Page 53 of Faking it with my Off Limits Neighbor

“What happened between you and Charlie?” Mom presses. “Things seemed to be going great.”

They’re not going to let this go. Besides, I’m stranded here, thanks to Milly’s genius idea of bringing me in her car. Maybe I can just get this over and done with, then get back home to my moping.

“I messed up,” I say. “I messed up big time. After Grandma’s party, I invited Charlie over for dinner. We sat and talked a lot, and then the conversation turned to why I’d left. I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted to be honest with her. But I’d already found out that she and Mr. Woods seem to have patched things up over the years, and I didn’t want to be the one who drove a wedge between them. So I lied.”

“And Charlie found out,” Dad says solemnly.

“Yep,” I growl, more frustrated with myself than Dad’s question. “When she finally let me talk to her, she told me that her dad had told her the truth. So it’s over.”

“What did he tell her, exactly?” Dad asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know. That he told me to leave, and I left. The conversation didn’t last that long.”

“Hang on,” Milly interjects. “I was talking to Charlie the other day, and that’s not all her dad said. In fact, what she told me didn’t sound quite right, but I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t say anything.”

I frown at my sister. “What else did he say?”

“Something about him giving you two choices. That you either had to clean up your act if you wanted to be with Charlie, or you had to leave. The rest is what you told me all those years back—that if you didn’t go, Mr. Woods would take Charlie somewhere you’d never find her.”

I should be seething with rage; I should be jumping up and shouting indignantly, but I don’t have the energy for that. I just feel dead inside.

I shake my head. “That’s not what happened at all. There was no mention of cleaning up my act to be with Charlie. He just threatened me. If I didn’t go, he and Charlie would leave Cherryville, and I didn’t want that for Charlie. I didn’t want her torn from the town she loves, and to be torn away from her best friend.” I nod to Milly.

“So he lied?” Dad balks, clearly more annoyed than I have the strength to be. Dad pushes himself up from the chair. “That conniving, sneaky little sh—”

“Sit down, darling,” Mom says. She has a way of being commanding without raising her voice. “Getting all flustered about what Mr. Woods said isn’t going to help our son. Troy needs us right now.”

Dad takes a huge breath in and looks over at me. Nodding, he drops back down into his chair. “Fine. But this isn’t over, Marjorie. I will be having words with that snake. He’s had it in for Troy since—”

“Dad,” I say, raising a hand. “It’s fine. Really. I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

“Maybe we can invite Charlie over, and you two can talk it out,” Mom suggests.

“No,” I say firmly. “You’re right, Dad. Mr. Woods lied, but at the end of the day, so did I. That’s why Charlie is angry, and she has every right to be. Now, I just need to figure out what I’m going to do.”

“What do you mean, what you’re going to do?” Milly looks at me with a frown of concern.

I’ve been thinking about this for the last day or two, but as I look from Milly to Mom, and then Dad, my resolve wanes a little. Still, they need to know. I can’t do this to them again.

“I’m thinking of moving from Cherryville.”

“What?!” Mom and Milly blurt together.

All three of them are looking at me with huge, wide eyes, and if it wasn’t so serious, it would be hilarious.

“You can’t move,” Milly commands. “You just came back.”

“I’m not going back to Europe, Milly. I just can’t stay here.”

“What about the restaurant?” Dad cries.

“I can sell it. Buy another place wherever I end up moving to. I’ve got everything I need to fit another one out. It would just be a case of moving it all.”

“Oh, just like that,” Mom says with a tinge of sarcasm.

I take a deep breath and look from one parent to the other. “I don’t think you really understand how I’m feeling. I told you the other day that Charlie and I were taking things slowly. That was the truth, but the thing is, I’m in love with her. I’ve never stopped loving her. I might never stop loving her for years to come. I just can’t do it. Do you understand? I can’t stay here and watch her moving on with her life when I can’t move on with mine.”

I can see Mom tearing up, and then Milly jumps off her chair and comes and sits beside me. Threading her arms through mine, she rests her head on my shoulder.

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