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Eric Henson was standing beside that woman, and she had her arm hooked cozily through his.
In front of everyone, he announced that he'd given her a hillside mansion as a birthday gift.
She melted into his arms, bashful, and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you, honey."
I felt the blood in my veins turn slowly cold.
Rita Fox.
Three years ago, at the very first stop of my world piano tour, my fingers were crushed. I could never play again.
The tour carried a sky-high penalty clause, so someone had to step in and take my place on stage.
That someone was Rita Fox.
My brother, Paul Pruitt, and my best friend, Mabel James, were furious on my behalf. They went and fought with her.
Mabel even slapped her in public, calling her out for stealing my place.
And yet here they all were, in the banquet hall.
Every person I'd ever been close to, gathered together in warm high spirits, celebrating Rita Fox's birthday.
I shoved the door open.
Every gaze in the room swung toward me at once.
Eric's face shifted through one expression after another.
Paul and Mabel froze mid-motion.
Rita walked over and gave me a little smile.
"Long time no see, Maisie. Are you here for my birthday party too?"
She tilted her head, a thread of pity in her voice.
"You know, what happened to your fingers back then, I've always felt so bad about it."
"I suppose... it's just fate. Some places are meant to be kept for the ones who are prepared for them."
She reached out and stroked her own belly, her voice gentle.
"And it's perfect timing, because today I wanted to announce that I'm expecting. Come share in the good luck too."
Eric crossed to my side in quick strides and dropped his voice.
"Why did you come? Go home first. I'll explain later."
I stared him dead in the eye.
"Explain? What's left to explain? Explain that you had another family this whole time, that you played me like a fool while I ran in circles? Is that it?"
Mabel came in too, brows knit.
"Maisie, don't make a scene here. Whatever it is, we'll talk about it back home. Rita's pregnant. What if you upset her?"
Paul watched me, all guarded.
I looked coldly at the lot of them, feeling my heart sink lower and lower, all the way to the bottom.
In that moment, my whole body went cold.
I stared at them, my voice shaking.
"My fingers, back then... it was you. You did it, didn't you?"
My brother finally lifted his head, awkward.
"Rita really had it hard. Her family nearly bankrupted themselves so she could study piano."
"And back then she'd just been diagnosed with cancer... a piano tour was her dream. We couldn't let her down."
I laughed out loud, but my eyes had gone red.
"So you buried my dream instead? Is that it?!"
My brother said quickly,
"Maisie, you're not like her! You've had us loving you your whole life. You've got a thousand roads ahead of you. Just give this one up for her. What does it matter?"
I looked at these people, my throat closing.
"Give up my fiancé too, is that it?"
Eric pressed a hand to my shoulder.
"Rita really was dying of cancer back then. She said her one wish before she died was to sign the marriage license with me, so I agreed. Later she beat it..."
"Just step outside first, all right? Don't make this any uglier than it has to be."
I looked down at my own crooked fingers.
These hands had once flown wild across black and white keys.
Now they trembled just holding a cup of water.
For three years I'd forced myself to believe it was an accident, it was fate, I was just unlucky.
Only now did I understand: the people closest to me had destroyed me with their own hands.
Suddenly the whole thing struck me as absurd.
"One cancer diagnosis, and quite a lot of wishes to go with it."
"First my tour, then my fiancé. Is my life next on the list?"
"The times I was committed to the psychiatric hospital, you were all in on that too, weren't you?"
My brother's head snapped up, glaring.
"Maisie, can you not be so vicious with your mouth?"
I didn't answer him. I only looked at Eric.
"Eric. We're done. As of now."
Then I turned my head to face Mabel and Paul.
"And you two. My best friend. My own brother..."
"From today on, I, Maisie Pruitt, will live as though I never had a brother, never had a friend."
I walked out of the banquet hall into a downpour already hammering the night.
I looked down at the thin dress on my body and laughed at myself. Even the heavens had come to join in.
I drew a deep breath and stepped into the rain.
I don't know how long it was before a black Porsche pulled slowly to a stop beside me.
The window came down. My brother sat in the driver's seat.
"Get in."
