Page 184 of As the Rain Falls
“Sorry.”
“But she wouldn’t have given him her sketches, right?”
“Never,” she promises. “Lucia wouldn’t have givenmeher sketches, and I was her best friend.” Angelina attempts to laugh it off, but I see how pale she’s become. “Do you think he stole it from her somehow?”
“Maybe.” I shrug my shoulders, feeling uncertain. “Or maybe there are some things about Lucia we both don’t know about.”
“Like what?” Angelina asks, sounding alarmed. “Do you… Do you think they were actually close? No way!”
I hesitate, “I don’t know, just a feeling. But I’m thinking it didn’t make any sense for him to pull a prank on me, Angie.”
She shifts uncomfortably, processing the information.
I shake my head, feeling deep in my bones that there’s more to the story. My eyes lock with hers before I try to explain my point.
“The guy is fucking nuts,” I tell her, thinking about what happened before our fight. “Cassandra and I were dancing together at the party, and she completely freaked out at the idea of him thinking we were together.”
“Together, as in…” Angelina trails off.
“As in, dating each other.” I pause, looking at the bigger picture to see if I’m wrong. Nope. Still think I’m right. “I mean, isn’t that so weird?”
It’s a possibility I’m entertaining now, but one I don’t like to think about very much. If Nathaniel Rivera somehow got close enough to my sister that she even began to trust him with something as intimate as her passion for art, it must mean that he would’ve been able to hurt her right under my nose.
I can’t ever confront him about it, though.
Someone like him will always deny and deny, even if you have proof that they’ve done something wrong.
“If you ever figure something out, you’ll tell me, right?” Angelina asks, voice distant.
“Of course,” I answer automatically, but I’m not actually certain if I should do that. Her recovery is still fragile. I can’t mess things up for her again. “I’m not going to leave you in the dark about Lou.”
She studies my face, then nods slowly, believing in me. “Okay. Neither will I.”
I reach out, intertwining our pinkies together.
“If I remember something…” she trails off. “You’re the first number I’m calling, alright?”
I answer softly, promising to do the same.
“Alright.”
Angelina exhales, her eyes drifting back and forth between the front door and me. Pepé trots towards the window and tries to open it with his paw.
“You know, it’s funny. All this trying to convince me to talk to your neighbor, but you won’t do it yourself.” She glances at me now; her brown eyes are shining with amusement. “You should really go talk to Cassandra.”
I stiffen. “What?”
“Hear me out.” She leans forward, speaking more quietly. “Clearly, there’s something between you two, or you wouldn’t bother trying to defend her.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” Angelina challenges me, sounding more confused now. “You obviously care about her. She lives next door to you. What’s there to lose?”
Except she doesn’t know the entire story. She doesn’t know what Nathaniel said or how Cassandra reacted. And I want to reach out, I really do, but I feel a little awkward about it, too.
“You can’t tell me to be more understanding when you won’t give her a second chance yourself.”
“She could’ve texted me if she had something to say.”
