“That’s where you’re wrong,” Francesca says. “Joel did listen.”
She says his name almost like Nonna does, with more emphasis on the second syllable. Jo-el. I bet he likes it, even though it drove him crazy when Nonna did it.
I frown at her. “Excuse me?”
“Joel came up here,” she says. “Accusing me. Asking all these questions about my financial situation. I knew you were behind it. Who else would put ideas like that in his head?”
I swallow. “So what did you say?”
She smiles at me then. I know I said Francesca never smiles, but that’s inaccurate. Her lips curl up and it looks like a smile, but there’s no joy behind it. “I told him he was being paranoid. Of course.”
“Of course,” I mumble. And surely he believed her. He is absolutely under her spell.
“Do you want a drink, Anna?”
“No, thanks.”
Francesca walks over to her kitchen. She grabs the bottle of wine on her kitchen counter, and I can tell even with my rudimentary knowledge of wine that it’s expensive. She and Lydia both have very expensive taste in wine, but Lydia can afford it while Francesca can’t. That’s Francesca—always spending beyond her means.
Not that I can throw stones.
She pours the wine into a glass, swishes it around for a moment. She takes a practice sip, letting it sit on her tongue for a moment, then she downs the rest of the glass in one gulp. And pours another.
“The problem is,” she says, “Joel did his research before he came here. He already knew exactly how bad things were for me.”
My mouth falls open. Joel listened to me. I can’t believe it.
“He ended it.” She takes another healthy sip of wine. “Told me he couldn’t be involved with someone who would get into this kind of mess and then lie about it. Of course, he didn’t know about the biggest secret of all.”
I shake my head, confused. “What?”
“Anyway,” she says, not answering my question. “Joel is gone. He walked out on me. For good.”
Is she saying what I think she’s saying? Did Joel really break up with Francesca?
“He’s all yours, Anna.” She laughs as she tops off her glass again. “He doesn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore. You can go pick up the pieces now.”
“I’m sure…” I blink at her, watching her drink more wine. “He’ll come back to you. He’s in love with you.”
“No.” She looks off into the distance. “Even if he was, you were right all along. It wasn’t fair of me to drag him into my mess. I’ll deal with it on my own.”
Joel is single again. Single and on the rebound. It would be easy to, as she says, go pick up the pieces.
But as I imagine a life with Joel, I realize that’s not what I want. I was scared for Joel when I found out what Francesca had gotten herself into, but I don’t love him anymore. Not like that.
The truth is, there’s another guy I can’t stop thinking about. And I’ve got to call him before it’s too late. If it isn’t already.
I look up at Francesca. I’ve felt a lot of things for her since that first night I saw her kissing Joel. Hatred. Envy. Fear. But this is the first time I’ve felt sympathy.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask.
Francesca laughs again. “God, you’re too nice. Just like Joel. So nice. It’s no wonder he wanted someone more exciting.”
My face burns. This is the Francesca I’m used to. “Fine. I’ll leave then.”