I had expected an apology, or at least another attempt at one. “You’ve talked to June already?”
“Tessa did. She told me you have to sign something. We don’t want to lose the date.”
The way he said we made me put down the fork I was holding. I’d made dinner and couldn’t eat it. “You were helping her plan our wedding, remember?”
“I know what I said. I handled that badly.”
“You lied to me.”
He went quiet. I heard a door close on his end, then his voice came back lower. “I’m not asking you to forgive me. But her parents paid the deposit. You wouldn’t be out that money if you signed.”
For a second I thought I’d misheard him. I’d told Tessa the deposit was covered by a wedding gift and left the giver unnamed. I had wanted to surprise her later. Somewhere along the way, she had apparently decided the gift came from her parents, and now Malik believed it too.
I could have corrected him in one sentence. I knew exactly which card I had used. Instead, I let him keep talking.
“Her parents?” I said.
“That’s what Tessa told me. They wanted to help us with the venue.” He caught himself. “Help with the wedding. They already put the money down.”
I looked at my untouched food. It bothered me that he could say us and then tidy it away as if I wouldn’t notice. It also bothered me that I was letting him rely on something I knew was wrong.
“I’ll think about the booking,” I said.
“Please do. Tessa’s worried.”
I nearly told him what I’d seen on the contract that morning. Instead I ended the call. I told myself I wanted to hear what Tessa would say first, but I was also enjoying the fact that Malik didn’t know something I did.
The next day Tessa called while I was sorting papers at the kitchen table. I answered because her name had appeared on my screen three times already.
“Malik said you might consider the transfer,” she said. “I can come by with the form.”
“I didn’t agree to sign it.”
“You said you’d think about it.”
“I have. If you want the reservation, reimburse me for the $3,600 deposit and I’ll sign it over.”
She gave a short laugh. “Reimburse you for what? My parents paid that.”
The words landed differently from hearing them from Malik. I’d left her to guess about the gift, but she sounded certain enough to argue with me over it.
“I’m the person on the contract,” I said. “That’s my condition.”
“You want me to pay you for a gift from my own parents?”
I turned the contract over so I couldn’t see the cancellation clause. I could end the argument by telling her I had paid. Part of me wanted to hear her apologize for assuming otherwise. Another part wanted to make her ask.
“I’m not handing it over for nothing,” I said.
“That’s not nothing. My parents already paid.” Her voice rose. “I’m not giving you $3,600 because you’re angry with me.”
“I am angry with you. You asked me to sign away the venue for a wedding you were planning with Malik.”
“I was trying to deal with it. You think I wanted to hurt you?”
“You knew I was going to find out eventually.”
She didn’t answer that. She asked me to be reasonable, then said I was holding the date over her head. I told her I’d let her know what I decided and ended the call before she could say it again.
I didn’t feel particularly reasonable. I had offered her a way to keep the date, but I had withheld the one fact that might have made the offer make sense to her. I was angry enough to leave it that way.
I called June again and asked if she had a record of the deposit payment. She said the original paper receipt was in the booking file.
“Could you bring it to a meeting?” I asked. “With Tessa and Malik there?”
“Yes. Thursday afternoon works for me.”
