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"Hardly. Your dad probably just needs oxygen and a truckload of valium this afternoon, but otherwise..."
"It's not like it was his wedding," she muttered.
"That's exactly what I told him. Did you leave him?"
Audrey snorted. "Of course I didn't. It was a decision on his part that the wedding wasn't to be."
There was no way he had just decided that. There had to be a reason. Especially since he'd let on that the problem was not him, but his fiancée.
"And you're sitting here instead of crying your eyes out in bed?" I didn't get extra points for sensitivity anyway, but if she needed a specialist to throw bricks through windows, I was her man.
She raised an eyebrow. "Why should I cry for him?"
I slowly opened my mouth, only to close it again. She may not have answered my question yesterday, but what she was thinking was all too clear from her face. Alexander was not the great love of her life, nor did she seem particularly interested in a union. She played along, but the reasons had nothing to do with feelings.
Still, this did not solve the mystery of what happened.
"Listen, actually, I just want you to reassure my parents that everything is okay and that I'll be home by tomorrow."
More question marks formed in my head. "And are you going to come up with something plausible to explain this, too?"
"No. But if I come up with one, I'll be the first to let you know."
"Why are you responsible for explaining it if he decided there would be no wedding? Did he cheat on you or something?"
"No. But those were his terms. He wants me to disappear for a day and then give an explanation. Take the blame." There was more to the story, but Audrey did not say it.
The more she said, the more uncertain I became about what this was really about. All I knew for sure was that she was trying to avoid talking about this, although she didn't seem particularly upset.
My gaze fell on her leg that kept bobbing up and down. Finally, she raised the glass to her lips and emptied the remaining contents before slamming it down on the wood.
"Well? You going to break the bad news to my dad?"
"Yes. But not right now."
She gave me a questioning look.
"Don't believe that I will leave you alone in this bar. When you get tired of this place, where will you go? It certainly won't be home if you're not supposed to show your face there for the next couple of hours."
"There are plenty of hotels in Honolulu." She sounded so determined.
None of this made sense.
"Do you know what I have been looking forward to?"
Before I could ask, she went on.
"ABBA. Lots of alcohol. And the dance floor. And in the morning, the cool hug with the toilet."
"That's not your typical wedding night routine," I said dryly.
Audrey pursed her lips. "You mean the night should have ended with this dress being ripped off my body, landing on the floor, and us having sex afterward."
"I wouldn't have put it that way, but..."
"It wasn't happening anyway. Kind of a stupid waste of opportunity, isn't it?"
I didn't know which part of her answer to deal with first. That she had openly admitted there had been problems of a sexual nature with Alexander, or that she implied how pathetic it was to be in that dress without anyone appreciating it the right way. I shouldn't have interfered in their relationship. If you could still call it that. I wasn't supposed to be there. But as far as I was concerned, Alexander was gone. So why not?
