Page 90 of Hello Stranger

“I—”

“I should have called you sooner—but it was all so dramatic. Hekidnappedme. Isn’t that cute?”

I drew the line at kidnapping. “Not really.”

“The point is, I had no idea.”

“Wait—” I said then. “Are you calling me from the airportin Canada?”

“Greetings from Vancouver.”

Oh god. She was already gone.

I was happy for her. I was, I was. Of course I was.

But… just… who was going to model for me now?

I was in a uniquely terrible position—because I had to do a uniquely bizarre set of things to this person. I couldn’t just hire some random art model. I barely felt comfortable doing all these things to Sue. And we’d seen each other in bathing suits!

I felt an urge to cry clasping at my throat. But I swallowed it—hard.

I was not going to ruin Sue’s kidnapping-elopement by bursting into tears. I just refused to be that person.

I took a deep breath instead, and I ratcheted my face into a big, bright smile. “I’m so happy for you,” I said.

“You are?”

“Of course! Being kidnapped to Canada is every girl’s dream.”

“But what about your portrait?”

“Pah,” I said, making the most dismissive noise I could think of. “Models are a dime a dozen. I’ll have your replacement before you can eat a beaver tail.”

“Nice Canada reference.”

“You’re welcome.”

It dawned on me that we needed to wrap this up before my voice started trembling. “You realize, of course, I’m going to make you do a pretend second wedding later so I can be a bridesmaid.”

“Done and done,” Sue said.

I made her promise to text me lots of pictures. And save the bouquet. And drink a whole bottle of maple syrup. And then I blew kisses into the phone. And then I hung up…

And started crying.

Broken lock. Sick dog. No model. Evil stepsister. Best-friend-less, moneyless, jobless. Not to mentionsuddenly face-blind at the worst possible time.And about to fumble my first—and now probably last—big break.

What the ever-loving hell had happened to my life?

It had never been perfect before, by any means—but at least it had some potential.

I couldn’t pull it together, but I couldn’t make myself go back to Joe’s apartment, either, so I just stood there in the hallway crying.This is good,I kept telling myself.This is emotionally healthy. You’ve got to feel your feelings.

I was feeling them, all right.

I felt them and felt them—until I finally looked up to see Joe coming out of his place with a box of tissues.

“I was going to let you cry it out,” Joe said, holding out the boxas he got to me. “But then I started worrying you’d get dehydrated. Medically.”

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