“She’s a patient.”
“A patient?” Autumn’s eyes narrow, her hands clutching Chad like she’s protecting her precious man from me. “Why is she wearing the anniversary gift you gave me, then?”
“Yes, why am I?” This ought to be good.
Chad maintains eye contact with Autumn, doing everything he can to avoid looking at me. “I’m not sure. I found it in my office some time ago—you probably left it there when you cameby, and I meant to bring it back and give it to you. Guess she took it during our last appointment. She must have seen it on my desk.”
Katt raises both eyebrows. Dad chokes on his tea, and Mom clucks her tongue.
Blood shoots straight into my head as humiliation wells. “Are you calling me athief?”
“No.” Chad finally turns back to me. “I’m giving my wife a possible explanation as to why you might be in possession of her ring.”
“Wife?” I screech.
He puts on a let’s-all-be-reasonable expression, then attempts to spread his arms and fails, since his wife is still clinging to him. “Look, I don’t want to make things more difficult. I know you’re obsessed with me, but all I’ve ever done is clean your teeth—”
“Yeah, with yourtongue.” I fantasize about drilling his teeth without any anesthesia.
Chad flinches, his face turning white. Calculations flash in his eyes as he struggles for something to say that will salvage the situation.
“Oh my God, are you a home-wrecker?” Mom says with a hand over her chest. If she were wearing a necklace, she’d be clutching it.
Dad pats her back. His judgmental eyes accuse me of destroying a man’s family. Katt merely presses her lips together, but there’s a hint of gleefulschadenfreudein her gaze.
Tears start to fall down my cheeks. I feel terribly alone. It’s obvious that Chad is a shitty human being and a cheater, butthis? “Shouldn’t you at least have some faith in me and ask me for my side of the story before ganging up on me? He’s a stranger to you!” My voice rises at the end despite myself.
My parents look at me like that thought has never crossed their minds. My chest feels weighted down by a giant boulder.
“What’s going on, Klein?”
I close my eyes, then wipe the tears off my face as more of them fall.Great. Justgreat.Now even mybosscan witness this embarrassing scene. There’s no way I’m attending Katt’s and his wedding. I wish an alien ship would just suck me up into it. Being kidnapped and experimented upon would be preferable to this.
“Hey, Josh!” Katt says with a wide grin. My parents wave as well, all smiles and warm welcome.
Josh ignores them. As I finally raise my eyes to his, the weight of his gaze intensifies the suffocating feeling knotting in my chest.
“She stole that ring,” my sister says when I stay quiet, trying to find some dignified explanation for the situation. She points at the ring I showed him just this morning. “Apparently she’s obsessed with her dentist.”
“The man ismarried,” Mom says in a scandalized voice.
“With a pregnant wife,” Dad adds in case Josh is blind and missed Autumn’s very noticeable bump.
I can barely breathe through the ball of resentment and misery lodged in my throat. Chad won’t have to come up with anything to defend himself with because my family is doing all the dirty work. Their accusations pierce me, making my heart bleed. I brace myself for Josh’s judgment. What else could he say after what my family told him?
“Interesting.” Josh glances at the horrible ring I’d love to take off and throw in Chad’s face, except that feels like admitting that Autumn and the rest are correct—the jewelry doesn’t belong to me and I’m a weirdo who harbors an unhealthy obsession with her dentist.
I press my lips and firm my chin. The tears finally come under control. Guess I’ll get to maintain at least that much dignity.
“But Klein didn’t steal anything,” Josh states.
What?I jerk my face up at him, my jaw slack.
“But it’s the same ring as the one he gave his wife,” Katt insists before Autumn can say anything. The latter shoots my sister a grateful look, as bitterness surges within me again.
“Guess you just earned yourself a fan for life,” I mutter. “Better yet, maybeAutumncan be your sister.”
Autumn glares at me, while Katt snorts.
