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“I’m not going to take the shirt off your back.”
It looks better on you than me,I was going to say, but I held my tongue. “Do you think — maybe— you should talk to Daniel? Like, soon? I told you he called tonight. He sounded like he was about to have his own breakdown.”
“I don’t want to hurt him.”
“So you avoid him?”
She bit her lip. A tear caught on her lashes, glistening like a diamond.
“Alexis, I’m not trying to be mean. I promise I’m not.” I handed her the box of tissues, and she mumbled something about using up all my Kleenex. “But you can’t go on like this. I tried to protectDexter’sfeelings, and look how well that turned out. He cheated on me with Sydney because he felt like I was always holding back from him.”
My sister’s eyes widened. “He did what?”
I sighed. “Yeah, that happened. I haven’t talked to Sydney since last weekend. She might not even know that I know, but…”
“How did you try to protect his feelings?” she asked curiously.
My cheeks went hot. “I, uh, I kind of faked it in bed. Among other things.”
“How?”
“Alexis!”
“I want to know! It’s not like I’ve ever been with someone.”
“Okay, well, I pretended to get off. You know…making noise, moving around…”
She nodded, unconvinced.
“I never pretended with Patrick.” I cleared my throat. “Sometimes I begged. Other times, he gave me as much as I could handle. One time, I crawled to him.”
Alexis’s dark eyes were round. My face was flaming.
“Anyway,” I finished, “you get the idea.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it. “Um, no. I have no idea what that feels like.”
I sat beside her on the bed and twined my arm through hers. She picked up a strand of her dark hair, air-dried from the rain, and let it fall.
“I really do care about Daniel,” she said. “I just — I’m so exhausted. It all feels like too much right now. I need more time.”
“So tell him.”
“That’sscary.” Unexpectedly, she giggled. “You think if I crawled to him, he’d take the news better?”
“Do you want to?”
“Mmm…no.”
“Alexis, baby, you do you. I’ll do me.”
Down the hall, a light knock came on the front door. Alexis started, grabbing my arm.
“Don’t worry,” I soothed, trying to be strong for her sake. “It’s probably Patrick.”
I padded down the hall in my socks.
“Who’s there?” I called.
