved at least some of it.

Jessica took a deep breath and entered the flat, ready for anything except for the scene in front of her. Adam was sitting on the sofa grinning, as the blonde woman from the restaurant sat next to him cradling his face in her hand.

29

Although Jessica had been prepared to forgive him and go their separate ways, she wasn’t ready for the outright slap in the face of him inviting the other woman around. Jessica stood, staring in furious disbelief as the pair gazed into each other’s eyes.

‘I think yours are darker,’ the woman said, before Adam noticed Jessica in the doorway.

‘Jess, you’re back,’ he said, jumping up from the sofa and bounding across the room.

Jessica hadn’t closed the door but she was glaring daggers at him. ‘Who the hell is that?’ she shouted.

Adam was within touching distance of her but took a step back in surprise at the spite in her voice. ‘Jess . . . ?’

Jessica didn’t wait for him to say any more, turning and running out of the door and along the corridor. She hoped the lift would still be there but as she pressed the button, the annoying voice taunted: ‘lift coming . . . up’. Seeing Adam racing towards her, Jessica stormed through the door next to the elevator, rushing down the stairs two at a time. She could hear him calling after her but wasn’t interested in whatever he had to say.

By the time she reached the bottom, his voice had grown silent and she barged through the double doors, heading towards her car. She was practically running as she rounded the corner to find Adam, who had presumably waited for the lift, sitting on her car bonnet. Blinking back tears, she ran at him, ignoring his outstretched arms and punching him hard in the chest. He staggered backwards, his eyes telling the story of surprise.

‘Jess . . . ?’ he protested again, but she wasn’t ready for excuses.

‘Why did you bring her here?’ she shouted, pushing him away as he tried to reach for her.

‘Georgia?’

‘I don’t care what her name is – I saw you. I followed you that night you were working late when you went out with her instead. I sat and watched you chat and laugh in that restaurant.’

Adam’s eyes widened as he moved a loose strand of hair away from his face. ‘It’s not what you think.’

‘I saw you going into the hotel afterwards.’

Jessica swung an arm out towards him, catching him in the sternum before he reached out and grabbed both of her hands to restrain her.

Jessica struggled but his grip was firmer than she had ever known it. She wanted to be strong but instead she felt the tears streaming down her face.

‘Jess, I was only checking the room where she was staying, honestly, that’s all.’

‘Why were you there at all?’

Adam continued to grip her wrists as she flailed. ‘Because she’s my sister. Well, half-sister . . .’

Jessica finally stopped struggling as Adam released her. She couldn’t stop the tears but shoved her hair out of her face. ‘You’re an only child.’

Jessica remembered standing in the kitchen of Adam’s grandmother’s house when he first told her the story of how his mother had died during childbirth. His father had killed himself not long afterwards because he was only interested in his wife, not his son.

It was that day she knew she was in love with him.

There were tears in Adam’s eyes as he responded. ‘That’s why I didn’t tell you before – I didn’t know if it was true either.’

As she leant against her car, Jessica couldn’t stop crying. She used her sleeves to try to dry her eyes but the tears kept coming. Eventually Adam pulled his jumper over his head and handed it to her. ‘Just don’t blow your nose,’ he said with a forced laugh.

The lump in Jessica’s throat was so large that she could barely breathe, let alone speak. In her head, she was trying to put the pieces together but it didn’t seem real.

‘I had a letter out of the blue a little while ago,’ Adam said. ‘You never know nowadays if it’s someone trying to scam you. It was from a woman named Georgia who had an address in Bath. She said her father had recently died and she had been sorting through his things. She found a letter that had come from her mother. She was brought up all these years thinking her mum had abandoned her.’

Jessica used the jumper to wipe her eyes but the tears continued to come. ‘How did she find you?’

‘The letter came from someone named Janet Boyes, which was my mum’s maiden name. It told Georgia’s dad to stop contacting her but because her full name was there, Georgia started digging into things and found a marriage notice for my mum and dad. When my mum died, it was in the papers, so she discovered a son named Adam Compton and started trying to find me. She saw on the university’s website there was someone with my name working there, so wrote to me on the off-chance.’