Chapter 16
Ellie glanced across at where Katie was checking her phone once again instead of washing up the café’s special china. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “It’s Jason.”
“What about him?” She carried another stack of dirty plates to the sink, separating those to go in the commercial dishwasher.
“He hasn’t contacted me in the last three days.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, he hasn’t called me back or texted or even posted anything on his socials. It’s like he’s fallen off the face of the earth.”
Uh-oh. She had a bad feeling about this. “Maybe he’s busy or has gone away somewhere.”
“Without telling me?”
“Yeah, that seems weird. But hey, he wouldn’t be the first person in the world to do something like that.”
“You mean Ethan?”
“Look, I don’t want to draw comparisons, but it does sound a little bit familiar to something a most beloved sister of yours has experienced recently.”
Katie’s chin wobbled, and she shook her head. “No. Jason isn’t like that.”
She finished loading the dishwasher and turned it on. As it hummed away, she glanced at her sister. “Let’s make a cup of tea, and you can tell me about what happened the last time you two met.”
Katie shrugged but did as Ellie asked, boiling the kettle while Ellie quickly cleaned the china that could not go into the dishwasher, thanks to its gilt edging. She assembled an assortment of leftovers from the day and followed her sister out to a round table for two out front.
It was past four o’clock, and the sign on the door had been turned to say CLOSED, and now without Mum or Dad here, it was the perfect time to be real.
“So, what happened the last time you two met?”
Katie sighed and nibbled on a piece of chocolate-dipped shortbread. “It was just like the last. We went for a walk along the Coogee cliffs, then had a meal at Watson Bay, then …” She bit her lip.
“Then what?”
She shrugged. “It’s no biggie.”
As soon as anybody ever said that, it sounded like a biggie. “Then what?”
Katie sighed, sipped her tea, her gaze not meeting Ellie’s. “He, uh, wanted me to go back to his house.”
Oh no. “Did you?”
Katie frowned and finally looked at her. “What do you take me for? I know better than to do that.”
Ellie’s anger grew. “Has he tried that before with you?”
“You mean has he tried to take advantage of me?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he has gotten a little excited when we were kissing and said some stuff, but I’m sure he didn’t mean it to sound like it did.”
Yeah, nothing to be too sure of there. She clamped her lips together.
Katie sighed. “Look, I know you don’t like him very much, but he’s not a bad guy.”
“Just to be clear, what was his reaction when you said you wouldn’t go to his house?”
“He was disappointed but said he understood. That maybe it was too soon for me.”
Oh, good grief. She had to tread carefully here so Katie did not get upset. “Um, too soon for what?”
Katie’s hand shook as she held her teacup, and she put it down on the saucer with a clatter. “I don’t know why you have to think the worst.”
“Katie, I’m not trying to be mean here, but you’re just telling me what he said. So what do you think he meant by too soon for you?”
Katie gave a long drawn-out sigh. “Okay, fine. I think he wanted me to do something like what you’re thinking. I had told him a few times that I didn’t intend to do that until I was married.”
Ellie hid her wince behind a pumpkin scone. No doubt Jason had seen that as a challenge. “So what was the last message you had with him?”
“I called him on Sunday, but he didn’t answer. He did message me back, however.”
“May I read it?”
Katie frowned. “Don’t judge me.”
Wow. She kept her lips compressed to keep from making a comment, like “If you’re worried enough to be saying that, it sounds like there’s something here to be judged!” and scanned over the past few messages.
Katie was right. Nothing since Tuesday. Three days ago.
“Then I texted him, and he sent me a thumbs-up.” Katie’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s not exactly what a boyfriend should do, is it?”
“Did he mention going away for work? Maybe he’s out of mobile phone reception.” She was being generous here, she knew that.
“I think he’s ghosting me.”
Ellie nodded. Poor thing. “Want me to call him? He doesn’t know my phone number, so if he picks up, we’ll know if he is ghosting you.”
“What will you say?”
“I don’t know. I can say that you’re concerned about him and ask why he hasn’t called you. Or you could just use my phone and talk to him yourself.”
The pleats in Katie’s brow deepened. “That could work.”
A minute later, they were holding hands, watching Ellie’s phone as it jerked in the middle of the table, the ringtone on speaker.
Finally, it was answered. “Hello. This is Jason.”
Ellie glanced at Katie, who seemed scared. Katie pointed at Ellie to speak.
She winced. “Uh, hello.” Man, she so should’ve thought this out better.
“Who is this?”
“Is this Jason Willoughby?” She grimaced. How inane did she sound?
