Rory's van had barely pulled away from the curb when Alistair's name lit up my phone, and my hands were still shaking from Clarissa.
Alistair: Clarissa says you made a scene. Fix your face before Friday. I won't have my fiancée looking like a kicked dog.
Alistair: And don't fuck up the dinner. You're already the least important thing on the guest list.
I read it twice. The word fiancée sat next to the threat like they belonged together.
Rory came back up the stairs with the signed slip in his hand. He stopped when he saw my face.
Rory: What did he say?
Maris: Nothing I didn't already know.
Maris: I don't need you to fix this. I won't accept pity.
Rory: Good. This isn't pity.
He set the slip on the table and kept his distance.
Rory: My help is respect. Pity would be easier. Respect means I don't decide for you.
My throat went tight. Nobody in that family had used that word on me before.
His sleeves were rolled to the elbow, and I looked at his forearm too long.
Maris: You should go.
Rory: I know. I can wait until your hands stop shaking.
My phone buzzed again, and this time it was Jules.
Jules: I'm outside the bakery. Do you need me to come up or do you need coffee?
Maris: Come up. Both.
Jules came in with her denim jacket open and her eyes already doing math on Rory.
Jules: You're the brother. I know who you are. I'm here for her.
Rory: I was just leaving.
Rory picked up his keys and looked at me once, not at Jules.
Maris: Thank you. For not asking me to be fine.
He nodded once, like that was the only answer he needed.
Jules: Clarissa came here. What did she say?
Maris: That I was temporary. That Eleanor sent her to say it plainly.
Jules: Then Eleanor can choke on her own manners.
Jules: Then what happens now?
Maris: I'm ending the engagement. At the foundation dinner.
The words came out before I could dress them up.
Jules: Good. Do it with witnesses. Then nobody can say you were confused.
She took my hand and squeezed until my fingers felt steady.
Jules: Every word. I'm with you.
We made a list on the back of a gallery receipt. Call the bank. Pack my things. Tell Junie only when it was done.
Jules: I'll stand by the coat room. If you need me, I'm there.
My phone lit up again. Eleanor this time.
Eleanor: Friday, six o'clock. Ivory dress. The donors need a happy engagement. Junie's review is in autumn.
There it was. The match before my hurt, the grant before my dignity.
Maris: She put Junie in a text like a receipt.
Jules: She always did. The difference is you're reading it now.
I added one more line to the list. Wear something that belongs to me.
I found Rory at the bottom of the stairs with his phone against his ear and his jacket over one arm.
Maris: I'm ending it at the dinner. In front of everyone.
Rory: Do you want me there?
Maris: I don't know. Yes. No.
Rory: Then I'll be in the room. That's all. I won't stand beside you unless you ask.
He didn't promise to save me. That was the first promise from a Kincaid I believed.
Back upstairs, I picked up the ivory invitation and read the foundation dinner time.
For the first time, I wanted a room full of witnesses.
Maris: Friday. I'll give them something to see.