Page 35 of The Roommate Lie

But hearing her say it out loud still stings. Her confession is soft and kind, yet there’s no nice way to hear a thing like that from a girl you can't stop thinking about. Sweet rejections are still rejections.

Alice glances up at me, her face apologetic, and I do the only thing I can. The only thing a guy like me can ever do when his dream girl announces she doesn’t like him.

I lean back in my chair with an apologetic shrug of my own. Unleashing an easy grin that’s never done me wrong. “It’s fine. You aren’t really my type, either.”

That’s a lie, but I have no intention of telling the truth just to make Alice feel bad about not liking me. Her week has been hard enough. My job is to make sure she has the best writing retreat she can, that she never regrets staying at my house.

Then it’s my job to send her home and forget how cute her freckles are. And her smile.

“Isn’t that perfect?” Alice says brightly, still stammering a little as she addresses the group. “I’m not his type, he’s not my type…”

More tiny knives slide between my ribs, but I do a pretty good job of hiding it. At least I think I do. Until I notice the look on Edna’s face and realize she knowseverything.

I need damage control, and I need it fast. But then the town hall doors swing open, and a nightmare descends over bingo.

We have visitors.

Chapter Eighteen

CHARLIE

It doesn’t start off bad. Muriel walks in with a plate of lemon bars, and she’s actually a pretty good addition to bingo night. It’s the people who walk in behind her that are the problem.

Jason.

And Tiffany.

Somehow, Alice doesn’t notice her ex or his new girl, and they don’t notice her. They disappear into the crowd, and I can’t find them anywhere. Maybe I imagined them.

Muriel drops off her dessert before heading to our table. As she reaches us, she gives Alice a friendly smile, and Alice smiles back, both of them genuinely happy to see each other after survivingTerror in the Attic. “I was hoping you’d be here,” Muriel says. “Turns out one of my guests is from Texas too. Wouldn’t it be fun if you knew any of the same people? It can be such a small world.”

Send help.

Alice’s smile deepens, as if nothing would be nicer than meeting a fellow Texan, and Muriel springs into action. Before I can stop her, she sprints away and comes back with Jason. Tiffany follows suit.

When Alice catches sight of her ex, the color drains from her face. Her ex looks pretty surprised too.

“Alice, this is Jason,” Muriel says. “He’s been working in the kitchen at the wilderness resort for the past few months. Poor dear had some things he needed to get away from back home.”

Some things he needed to get away from?

That better not be code for “an amazing girlfriend he wanted to cheat on.” That man better have real issues he’s dealing with that have nothing to do with Alice, or we’ve got a problem. A big one.

“He went through a bad breakup before he left Texas,” Muriel continues. “His ex sounds like a real piece of work, but Ponderosa Falls has been the perfect place to heal.”

My jaw clenches, and so does Lydia’s. Judging by the look on her face, Tyler’s sister has figured out who Jason is, and she’s ready to make him pay. Even the Old Birds have it figured out. They shift in their chairs, perched on the edge of their seats like hawks eyeing a bunny rabbit. And that bunny rabbit is Jason.

Me? I take a different approach.

Alice’s knee bounces nervously under the table, and I press my leg against hers. It’s supposed to be a kind gesture, something to help steady her, but I’m playing with fire. The moment my leg touches hers, I feel the same steady pulse under my skin I had back at The BookSlinger. That primal protective urge I’ve been running from ever since.

A familiar word vibrates through me, and it’s such a simple, nothing word. One I never cared about until I met Alice.

Mine.

It’s not true, but I don’t care. I can still protect her like she’s mine.

I try to talk myself down, but Jason doesn’t help. His eyes linger on Alice, and my protective urge flares.Why is he staring at her like that?

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