Dumping Billy by Olivia Goldsmith

said.
    “Wait for it,” Elliot warned him.
    “Please, you two—it’s like Tweedledee and Tweedle Very Dumb,” Kate admonished. “Let the woman finish her story, which, I pray, is almost over.”
    “Almost,” Bina said. “So, I was wondering which pocket my ring was in now. It made me think of that game, Katie, that my father would play with us when we were little girls. You know, when he would have surprises for us and we would have to guess which pocket they were in.”
    Kate nodded, almost smiling in remembrance. Dr. Horowitz had been so kind to her. He used to give his daughter her allowance every Sunday morning, and since her father was usually sleeping one off on Sunday and rarely gave her money, Dr. Horowitz always gave Kate the same allowance as well: A big Sunday event was going to the candy store and agonizing over Junior Mints or Bit-O-Honey. Not to mention the Betty and Veronica comics. Bina and her family were good people, and she hated hearing how she’d been subjected to this hurtful slapstick. But maybe the situation could be salvaged. After all, Bina and Jack had years of history and were made for each other. “So then what?” she asked.
    “Well,” Bina continued, “Jack then looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Bina, I have something I want to say to you.’ And I’m thinking at least someday we’ll tell our grandchildren about all this and laugh! But then Jack says, ‘I have to be honest; Hong Kong is far away from here. Very far away.’ Like I didn’t take geography, right? So I think maybe he’s going to want to elope. It would break my mother’s heart, and I want the dress and all, but I was like dying by now. I kept waiting for Jack to reach for the ring, but his hands are staying folded together on top of the table. He takes a deep breath, looks up to the ceiling, and says, ‘I think it would be unfair of me to leave and ask you to just wait for me.’ I told him I agreed, and I looked down at my hand to get my finger ready. But then he said, ‘I think this time apart might be a good chance for us to . . . well, for us to . . . I think this might be a good chance for us to explore our singleness.’”
    “I could kill him, Bina,” Kate said.
    “Oh, me first,” Brice added.
    There was silence in the room. Kate, Elliot, and Brice sat there with their mouths opened wide, until Bina started sobbing again. All three snapped back into action. Kate moved closer on the sofa and held Bina. “Oh, honey,” she said. Brice got up, took a cushion, and put it under her feet as if she had internal bleeding. Elliot got up, went into the bathroom, and returned with a wet towel, a glass of water, and a blue pill. Ever neat—except in his clothes—he looked for a coaster. Before Kate could hand him one, he found a piece of cardboard.
    “Take this and drink all the water,” he told her. Bina did as she was told without question.
    “What was that?” Kate asked.
    “Oh, I just felt she needed a visit from cousin Valerie,” Elliot told her. It was his code word for Valium, and Kate knew a blue one was ten milligrams.
    “She’ll sleep for a week,” Kate said.
    “What a good time for that,” Elliot told her.
    “Okay, Bina. Tell us what happened next.”
    “I just ran out,” she said. “Well, ran as best I could in my heels. I went straight to your apartment, Katie, and when I couldn’t find you, Max helped me. You can’t believe how hysterical I was.” Kate silently disagreed with her on that. Bina blew her nose and continued. “Max was home. And he told me he thought you were out to dinner and where Elliot lived, and I went straight there in the pouring rain, and . . . Omigod!”
    “What! What is it, Bina?” Kate cried.
    Bina reached over to the coffee table and picked up the coaster for the water. It was Bunny’s wedding invitation. “Bunny? Bunny is getting married?” she asked.
    “Is that a bad thing?” Elliot wanted to know.
    Bina ignored him. “Why didn’t you tell