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Uh, this is Elinor Bennett. You’ve been dating my sister, and she’s worried about—”
Click.
“Wow.”
“Oh my gosh,” Katie breathed. “He hung up on you.”
“Let’s try again.” She pressed redial, and soon the phone was ringing again.
But this time it wasn’t answered. Nor did a text message get marked DELIVERED.
“It looks like he’s blocked me too. I’m sorry, Katie.”
Katie’s face crumpled. “I don’t understand. What did I do wrong?”
“Hey.” Ellie shifted to wrap her arm around her sister’s shoulders. “You can’t think that way. We can’t even know for sure that he’s ghosting you.”
At the brief flicker of hope in Katie’s eyes, she realised that might not have been the most helpful thing to say.
“Look, whatever happens, you need to be able to look back on what you’ve done and know that you’ve done the right thing.
And it sounds like you have. It’s not your fault if he wants you to lower your moral standards. That’s definitely his problem.”
But Katie was crying now, tears trickling from her eyes. “It’s not him. It’s me. Maybe I should have let him—”
“No, don’t you ever say that again,” Ellie said fiercely.
“You need to have enough self-respect that you can stand up for what you believe without feeling like you need to compromise your values. You don’t need to apologise for having values.
He needs to apologise for not respecting your personal boundaries. ”
“I know. But still … I liked him. I really liked him.”
“Hey, it’s going to be okay.”
As Katie’s sobbing continued and Ellie’s shoulder got damp, Ellie started to wonder just how much of a hold this man had on her sister.
For a relationship of only a few weeks, this seemed an excessive amount of emotion.
But then, what did she know? She’d felt much the same about Ethan ghosting her, and she’d known him a lot less.
“Hey, you’re okay.”
Katie shook her head, her hair tickling Ellie’s nose. “I don’t think I can ever trust a guy again.”
“We can still give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Why would he reject me? Am I ugly, is that it?”
“Of course you’re not ugly. You’re beautiful.” Even if Katie’s red nose and eyes weren’t top picks for attractiveness right now. “And what’s more important is that you’re God’s child and He loves you. Right?”
Katie lifted a shoulder.
“Right?” she pressed.
“Yeah.” Katie sighed.
“Hey, let’s box up the rest of these leftovers and go home. Then you can hop into your pyjamas and we can watch Friends.”
“But Mum will want to know what’s wrong.”
“Then we’ll say you’re not feeling well and that you need an early night. That’s true, isn’t it?”
Katie nodded, wiping her face. “I don’t feel good at all.” She winced. “And I’m supposed to work tomorrow.”
“Well, we’ll give Annabelle a call and see if she’s free. She doesn’t mind some extra shifts.”
Katie finally nodded, and they boxed up the remains and took off their aprons.
Going home to face Mum wasn’t going to be easy, and Ellie wanted to protect her sister as much as possible.
Finding out upsetting news was hard enough without having somebody’s excessive sympathising stirring it to be ten times worse.
And as Mum and Katie were so attuned to each other, on a separate wavelength than the rest of them it sometimes seemed, Ellie was happy to do her best to avoid the cataclysmic emotions sure to be theirs very soon.
When they arrived, it took Mum only one look at Katie to demand what was wrong, before Katie admitted in a faltering voice what had happened. Mum’s offence-o-meter soared, and she started railing about all the bad men in the world and her poor daughters being royally abused.
Ellie tried to intervene, but Mum was having none of it. And it seemed Katie preferred Mum’s brand of sympathy over Ellie’s more bracing style.
“Katie, do you want me to tell the others?”
Katie shook her head, then immediately nodded. “C–can you ask EJ if I can visit her? I don’t want to stay here.”
“Of course I can.”
Two minutes later, Ellie was on a call with EJ—it was too early for Liv just yet—and letting her know what had happened to poor Katie. “So now she wants to know if she can come visit you.”
“Of course she can. You could come too. Come after church on Sunday. Otherwise, come tomorrow. There’s a free concert at the Opera House on Sunday afternoon I thought I’d go to. It might be good for Katie to have a change of scenery.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
“See? Smart sister. Look, pack her on the train tomorrow and you come up too, or on Sunday. We’ll have some girl time and take her mind off it. You’re off on Monday, right?”
“I’m supposed to work for Nicola,” she said regretfully. And Nicola had been so good in standing up for her against Francine that she didn’t want to take advantage of her by requesting a day off.
“Well, ask if you can come late on Monday, or swap your days.”
“I thought you were super busy.”
“I am, but I’m learning to prioritise what really matters. And family comes first, as someone near and dear to us always likes to say.”
“Thanks, EJ.”