“Take your time.” I mimed zipping my lips shut. “No more interruptions.”
“While we were dating, things were really great. Troy made me happy. And I felt special to him. It was incredible. So, when he told me he’d lost his job and needed a place to stay, I naturally said he could stay here.”
“Naturally.”
She glared at me.
“Sorry.”
“Then he needed money to fix his car so he could look for a job. He needed money to pay bills. He needed money to pay his club dues. He never asked me for money, but I wanted to help him. I loved him. I thought we were going to have a life together. Anyway, I gave him my savings,” Alice admitted.
“Oh honey, no.”
She held a hand up. “Wait. It gets worse. Then, he said his ex-wife was coming down really hard on him and he had to come up with some extra money.” Averting her gaze from mine, she added, “To pay for stuff for his kids.”
I bit my lip to keep from exploding. Instead of shaking her by the shoulders, or pulling her into my arms (I simultaneously wanted to do both), I simply nodded for her to continue.
“Liz . . .”
“You can tell me.”
“I took out a loan. And I gave it all to him.”
Exhaling deeply, I asked, “How much?”
“Only five thousand.”
“Only?!” I tried to think about it from her point of view, but I couldn’t really get a handle. I mean, none of us had even met this man, and she was bending over backward to fill his pockets. It pissed me off.
“I know. Stupid. But Troy was so happy about it, and he promised he’d pay me back. I was smart enough to ask him to sign a contract stating he would, once he found work.”
“Did he?”
Mutely, she shook her head no. “He said he was going to. Maybe he just didn’t get around to it.”
“Then why did you give him the money?”
“Told you. Stupid. But I’ve picked up a few extra hours at work and managed to sell one of my paintings last week, so I figured no big deal. You know, once we were married, it would be our money, anyway.”
“Married? He asked you to marry him?”
“Not exactly, but he talked about it all the time. Not that he could have married me, it turns out.” Her voice broke, and her eyes began to well up.
“What do you mean?”
“Today, I got home and walked into an argument between Troy and this strange woman. There was broken glass everywhere, and she was really laying into Troy. So I asked what the hell was going on.”
“And?” I prodded.
A tear rolled down her cheek. “The woman—it was his wife, as in current and not ex.”
Pain sliced into me. “The bastard! Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” I squeezed her hand again, little good though it did.
“So this woman was in my home arguing with her husband, who barely came home anymore, and was throwing all my stuff at him. When she saw me, she came after me. Called me a home-wrecker and a slut and honest to God, Liz, it was horrible.” Alice shuddered and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“She didn’t believe I didn’t know. Told me I could keep his sorry ass, that he’d drained all of their money and left her penniless with a houseful of kids and bills to pay.” Alice slumped, as if the weight of her words was too heavy to handle. “She stormed out.”
“What did you do?”
Alice’s brown eyes darkened to almost black. “I kicked the jerk out and told him never to come back. Then I called you.”
“Good girl. Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“I got overwhelmed. I didn’t plan to be gone for so long. I just couldn’t deal with the broken glass and everything else. I couldn’t sit in here and wait for you. I figured I’d go for a quick drive and then come back to talk to you, which is why I left the door unlocked. I lost track of time.”
“The door wasn’t just unlocked. It was hanging open.”
“I thought I closed it, but I wasn’t exactly rational at the time. I still can’t believe he’s married and I gave him so much. And that I believed every word he ever told me.”
The tears fell harder, and I opened my arms. She crawled into them, and I held her while she cried. It reminded me of when we were kids and she’d sneak