Page 9 of The Roommate Lie

“Has he been getting cozy with anyone in particular?” I ask, and this time, my voice is the one that sounds hollow.

“One of our servers in the main dining hall, a brunette named Tiffany. Why?”

“Because I think she just showed up.”

The full nightmare hits us at the same time. Raven and I have been friends for years, ever since she showed up in Ponderosa Falls, and this is a sore spot for both of us: cheaters. I’m the one who found out my dad wasn’t being faithful to my mom when I was a preteen, and Raven moved here after she realized her fiancé was creeping around.

That’s the first thing we bonded over—our joint trust issues—and that’s the only explanation for what happens next. For the way we both fall apart.

Raven loses it first, burying her face in her hands and going full PTSD. As if that’s her boyfriend across the lawn, not Alice’s. “Now she has to meet the other woman? After he left her stranded at a bus station?”

I should probably talk her down, but I’m too busy having a meltdown of my own. “She’s too nice for this,” I mutter as their voices drift toward us. “She didn’t deserve this.”

Nobody does, but I can’t shake how sweet Alice is. How she traveled all this way to see him and wasn’t even mad when he tried to cancel and didn’t pick her up. That girl is a walking rainbow. Breaking her heart should be a crime.

I knew that boyfriend of hers was bad news. Not hugging her right away was definitely a sign.

The fact that his other woman isn’t surprised to see Alice makes it worse. She clearly knew he had a girlfriend back home. Tiffany has one of those voices that carry, and her words cut through Raven and me like a thousand rusty knives.

“He just wasn’t sure how to tell you it was over. You have so much going on with your family. He didn’t want to make it worse.”

Raven is still crouched beside me on the other side of that lilac bush, her face in her hands, and she mutters something I can barely hear. It sounds a lot likehe talked to her about his girlfriend’s family problems?

Around the corner, Alice basically says the same thing, but Jason isn’t fazed. “Well, I had to talk to someone.”

I see red for a split second, and Raven makes a softoofsound beside me, as if Jason’s response punched her in the gut.

“I’m so sorry about your sister,” Tiffany says. “That’s rough.”

“You told her about my sister?”

Alice’s voice is so quiet when she says that, I have no idea how it carries as far as it does. How anything that soft and hurt can travel all the way around the corner and stab me in the heart. But it does, and it hits Raven too.

I’m not sure what’s going on with Alice’s sister. She didn’t mention her once, but I can tell it’s serious. There’s no way she wanted her boyfriend talking about it with his girl-on-the-side.

But Alice doesn’t say that. She doesn’t say anything. She just stands there, frozen. Probably because she thinks she’s stranded with nowhere else to go.

“We have to help her,” Raven whispers. “We can’t leave her out there alone like that.”

Done.

I’m out of my hiding place in seconds flat. Raven is too focused on hyperventilating to follow me, but that doesn’t matter. I have no problem handling this on my own.

Even if I don’t have a plan.

Chapter Five

CHARLIE

I need to get Alice out of here—that’s all I know for sure.

As I sprint around the main lodge, “save Carrots” echoes in my head like a battle cry. I’m just not sure how to make that happen, what the right move is. Then Alice shifts, and I catch my first real glimpse of her face.

One look at the sadness in her eyes, and I switch into autopilot. No plan necessary.

“Hey, Allie.” I ease up beside her. “Sorry I’m late. How was your trip?”

Allie?

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