“No,” I replied with a small smile.
I meant I hadn’t drunk the cup she had prepared for me.
During the drive home, Arthur explained that his mother had accidentally sent him a strange message intended for someone else. It read, “She’ll be too busy dealing with her stomach to worry about wedding plans tomorrow.”
Patricia deleted it almost immediately and claimed she had been talking about someone else. Arthur became suspicious, especially because she had invited me to dinner so unexpectedly.
I nearly told him about switching the cups, but I decided to wait until we understood what had happened.
The next morning, I woke up to fourteen missed calls from Patricia and several messages asking whether I felt well. I called her back.
“Did you sleep well?” she asked nervously.
“Perfectly.”
“And your stomach? Any discomfort?”
I was confused. “Why would there be?”
She claimed she had suffered from an upset stomach during the night and wondered whether something we had eaten had disagreed with her.
