Chapter 12: 3:17 a.m.

"Play it," I said.

David looked up from the phone.

"Zelda, you don't have to hear it from Clarence's copy."

"It's my voice. I want to hear it."

"I have the original," he said. "I never deleted it."

He didn't ask me to sit.

Nobody sat.

Bernard stood against the counter with his arms crossed.

Ellis had taken off his glasses and was holding them in both hands.

Garson leaned in the doorway.

I stood in the middle of my mother's kitchen with my hair still damp from the sauna.

David put the phone flat on the table and touched the screen.

There was a small click, and then the sound of someone breathing.

It was mine.

"David. It's me. I know it's three in the morning."

My voice was thick and small.

"I'm in the bathroom. I'm on the floor. I don't know why I'm calling you."

A breath.

"I'm going to delete this, so it doesn't matter what I say."

A long, wet breath.

"I can't marry him."

I shut my eyes.

"Nothing's wrong with him. He's careful and he's nice."

The recording caught a sob.

"Every time he touches me I think, this is the rest of my life, and nobody will ever ask what I want."

On the recording, I could hear the tap running.

"I can't say it to his mother. I can't say it at the church with the flowers."

Her voice dropped.

"If I wake up tomorrow I'll say it's fine and I'll put on the dress."

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