Page 70 of SALT

"Absolute wrong person to ask, seeing as I've never been in love, but I did come close. I think love looks different for everyone. I think, like with everything, there are peaks and valleys. Falling in love is easy; staying in love is harder but love itself isn't just sweet. It's as bold and exciting as it is tears and devastation. At the end of the day, you trust that person to be all those things, and I think when you endure all those things together and you can still wake up every day unable to picture a life without them by your side, that's love." She grabs a bottle of water from the table behind her. "But take my words with a grain of salt. I haven't lived them." Maybe not, but I don't think she's wrong. Love isn't only flowers and rainbows. Love is raw and untamed. It spreads like a virus without regard for the person or time. The loud crinkling of her water bottle as she squeezes it in her hand draws me from my thoughts before she asks, "Are we good on the love thing?"

I shake my head and clear the fog. "Yeah, I'm sorry. It's been a heavy night."

"I mean, I knew it would be before I got into the car, so there's that, but I'm about to make it heavier. I have a confession. It's kind of a big one."

"Okay," I draw out pensively, unsure where this conversation is headed.

"I lied. I lied about a lot of things," she blurts out before blowing out a huge breath. I can tell that admission alone lifted a weight, but what the hell is she going on about?

"You lied about what exactly?" The whole conversation Everett and Moira had while I was under his desk suddenly comes to mind. I planned on asking him what she was talking about, but then Moira brought up babies, and Everett asked me out to dinner. Those topics took precedence over snooping on whatever drama Moira was having with Lauren. After all, I already knew they were enemies.

"I'm honestly not sure where to start," she says as her fingers nervously pull at the label.

"That many, huh?" I keep it lighthearted.

"Ehhh." Her response, coupled with the uncertainty marring her worried face, tells me they must be anything but light.

"Okay, well, how about we go from small to big, light to heavy, since we just left off on a heavy topic."

"Sure." She rubs her hands on her knees. "Parker and I are sleeping together, and I really like him… like really, really like him."

I can't help the smile that spreads across my face. I love that for them, or at least I think I do. After we get to the heavy, maybe I'll love it less, but so far, these lies are trending in the right direction.

"I'm not sure you can even call that a lie. A white lie, maybe. It's no secret that something was going on between the two of you, and out of anyone, I fully understand not wanting to share something so new with the world until you're sure it's worth sharing."

She gets off the couch and starts pacing the living room as a crack of thunder shakes the ground. "I've lied about pretty much everything since I've been here. Why I'm here, who I am, you name it, I lied." As I think over our conversations, I turn my attention to the threads on the fringe blanket I've been twirling between my fingers. "Lauren Rhodes isn't really my aunt. I assume Everett already told you that."

My brow furrows before my eyes flick up to hers. "Why would Everett tell me that?"

Her pacing comes to a halt. "He didn't tell you that?" My eyebrows raise in question. "Interesting," she trails off before continuing her slow pace. "So he didn't mention Moira, Evan, or any of it?"

"What are you surprised I don't already know about?"

She fidgets with her braid and mumbles, "That's kind of why I missed a few days of work this week. You've been taking fewer hours at work, and my texts go unanswered longer than they used to. I assumed you'd heard something and written me off…" She releases her braid and speaks louder. "Lauren is not my aunt. I was adopted, but that's not really a secret. If anything, it's a mincing of words. She knows we are not related in any way…" She trails off and pauses again. It's clear she's thinking through this revelation about me not knowing something she believes I should, and the fact that Everett knows and didn't tell me feels like a punch to the gut. "I lied about who I am. Lauren believes Evan Graves is my brother, which would make Moira Michaelson my aunt."

That's a super fucking loaded truth bomb, one that makes zero sense. Moira being Evan's aunt is news to me. I should be surprised, but I'm not. I've always seen a side to Moira MacBeth that the world chose to shove under the rug because of who her husband was. The fact that Evan isn't the son of a stranger dropped off on her front porch doesn't faze me. If anything, I'm surprised he's a nephew and not a secret love child, knowing how her heart never belonged to Everett. But never mind that Moira's been keeping secrets, or that Stormy lied about who she is, the better question is: Why that lie?

"That's a strange lie to tell. Why would you choose that lie?"

Her eyes slowly raise to mine. "To get close to you."

Hail starts pinging off the metal roof of my RV, as if her words weren't ominous and creepy enough. I shove down the eerie discomfort and ask, "Why?"

"Rain check?"

"Stormy, it doesn't really work that way. You have me a little creeped out," I admit as I pull my blanket around me, somewhat regretful that I turned my location sharing off on my phone. Since we've met, Stormy has been on the quieter side, but I assumed she was just one of those people who is slow to warm. Now I'm looking back at everything through a different color lens. "Have you been stalking me?" Isn't that what stalkers do? They slowly infiltrate your life and gain access to you through your friends; in this case, Parker.

"It's nothing like that, I promise. I'm going to come clean. I swear it, I just can't. Not yet."

"You realize I'm totally paranoid now. If you sleep here tonight, I will be sleeping with one eye open."

She gently reclaims her spot on the other end of the couch. "I know you have zero reason to trust me after everything I just said, and I feel terrible about that. I told you I had good intentions the last time we were here. It's always my execution that sucks." Her eyes drop to the floor.

"That doesn't really help put me at ease."

"What if I told you Parker trusted me?" Her eyes snap back to mine with a renewed sense of hope.

"Does Parker know your lies?"

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