Page 41

“It’s not that far. I can walk.”

“Do you remember where it is?”

“Marple Street.”

There was no Marple Street in Quince Valley.

There was no way he was walking home. Even if we figured out where he lived, he’d get lost on the way there. In the rain. It could actually be dangerous.

“We should get inside,” I said. “I’ll call you a cab.”

“We’re not in the same house,” he said.

“What?”

“Me and Lila. Lila and I? Ila and Lie?” He screwed up his face, then shrugged. “It’s a different house. I’m in the back.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Cassandra—” Blake said, taking a step. “I don’t get drunk very much, but I’m really dunk.”

Dunk.

“I know,” I said softly. I moved toward him, intending to push him in the direction of the door, but he spoke again.

“The last time I got drunk like this, I told Lila I’d marry her. I didn’t remember the next day. That’s my problem. I don’t remember when I’m in this much alcohol.”

I would have laughed if it was anyone else. Maybe. Instead, I hooked on to what he was saying.

“Is your memory just kind of fuzzy?”

“No, it’s gone.” He waved his hand like a bird flying away. “It’s a big problem. It’s why I never do this much.”

“So you won’t remember any of this tomorrow?” I asked.

“Nothing. Blank slate.”

He wouldn’t remember what happened tonight.

Something ran through me then, a bad, daring kind of thought. Something I should have ignored but didn’t.

“Why did you marry Lila?” I asked.

He gave a giant sigh. “Her parents… don’t want her to like other women. Her parents are like her best friends. She was a unicorn… no, a rainbow baby. Funny, rainbow.” He laughed softly, then grew serious. “Now we have a consulting together and it’s too much, so complicated.” His drunken shoulders slumped.

But something ticked in me about what he’d said. A rush of understanding, like two puzzle pieces snapping together. If I should have left it earlier, Ireallyshould have left it now. This was a private matter between Blake and Lila. But I had to know.

“Lila’s gay, isn’t she?” I said softly.

“You knew that?” Blake was incredulous.

“You just told me,” I whispered.

He didn’t hear me, and I didn’t repeat myself. I was too busy trying to sort out the twist of emotions running through me. Guilt, wrapped up in relief, wrapped up in something sadder. All of it drenched me as thoroughly as the rain.

“We can never tell,” he said, blinking slowly.

Lila wasn’t pining for Blake. There was nothing unrequited. Then the gravity of what this meant landed on me hard—Blake definitely wasn’t married—that had been the absolute truth. But more than that—he’d been posing as Lila’s husband to help her. Her parents didn’t know. Maybe nobody knew. They’d gone into business together—or maybe they’d already been in business, and they’d rolled with it. He’d stayed married for his friend as well as for his business.