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“Please.” I held out the sweats, urging them on her, because I didn’t know what else to do. “I can’t do this right now.”
Her face crumpled, and it scared me even more than her raised voice. Like someone pulled a string and all her control unraveled. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Alexis…”
“You were going to return that dress, weren’t you?” She went to the desk and ran her fingers over the layers of delicate pink. “You should. Keep the money.”
“What do you mean?” My stomach, already tied in a knot, twisted harder.
“I can’t,” she whispered, more to herself than to me. “I just can’t go through with it.”
“What?” I said blankly. “You can’t go through with — the wedding? Part of the money I saved was for your bachelorette party.”
“Good, ‘cause that means you don’t have to worry about it.”
We stared at each other.
“Put these sweats on now,” I ordered. “I’m calling the police.”
Hammering echoed through the apartment. Someone was pounding on the front door.
“Oh no,” Alexis breathed.
I grabbed the broom again, rage flooding my body, and marched out to the hall. She followed.
“Alexis, what it said on the mirror?” I whispered urgently between knocks. “It’s true.”
“What?” she gasped. “Christina, you’re not a— That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. That’s where all the money came from. I had an agreement with this guy — but it’s not like that! I fell in love, and…he doesn’t want me.”
“Christina—” My sister tried to pull my arm, and I shook her off.
“Yeah, that’s right,” I yelled, ramming the broom against the door as hard as I could. “Come back for more. You didn’t get everything you wanted the first time? That’s okay. The police are on their way.”
There was an eerie silence. Then a deep voice said, “Thepolice?”
I opened the door. Patrick stood on the threshold in a T-shirt and jeans, dark patches of rain on his shoulders. Only a couple hours had passed since he left my room, but his eyes looked more shadowed, his stubble heavier.
I set the broom against the wall. “The police aren’t coming because of you,” I blurted. “And I haven’t called them yet. But from the way you knocked, I’m thinking about it. What is your deal?”
He reached for me, then dropped his arms. “I had to see you.”
“So youpoundon the door like a beast?”
“What do you expect right now?” He balled his hands at his sides, taking in Alexis’s soaked clothes and my pink raincoat. Our terrified faces.
I crossed my arms. “This is my sister.”
Patrick and Alexis stared at each other like they weren’t sure who was the third wheel. He wiped his wet hand on his pants and held it out.
“Patrick.”
She shook his hand with a brief smile, her usual charm flickering and dying out. “I’m Alexis.”
“Christina,” he said more gently. “What’s happening?”
“It’s gone,” I whispered. His broad body went alert. “The money’s gone.”
