Page 86 of Not So Very Sensible

“Uh, this is Elinor Bennett. You’ve been dating my sister, and she’s worried about—”

Click.

“Wow.”

“Oh my gosh,” Katie breathed. “He hung up on you.”

“Let’s try again.” She pressed redial, and soon the phone was ringing again.

But this time it wasn’t answered. Nor did a text message get marked DELIVERED.

“It looks like he’s blocked me too. I’m sorry, Katie.”

Katie’s face crumpled. “I don’t understand. What did I do wrong?”

“Hey.” Ellie shifted to wrap her arm around her sister’s shoulders. “You can’t think that way. We can’t even know for sure that he’s ghosting you.”

At the brief flicker of hope in Katie’s eyes, she realised that might not have been the most helpful thing to say. “Look, whatever happens, you need to be able to look back on what you’ve done and know that you’ve done the right thing. And it sounds like you have. It’s not your fault if he wants you to lower your moral standards. That’s definitely his problem.”

But Katie was crying now, tears trickling from her eyes. “It’s not him. It’s me. Maybe I should have let him—”

“No, don’t you ever say that again,” Ellie said fiercely. “You need to have enough self-respect that you can stand up for what you believe without feeling like you need to compromise your values. You don’t need to apologise for having values. He needs to apologise for not respecting your personal boundaries.”

“I know. But still … I liked him. I really liked him.”

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

As Katie’s sobbing continued and Ellie’s shoulder got damp, Ellie started to wonder just how much of a hold this man had on her sister. For a relationship of only a few weeks, this seemed an excessive amount of emotion. But then, what did she know? She’d felt much the same about Ethan ghosting her, and she’d known him a lot less.

“Hey, you’re okay.”

Katie shook her head, her hair tickling Ellie’s nose. “I don’t think I can ever trust a guy again.”

“We can still give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Why would he reject me? Am I ugly, is that it?”

“Of course you’re not ugly. You’re beautiful.” Even if Katie’s red nose and eyes weren’t top picks for attractiveness right now. “And what’s more important is that you’re God’s child and He loves you. Right?”

Katie lifted a shoulder.

“Right?” she pressed.

“Yeah.” Katie sighed.

“Hey, let’s box up the rest of these leftovers and go home. Then you can hop into your pyjamas and we can watch Friends.”

“But Mum will want to know what’s wrong.”

“Then we’ll say you’re not feeling well and that you need an early night. That’s true, isn’t it?”

Katie nodded, wiping her face. “I don’t feel good at all.” She winced. “And I’m supposed to work tomorrow.”

“Well, we’ll give Annabelle a call and see if she’s free. She doesn’t mind some extra shifts.”

Katie finally nodded, and they boxed up the remains and took off their aprons.

Going home to face Mum wasn’t going to be easy, and Ellie wanted to protect her sister as much as possible. Finding out upsetting news was hard enough without having somebody’s excessive sympathising stirring it to be ten times worse. And as Mum and Katie were so attuned to each other, on a separate wavelength than the rest of them it sometimes seemed, Ellie was happy to do her best to avoid the cataclysmic emotions sure to be theirs very soon.