An Honest Lie(65)

“This isn’t real,” she said to no one. She hit the call button; it rang twice before Braithe’s soothing voice told her to leave a message. She tried Grant and Stephen next; neither of them picked up.

She stared at the ceiling. She could find Braithe’s family on social media—she had a sister she spoke about—and tell them what? She couldn’t out whatever this was to Braithe’s family if she hadn’t even told her own husband.

“I have to call Tara back,” she said aloud. “Oh my God.” She hit the call button before she could change her mind and waited. Tara’s voice was curt when she answered; Rainy could hear a buzz of noise behind her.

“Hello.”

“Hey, it’s Rainy. Do you have a minute to talk? It’s about Braithe.”

“Hold on,” Tara said.

She heard muffled voices, and then, seconds later, Tara spoke so loudly Rainy jerked her head back from the receiver.

“What is it, Rainy? I’m out with Mike and I only have a few minutes.”

Okay...how exactly was she supposed to sum this up in a few minutes? God, Tara was a pain in the ass.

“Braithe is being weird—and I don’t think it’s Braithe.”

Tara cut in. “You don’t have to tell me, okay—she actually had the audacity to threaten me. Like, I am over it. Done.”

“Wait—what do you mean, she threatened you?”

She heard Tara say, “Shit, shit, shit—sorry. Hold on—”

Rainy switched her phone from one ear to the other.

“I did something a few years ago,” Tara said. “I don’t want to get into it, but Braithe sent me screenshots and basically told me that if I got involved in this, she was going to...share them.” She sounded scared now. “That would, like, ruin my life. She’s such a bitch.”

“Okay, but you don’t think that’s weird, Tara?” Rainy plugged a finger into her own ear to try to hear Tara better, but there was more noise coming from Tara’s end of the line.

“It’s all weird. Mike doesn’t want me to hang out with her anymore, not after—ugh. Listen, I have to go.”

“Okay, but wait, she was texting me and she—someone—said that it wasn’t Braithe. This isn’t making any sense... I think someone might have Braithe’s phone.”

“Rainy, it’s Braithe, okay. She’s going through something and—”

“But what if it’s not her? What if something’s really wrong?”

Tara was silent. When she spoke again her voice almost sounded bored. “She plotted for months to take Grant from you. I’m sorry, but you are delusional if you think she’s some saint. I hate to break it to you, but you got played, I got played. Whatever victim thing she’s doing, whatever game she’s playing—I’m not buying it. You know the night of Viola’s shower...?” Tara’s voice changed. “She was with Grant. That’s why she pretended to be sick. She wanted to talk to him about her feelings. So she ambushes him on your doorstep before you get home. And you know what? I freaking covered for her.”

Rainy’s shock was obvious to Tara, who sighed deeply. “If it makes any difference to you, he rejected her.”

It did make a difference, but she didn’t want to hear any of this from Tara. Why hadn’t Grant told her? She thought back to that night, how he’d been acting. Rainy swallowed, her throat tight and dry. She wanted to do nothing more than crawl into bed and process everything, but right now...right at this very moment, it couldn’t be about Grant; Braithe was in trouble. She closed her eyes, exhaling through her nose, and tried again.

“What if she’s in trouble? You just don’t care?”

“She threatened me after everything I did for her. She doesn’t care. Sorry, Rainy.” Tara hung up. She wasn’t sorry. This was going from bad to worse.

“Wow, okay.” Rainy set her phone on the floor near her foot and leaned her torso backward until it was resting against the wall. She thought for the hundredth time about calling the police, but didn’t know what to say to them. Was Braithe still at the same hotel they stayed at, or had she left and gone somewhere else? Rainy was half-asleep when her phone pinged.

She wanted it to be Grant. But when she lifted the phone to her face, the text was from Braithe.

Tattling to Tara, it said.

Rainy dropped the phone, chills running up her arms. She shook her hands out like something nasty had touched them. That was fast. Tara must have shot some hot-worded text to Braithe’s phone right after she’d spoken to Rainy.

You two having trouble? She was stalling, trying to think of what to ask next. Maybe if she knew where Braithe was, she could call someone to check in on her.

I only know Tara through her insipid social media posts. And the screenshots. Did you know that little Braithe has organized folders of her friends’ texts?
Who are you?
Now that’s a good question.
Prove that you’re not Braithe. Send me a voice text.
I don’t have to prove anything to you.
You want my attention, so you do actually.
Lol
She waited while the dots appeared again, shaking her foot from side to side as she started at the screen.

The voice memo appeared. It was three seconds long. Rainy hit Play.

“Hello, Rainy.”