“One sec,” she says as she lifts the martini to her lips and gulps half of it down like it’s a glass of water.
I stare at her in absolute shock. Neither one of us is a big drinker, and I know that martini is hella strong, but that doesn’t seem to matter to her in this moment. I take the seat next to her on the couch, staring at her over the rim of my glass as she finally pulls the drink away from her lips.
“I’m going to go to the cops about what Mark did.”
My eyes widen. “You are?”
“Yeah,” she says as she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “Or I’m going to confront him and make him drop the charges. I haven’t decided which one.”
“Which way are you leaning?”
“Going to him.”
“Why?”
“If I go to the cops, I’ll have to press charges andtestify. I don’t know if I have the nerve to do that, but I know I can face him and threaten him into making this all go away for Oliver.”
“I’ll support you in whatever you decide, but don’t feel like you need to do anything because of what’s happening with Oliver. Grandpa and Oli’s lawyer will handle it.”
“I’d be doing it for me too.”
I place my free hand on her leg, giving it a squeeze. “Whatever you want to do, I’ll always have your back. But don’t do it because you think I’m mad or upset. I’m not either of those about Oliver possibly going to jail,” I tell her, but I’m lying. I’m upset, but not with her. I’m pissed at the fucked-up world where guys like Mark get away with assaulting women. If I had to guess, I bet this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this either. “I’m upset about what happened to you. Mark deserves more than one beating.”
The corner of her mouth tips up as she blinks slowly, the alcohol already pressing against the right areas. “He deserves to rot in jail.”
“That he does. He deserves to be someone’s wife on the inside.”
Her smile widens. “I like the idea of that.”
“Me too,” I tell her and giggle. “I can hear him screaming for help.”
“Maybe I’ll go to the cops instead. I’ll talk to Dad about it and get his take.”
“Dad will tell you to go to the cops too, Zo. You know he will. He won’t want you to see Mark under any circumstances and especially not to save Oliver. You don’t want to put Mark in a position of power again, and I think that’s what will happen if you threaten to go to the cops if he doesn’t drop the charges. You need to take the power, even if you have to testify in court. The world needs to know what he did so he doesn’t do it to someone else.”
“You know, I did look him up online before we started hanging out. I couldn’t find anything he did besides a few traffic tickets. I thought he was safe.”
I point at her with my index finger as I balance the drink in my grip. “That right there is why you should press charges. So the next woman who searches for him finds at least an arrest on his record, stopping them from becoming his next…” The end of the sentence dies on my tongue.
“Victim,” she says softly. “You can say it. I know what I am even if I hate it.”
“You don’t have to be. You can take the power back, sissy.”
She places her elbows on her legs as her shoulders slump forward. “I don’t know if I can ever trust another man. How messed up is that, Lou?”
“It’s why you should always pick the bear.”
She nods. “I’ve always understood why the bear is the better choice, but they can’t all be bad, can they?”
“Oliver’s good,” I tell her. “I’d like to believe there are more men like him than Mark.”
“Dad’s great, and so are all our uncles,” she says, agreeing with me. “There have to be more like them out there in the world, but I don’t think I have the strength to search for one anymore. I’d rather be alone.”
My heart aches for my little sister. She deserves happiness just as much as the next person. I didn’t want this single event to derail her chance at a happily ever after and finding the man of her dreams.
“We can be spinsters together,” I tell her.
“No. You have Oliver.”
