Chapter 3
Daniel
He called six minutes later.
"Thank God. Where are you?"
"Hawaii."
Another silence.
"Did you really withdraw funding hours before the rehearsal dinner?"
"I withdrew nothing. I'm paying exactly what I agreed to pay."
Daniel clearly had not known the difference.
According to him, Emily had told his family that our parents were funding most of the wedding. I had contributed "a little" because I was between jobs and wanted to feel useful.
I actually laughed.
"What do you do for work?" he asked.
I gave him my company's name.
He knew it immediately. His employer had recently licensed our software for several regional warehouses.
"Emily said that was your old employer."
The conversation became much quieter.
Mom
She demanded I fix the new charges.
Guests had already arrived. Emily was crying in the bridal suite.
"Why didn't anyone object when she told me to pretend I was unemployed?"
Mom gave the answer I expected.
"You know your sister has always been sensitive about comparisons."
"So I have to become smaller?"
I reminded her about the graduate school deposit I had paid. The two months of rent when Emily changed jobs. The wedding photographer. The reception guarantee when her credit card was declined.
None of those things had ever been mentioned.
The Real Number
By evening, Daniel called again.
This time, he was furious.
He had confronted Emily about the money and learned something even he had not known.
She had promised several vendors that I would cover their balances after the wedding. Expenses totaling almost twenty-six thousand dollars beyond my approved contribution.
I looked out at the Honolulu sunset.
May you like
For the first time, those fifty-nine calls no longer felt like an emergency.
They felt like a bill finally being returned to the correct address.
