I felt sick. “How much?”
“More than $6,000.”
“How much more?”
“Almost $20,000.”
I was shocked.
He looked like he wanted to disappear.
“I lost savings. Then I started using credit.”
“Does your wife know?”
He shook his head.
“Not yet. I haven’t told her.”
I hadn’t known that either.
Apparently I knew very little.
Ryan said, “I panicked. I called Marcus. He didn’t have enough.”
“So he borrowed money from Jenna.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“I was afraid the news would eventually get to my wife, so I begged him not to.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So everybody gets to beg my husband to keep a secret from me, and apparently he just agrees.”
Ryan flinched. “I was ashamed.”
“I don’t care.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Whether you were ashamed or not, that doesn’t make it okay for Marcus to borrow $6,000 behind my back.”
Ryan nodded. “You’re right.”
“When was this?”
“About five months ago.”
“And Jenna thought Marcus needed it?”
“Yes.”
“He lied to her too.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That there was some emergency expense at home.”
“So she thought the money was for us.”
“Yes.”
“And I never knew.”
“I told Marcus I’d pay him back before Jenna’s wedding.”
“Why before the wedding?”
“Because he promised Jenna he would return the money before her wedding.”
“But you haven’t paid him back.”
His face tightened. “I couldn’t.”
“Because you are still gambling?”
“No. I stopped. But like I said, I had more debt than I’d admitted.”
“So you lied to Marcus too.”
“Yes.”
That explained Jenna’s anger.
Not what she did to Sophie.
But the anger.
I asked, “How did Jenna find out?”
“She asked me why Marcus was late in paying her back. I thought she knew.”
“This is all too much.”
“I had to tell her the money was helping me through a bad situation.”
“How long ago did you have this conversation?”
“About two months.”
The exact time Jenna and Marcus stopped speaking.
Ryan nodded toward the ceremony space.
“They had a huge fight.”
I already knew where this was going.
“And then she took Sophie out of the wedding.”
He looked ashamed. “Yes.”
“She did it to punish Marcus.”
He nodded.
“And then she changed her mind.”
He didn’t respond.
I crossed my arms. “Tell me the rest.”
Ryan hesitated. “Marcus told her there was no need to include Sophie again.”
“Why?”
“He thought if Sophie stayed involved, there’d be more family time.”
