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“Let me tell you the situation before you say no.” I cleared my throat. “Okay?”
She sighed again and said, “Fine, but don’t expect to change my mind.”
“Hey, Soph?” I asked, lowering my voice and trying to remind her of our hours-long friendship in that hotel room.
Her eyes looked a little wider all of a sudden, a little softer as she said, “Yeah?”
“Try and remember the way you felt the morning of your wedding while I tell you this, okay?”
A storm crossed her face as her forehead creased and she swallowed. She said nothing, but looked at me expectantly.
“So TJ is a kindergarten teacher with a heart of gold. When he was deployed with the National Guard for six months, his girlfriend, Callie, cheated on him, but he forgave her and ultimately proposed a year later.”
“Fool,” she said, raising her coffee to her mouth.
“Agreed,” I replied. “Fast-forward to last weekend. He’s at his bachelor party, and one of his groomsmen goes to the washroom and leaves his phone on the table. TJ accidentally sees a text from Callie.”
“Ohmigod, she’s cheating on him with a groomsman?” Sophie said, disgusted. “Seriously?”
“Nope. The groomsman is her brother. But the text says to keep TJ out late because she wants to have a goodbye with Ronnie—the guy she cheated with. Not only that, but she says, ‘Try and get a pic of TJ with the stripper so I have something to hold over him. Buy him a lap dance.’ ”
“Noooo,” Sophie said, her mouth dropping open. “That bitch.”
I could tell I was reaching her.Do it, do it, do it.
“So TJ says he’s sick and bails, getting home in time to log in to her iPad and see all of her texts with Ronnie. Nightmarish explicit content—”
“Gross,” she murmured.
“But in addition to the cheating, they totally mockhimintheir conversations. Laugh at what a fool he is, refer to him by a nickname—nasty stuff.”
“What’s the nickname?” she asked, and I noticed her mask of measuredness was gone. She looked fully immersed in the drama of the story, kind of adorably wide-eyed.
“The Kindergartener,” I replied, and just saying it made my gut hurt. Poor fucking TJ.
We’d been friends since junior high even though we went to different schools, and while I opted to avoid relationships entirely, he’d always thrown himself into one girlfriend after another, desperate to find his happily-ever-after.
Sophie didn’t comment but just gave a nod, and I could tell that part bothered her. She suddenly looked sad, and I didn’t like it, but I kept going.
Ireallywanted her to save TJ.
“TJ is devastated, but what can he do? Callie’s three older brothers are scary redneck cops in their small town, her uncle is the sheriff, and her dad holds the mortgage on TJ’s house.”
She shook her head and said, “Is this real? This cannot be real.”
“Right?” If I didn’t know TJ, I wouldn’t believe it myself. “If TJ throws her over, his life in that town is destroyed.”
“Damn,” she said, slowly shaking her head.
“But if someoneelseairs the dirty laundry, it won’t be on him. I’d help if I could, but I think a guy inserting himself in the situation is just asking to visit the hospital.”
“Lovely,” she said, blinking fast.
“The good thing for you is that these macho pricks and their redneck town have an antiquated sense of chivalry, so they would never hit a woman.”
“Extraordinary news,” she said dryly.
“He needs your help.”
