“Yeah, I had to get away from Francis.”
“Francis keeps calling me, looking for you.”
Dree gasped. “What did you tell him?”
“That I hadn’t heard from you, and I didn’t know where you were.”
“Good. Keep telling him that.”
Mandi said, “He said that you stole all his money. I had to lend him five hundred dollars because he didn’t have enough money to eat or pay a fine on his apartment lease because you did something to his apartment.”
“He saidwhat?That’s alie.That’s aridiculouslie. I did no such thing, andhestole everything fromme.I wasn’t even going to tell you this, but he stole all my money and sold everything I owned, even my car.”
“He said thatyousold everything and stole a bunch of his stuff, stole all his money in his bank accounts, and ran off to Paris without him.”
“No.That’s completely backward. I wouldneverdo that.” Dree’s hand holding the phone started to shake. “Mandi, youknowI would never do something like that.”
“It was just weird, you know? The account where we keep the money for Victor’s therapy is overdrawn. Francis said thatyouwithdrew all the money from your joint accounts with him and took all the money out of that one, too. He even knew that you’d done it. He toldmethat the money was gone. I didn’t even know.”
“That’s because he did it! You believe me, don’t you?” Dree begged.
“I suppose.”
“Mandi!I’ve been giving you money for Victor’s therapy for years! Who do you believe?”
“Well, the fact that you’re pressuring me to believe you is sort of weird, and I don’t know what to think!”
“You should believe your sister who’s supported you for years and totally stuck to your story that you ‘adopted’ Victor while you were staying with our aunt in Flagstaff because you had ‘asthma’ and needed high elevations!”
“Francis said he was shocked at how good a liar you are.”
“Are youfreaking kidding me?”
“All I know is that I’m terrified because my kid’s therapy bill is due in three days, and I don’t know what to do. That therapy is the only thing keeping him calm enough to go to school. If he acts up at school again, they’re going to kick him out. If they kick him out, I don’t know how I can work.My whole life is falling apart here.”
Mandi always lived on the ragged edge, both financially and in how much she could handle. Being a mother of a severely autistic child can drive anyone over the edge. Dree didn’t blame her sister for freaking out because any little problem might be enough to collapse the house of cards she’d built around her disabled son.
Dree said, “I’ll get the money back in the account before you have to pay the clinic.”
“I don’t know what’s going on. I have to figure out if I can get that money some other way. Maybe I can pawn something. Maybe my couch?”
“I’ll get the money back in there.” Dree looked at the bedroom door. “I’ve got kind of a job here in Paris.”
“As a nurse?”
Dree almost laughed, but she didn’t. “Yeah, sure. Anyway, maybe I can get an advance on my salary to get some money to you.”
“I don’t know what’s going on with you, and I don’t know who to believe. If you’re in trouble, why don’t you call Sister Annunciata from Saints Simon and Jude? She always talked you out of things when you were doing something you shouldn’t be.”
All that was pretty sanctimonious, coming from a person who’d gotten pregnant in high school and caused their whole family to lie about it for over a decade now, but Dree wasn’t going to judge. Mandi had worked her ass off for her son ever since.
And yet, Sister Ann had helped Dree get the scholarships to go to the nursing program at New Mexico State in Las Cruces, and then she’d helped Dree find the job in Phoenix, too. She’d even come to Dree’s graduation when her parents couldn’t make the trip because gas cost too much and there was no one reliable to feed the sheep.
She nodded. “That’s a pretty good idea. Sister Ann always knew what to do when I was freaking out.”
Maybe she could tell Sister Ann what was going on.
Dree opened the bedroom door a crack to check on Augustine. He was still lying on his stomach, snoring softly. His breathing seemed regular, and his airway appeared to be unobstructed.
