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?”