She must have fallen asleep, because some while later, Rainy woke to the sound of her phone. It wasn’t a regular ring—it was FaceTime again. It was ten o’clock, and it was dark outside her window.

Tara’s name and photo were on her screen. Ignoring the instant anxiety at seeing Tara’s name, Rainy reset her face into a pleasant smile and hit Accept.

Tara’s lumpy ponytail told her that some type of shit had hit some type of fan.

“Is everything okay?” Rainy asked. Tara had never FaceTimed her.

“It’s Braithe.” The words were out of Tara’s mouth before she could say anything else. She was wearing an oversize Seahawks sweatshirt with a bleach stain on the shoulder.

“What about her?”

“She texted me a few hours ago, said she was unhappy with Steve and that...that psychic person told her to—to—leave! She says she’s not coming back.”

Rainy swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked over to the minifridge. She needed to buy a few seconds and unfold these sentences, which weren’t making sense. Reaching in, she grabbed a water; pausing, she thought better of just the water and took out the vodka and OJ, as well.

“Rainy, did you hear me? We have to do something. She hasn’t even told Stephen...he’s in Japan, for God’s sake. He doesn’t even know she’s not back.”

Rainy propped the phone against the coffee machine and made her drink. Tara stared at her from the other side of the screen.

Finally, Rainy said, “Why is that any of our business?”

Tara gaped. Her eyes were watery pink. “Are you kidding me? She’s our friend. She’s making the biggest mistake of her life and we... I don’t know...” Tara waved a hand above her head. “We’re partially responsible.”

“Why?” Rainy said. “Because we happened to be there?”

“Yes, because we were there! And none of us knew what she was feeling. She’s been miserable all this time and we carried on without asking her how she was. We should have known something was off when she wanted to see a psychic!”

Rainy took a sip of her warm screwdriver and sat on the love seat.

“First of all, Tara, you all peddled the psychic thing to me as fun, so why would I think it was Braithe’s cry for help?” She unscrewed the cap on her water and chugged it down. The cold water seared her insides. She closed one eye and said, “Maybe you’re the one feeling guilty. Because she’s your best friend and you didn’t know. That doesn’t mean I want to join you. I’ve only known Braithe for a year.”