I turn to look at her.
“What?”
She fidgets, setting the soup on the counter and handing me the thermos of tea.
“So, you know how my mom works for First National, right?”
“Yeah,” I say, a little slow on the uptake.
But hey, concussion, remember?
“Well, I may have panicked after your call and asked her to check your accounts.Just to see if anything was wrong.”
“And?”
She bites her lip.“They’re, um, frozen.”
I blink.“What do you mean frozen?”
“I mean she said it’s showing as being under federal investigation.Like, all of them.Savings, checking, even your dumb rewards card.”
My stomach drops through the floor.“What?!”
Mary lifts her hands like she’s trying to calm a startled raccoon.
“She didn’t have clearance to see any details, okay?It just says pending government investigation.But she said usually when that happens, it means someone’s about to be charged with something.”
I slump onto the couch like I’ve been shot.
“Well, that’s just great.More good news!”
“Sabrina—”
“No, no.Let me just recap my week, okay?Because apparently, I’m starring in a limited-run miniseries calledHow to Have a Mental Breakdown in Two Weeks or Less.”
I open the thermos, throw the tea bag across the room, and put my hands on my hips as I start pacing.
“First, I think I’m going crazy because someone keeps breaking into my apartment and my classroom and leaving weird notes.Everyone tells me I’m imagining it.”
“Gaslighting 101,” Mary agrees, sitting down in a chair, while I have my freak out.
“Then I get assigned a hot bodyguard who makes me feel safe—like, emotionally and physically safe—but this guy?He goes above and beyond.He decides it’s his job to give me a little boost.You know, as inthe best orgasms of my life.He made me believe we weretogether, you know?”
Mary nods, and tears are rolling down her face, which makes me realize they’re rolling down mine too.Perfect.
I ignore them and I continue, because even though I thought we were casual friends, it seems we’re more than that now.“But apparently, I’m a moron for thinking that because all the sleepovers, dinners, smexy times in the shower and nights filled with passion?That was all just part and parcel of the Sigma International Security experience!”
“Sabrina, I’m sure he felt something?—”
“Oh, he definitely felt something, Mar.He felt ALL my somethings.But it was just a fling.”
“How do you know for sure?”she asks, hopeless romantic that she is.
That’s when my steam runs out and I slump in the sofa across from her.
“Because the second I get hurt, he ghosted me.”
I shrug and try to smile, but more tears spill from my eyes.
