And reminded me I shouldn’t be judgmental. Like, at all. I quickly switched the subject. “Have you talked to Mom?”
“No. It’s crazy how she isn’t blowing up my phone over the whole wedding being called off. You’re a miracle worker.”
Ah shit. I was walking the tightrope between busted and guilty. Fall on one side and never be trusted again. Fall on the other, and I’d never be believed again. Which was worse? I opted for the truth. Ellie wouldn’t believe it anyway.
“So… about the wedding.”
“Thank you for running interference with Mom. I bet she made you live stream the opera singer anyway, right?”
Yeah, that happened. “I met someone.”
Dead, fucking silence. Finally, my sister squeaked out, “I’m sorry, what?”
“On the way to the chapel, I met someone.” The words didn’t want to come out right.
An ugly sound farted out of my sister’s mouth. “You?” The laugh started as she spoke and didn’t end.
“Yes. Me.” Damn her.
“Woooo… I mean… who?” She gasped. “Wait, don’t tell me, you ended up canceling the ride share, took the monorail, and he’s one of the lion tamers at MGM.”
“No.” What kind of person did she think I was?
“Okay, a… banker?”
“No, but his dad is.” Supposedly. I mouthed, “a banker” to Mario who had squinted at my side of the conversation when I mentioned Il Bastardo.
“Come on, really, Allie, you can’t tease me like this. What does this mystery man do? Does he even exist? Is he a homeless guy who was hurt or something? Maybe he had a little dog you couldn’t say no to?”
Her mockery was digging too deeply to ignore. All my life she’d made fun of my kindness toward anything in pain.
I chanced a glance at Mario, who was perched atop the chair like a throne, but favoring his wound. And the fact that she was hitting so close to the truth, except maybe for the whole dog part, pissed me off. So, I decided to lay some unvarnished truth bombs right at her feet. “He’s in international business. You know, the Family kind. And might even be a?—”
Mario leaned forward abruptly and lifted a finger in the air as if I had one chance not to screw this up. I felt his warning almost as clearly as if he’d touched my lips with that finger. Because of that and because Ellie would notice my pause too soon, I finished with, “—a great kisser… if he wasn’t such a stick in the mud.”
“Oh, now that sounds like something you’d do.”
My sister was a dead woman. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. I mean… well, there was that doctor.”
I frowned. She would have to bring him up. I had no defense readied.
“Or, the insurance adjuster.”
“No. He doesn’t count. In my defense, I broke that off almost as soon as he detailed his lettuce allergy… and his peanut allergy…”
“Don’t forget the big one, allergic to…animals.”
“I shouldn’t have worn my work coat to the date.”
“I wish I could have been a fly on that restaurant wall.”
“Good thing he carried his epi-pen,” I mused.
“So, does Mr. International Business like animals?”
I glanced at Mario who’d amused himself by pretending he wasn’t listening in anymore. “I don’t know.”
