Yeah.
That wasn’t convincing in the slightest. I gripped my phone tighter, my chest aching, heart pounding. She was the one still dragging herself to the door on no food and no sleep with her head bleeding after a traffic accident to keep working. What had to happen for her to skip this?
And if she wasn’t going totellme, what could I do about it? How was I even supposed to concentrate at the mixer while my mind was busy worrying about her?
Frustratedly, I shot a text to Krysten, feeling an ugly pull in my chest at using the other name now that… now that I didn’t know what.
HELENA
Have you heard from Cassandra since last night? Did something go catastrophically wrong at the office last night?
KRYSTEN
What did the little one do now?
HELENA
She’s trying to skip the mixer tonight, talking like it’s a crisis but she won’t tell me what. “A developing situation, won’t talk about it over text.”
KRYSTEN
Ah.
She is a troublesome one.
I believe she has something to tell you.
HELENA
Something like what? Do you know what it is?
KRYSTEN
With that one I cannot say.
She is as fickle as the subway when you are already running late.
Well,fickleas she may have been, I still cared about her a lot more than I wanted to right now. I groaned, a hand to my forehead leaning against my bathroom vanity, staring at myself in the mirror. I looked ragged already.
Why was I not getting a straight answer from anyone?
Settling into a cold sense of resolution, I texted Julie back.
HELENA
Where are you right now?
HOUDINI
How come?
HELENA
Just answer the question.
HOUDINI
Please let me handle what I need to handle.
