Page 48 of The Relationship Clause

Kiera: HA HA. Fine. I’ll be there. But you better be cooking something delicious.

Owen: Goat-cheese-stuffed rosemary chicken in prosciutto with asparagus and potatoes as a side. Crème brûlée for dessert.

Kiera: Drooly face emoji.

After work, I say goodbye to Junie as if we don’t literally live across a hallway from each other. I’m tempted to take the elevator up to our floor together, but I hang back, not liking how intriguing that thought is.

At home, I take a few minutes to unwind and shamelessly cuddle Storm, trying to distract myself from my swirling thoughts that always circle back to either the mole or Junie. After a quick workout, I shower and prep for dinner. I’ve got the vegetables ready and I’m starting in on the chicken, Storm weaving between my legs, when I hear voices out in the hallway. I suspect it’s my dad and Kiera coming up from the elevator, but the talking continues and no one ever knocks on my door. Curiosity eventually gets the better of me, so I wipe my hands off, give Storm a scratch where she likes it behind her ear, then head for my door.

Out in the hallway, it’s not just my dad and Kiera. Junie is also here. She’s talking to them as if she does this every day, wearing a set of cozy-looking pajamas with tiny, gray hearts printed all over them and fuzzy, pink slippers. She’s adorable, and I want to wrap her up in a hug.

“Owen!” Junie practically jumps to my side as soon as she sees me. She hugs me close, and it’s so unexpected that she almost knocks me over. “Save me,” she whispers.

“What’s going on here, guys?” I say, forcing calm into my voice.

Junie pulls back, and I can tell the smile on her face is plastic. “I was taking my trash out,” she says, motioning to a lone, forgotten garbage bag lying on the floor beside the elevator, “when your dad and sister caught me and we started talking.”

“Okay…” I glance at Kiera, hoping for a clue as to what’s going on, but she looks as wild and excited as a feral cat. Whatever is happening, she wants it to happen.

Dad gives his patented salesman smile, trying to put everyone at ease. “We were chatting about your new living situation,” he says, giving me a wink, “and the topic of Vail came up.”

Vail, Colorado is where my family has gone every single year for as long as I can remember around Valentine’s Day. The few happy family memories I do have come from those trips to Vail. Our family would rent a hotel room, ski, eat out, sit around fireplaces in the evenings, and talk or play games.

As the years went on, Vail became less enjoyable with the tension building between my parents, but the trips still happened. Until Dad found out about Mom’s affair. Now Mom doesn’t come, but Dad still makes Kiera and me go on the grounds of tradition and to insist it’s a way we can “pay him back” for putting us through school, a decision I regret to this day.

I was seriously considering skipping out on the trip this year due to the situation at work, but Shane helped convince me to take one for the team and go anyway. We’re guessing part of the reason the mole hasn’t made any recent moves is because they’re getting nervous. It’s possible that having me completely away from Em3rge for the weekend will be exactly what we need to get our mole out of hiding.

So, I’m still going, despite my reservations.

Junie grabs my arm. To my dad and Kiera, it probably looks like she’s being touchy-feely, but what she’s actually doing is squeezing my arm so hard, she might as well be tying a tourniquet above my elbow.

“What about Vail?” I ask warily.

“Well,” Kiera says, bringing a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket, “it turns out I can’t go this year. I’ve got jury duty. Darn. When Dad saw your new girlfriend here taking out the trash, I had an awesome idea.”

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no.

I admit, I didn’t tell Kiera that Junie and I were fake dating. I told her she’d moved in across from me, but I didn’t divulge the sticky situation and subsequent misunderstanding we wound up in with Dad. I kind of thought Junie would tell her, but if she didn’t, Kiera didn’t need to know anyway.

I was wrong. I should have told her. Now she’s punishing me for it.

“I told Dad that Junie should go in my place,” Kiera says, grinning.

I grab the paper from her hands and skim the contents, hoping to maybe call her bluff, but there is no bluff. She really has jury duty.

“I was trying to tell them I couldn’t go as you were coming out,” Junie says. “I mean, I don’t think we’ve been dating long enough to—”

“How long have you been dating exactly?” Kiera says, eyes narrowing.

Junie and I turn to each other, stammering. “W-well, we, uh—”

“Because I could have sworn it’s been over six months,” Kiera continues. “I think that’s plenty long to go on an overnight trip together. What do you think, Dad?”

That’s it. I’m writing her name in public bathroom stalls.

“Sounds plenty long to me,” Dad says, looking pleased with the situation.

“B-but my job,” Junie says. “I don’t think I could get away from work on such short notice.”

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