Page 108 of The Roommate Lie

Chapter Fifty-Six

CHARLIE

That night, there’s a going-away party for Alice at the BookSlinger. I had nothing to do with it, but the music is good, the food is great, and it’s the perfect way to celebrate our favorite author before she leaves—except for the part where I don’t get to spend any time with her.

It feels like half the town is here, and the crowd swallows Alice up instantly. Whenever she gets free, there’s always another sweet old lady waiting in the wings, another conversation to have or a book to sign. I watch from the sidelines, and I can practically hear the countdown clock ticking in my head. Alice is still here, but I can feel her slipping away. By tomorrow, she’ll be gone.

Lydia can tell I’m a wreck. She tries to talk to me about it, but the moment she pulls me aside, her brother makes that familiar joke. He reminds me sisters are off-limits, and my confession fades.What does it matter?

Tyler is my best friend. We trust each other completely. If he doesn’t think I’m good enough for his sister, what chance do I have with a girl like Alice? She could do so much better than a screwup like me, and everybody knows it.

After chatting with Muriel and the Old Birds, I escape outside for some fresh air, sitting on one of the metal benches that line the sidewalk. Before long, my brother joins me.

“Do you know what the problem is with marrying the perfect woman?” he asks.

I glance up. Those aren’t the words I expected, and he isn’t giving me the look I expected, either. Carl has been campaigning for me to stay away from Alice since she got here, but he doesn’t look happy that I’m keeping my distance tonight. He looks disappointed.

“Perfect wives are right a lot. And when you screw up, they make you fix it—it’s the worst.”

I’m not sure what he’s getting at. Though when I glance up, Jenna is watching us from inside the BookSlinger, and she’s looking pretty triumphant for a Tuesday night.

“The party was her idea,” Carl explains. “She thought it would be a good opportunity to see you and Alice together. That way I could realize you had feelings for her, that you weren’t just messing around.”

He hesitates before giving me a teasing glance. “I really thought I was going to win this one, but you look super pathetic tonight, Charlie. Thanks for nothing.”

I can’t help smiling, despite how heartbroken and mixed up I feel. Then reality sets back in, and my smile fades. “I don’t think she likes me the way I like her,” I admit.

“How do you know? Did you ask?”

I shake my head.

I don’t want to admit I’m too afraid to talk to Alice, but Carl can tell. Sitting next to me on that bench, he can see the real me clearly. The good, the bad, and the terrified.

“You should tell her how you feel,” he says gently. “Take it from me, I spent years pretending I didn’t have feelings for my perfect girl. I was worried she wouldn’t be interested, that I’dregret telling her. But the only thing I regret is all the time I wasted.”

Easy for him to say.

“You got the girl—of course you regret not telling her sooner. You only feel that way because she didn’t break your heart.”

Meanwhile, I’m staring down the opposite scenario. Where Alice has the perfect ex-boyfriend who wants her back waiting in the wings, and she’s definitely going to break my heart.

“Maybe,” Carl concedes. “But if it hadn’t worked out with Jenna, I would’ve wasted all those years wondering anyway. I still would’ve wished I told her sooner.”

Maybe.

I concede a little too, but only in my head. Outwardly, I shrug and say nothing, act like I don’t care. It hurts too much to play this any other way.

Carl isn’t fooled, and he doesn’t let it go. Older brothers with all the answers never do. “She’s leaving, Charlie. Tomorrow morning, Alice will be gone.”

He lets that sink in. Because he’s family, and he knows where all my weak spots are. The best ways to make me hurt.

“You can spend the rest of your life wondering how she felt about you, or you can find out,” he says softly. “The choice is up to you. Just make sure you can live with it.”

ALICE

“You disappeared.”

That’s probably the wrong thing to say when I see Charlie again, but it’s true. By the time I walk back to his house from Muriel’s, I’ve spent hours pretending he didn’t vanish from mygoing-away party. Just hanging out with my sisters and trying to forget.

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