Page 37 of The Roommate Lie

Edna kicks me under the table. She can tell something’s up, and she doesn’t like it. When I glance over, her eyes narrow as if she can tell every self-destructive thing I’m thinking, and I’m pretty sure that’s the same look a falcon gives its prey before it rips it to shreds.

The only thing that can save me is a cakewalk. Luckily, I’ve been keeping track. The bingo official raises Henrietta’s winning card in the air, and I know exactly what they’re going to say.

That makes three. It’s time to walk the walk.

People around us cheer. They’ve been eyeing those desserts up front for over half an hour, and whole tables empty as they crowd around the stage. Meanwhile, the winners of the first three bingo rounds climb up to take their place on the cakewalk circle. Including Henrietta.

Jason and Tiffany vanish into the crowd again, but Alice doesn’t notice. There’s too much commotion, and she glances between Lydia and me, waiting for an explanation. Then our town polka band gets into position, and she gasps.

“What. Is.Happening?”

Lydia sighs. “I know, right? I came out here for my brother, but I stayed for the polka.”

“And the norteño,” I remind her, listing the other local bands that switch off each month for bingo night. “And the bluegrass. And Riley Tipton’s punk band.”

Lydia nods, sighing again. “Live cakewalk music is everything.”

Alice feels the same way. The polka band starts up as our three bingo winners dance around the cakewalk circle, and her face lights up like she’s having the time of her life. As if Jason was never here.

Henrietta goes all out for the crowd, dancing and shimmying as her glasses sway on a thin gold chain around her neck. It’s her time to shine, and the other Old Birds cheer her on. Alice does too.

As soon as the music stops, so does the dancing. Each bingo winner glances down, calling out the number they landed on, and our emcee for the night announces which three or four desserts that number was paired with. Everyone cheering as those items are added to the empty refreshment table.

Then we feast.

Pondies line up, bingo winners first, and Alice gives me the happiest possible glance, suppressing a delighted sigh of her own. “Those are the bingo prizes? Food for everyone?”

“It’s like a community potluck, but we’ve got to earn the food. And survive Henrietta.”

She laughs, getting up to follow Lydia to the refreshment table before we start our next round of bingo. I try to join them, but Edna grabs my sleeve.

“Sit, kid. It’ll only take a second.”

My stomach knots, but I knew this was coming. I’ve been too obvious about my feelings for Alice. There’s no way the Old Birds haven’t noticed, especially since she’s the first girl who’s had this effect on me.

Edna waits until the coast is clear, until my new favorite redhead is long gone, and then she smacks my arm. A nice grandmotherly backhand.

Dottie nods in agreement. “Charlie’s being weird tonight.”

Her voice is a singsong taunt. A spoonful of sugar laced with arsenic. As if she’s uncovered my weakness—Alice—and she’s ready to torture me with it.

Henrietta joins us before she can, pointing a lemon bar at me. “Is this about the kindergarten-teacher job at Ponderosa Elementary? Is that why you’re being so weird?”

“I’m not being weird. This is me behaving myself. I’m beinggood.”

But also?—

“How do you know about the kindergarten job?”

My mother hasn’t officially announced her retirement yet. Carl and I didn’t even find out until this morning at breakfast. How do the Old Birds always know everything?

Henrietta shrugs. “News travels. Sue me.”

It hadn’t traveled far enough. The other Old Birds look surprised, Dottie most of all. “This is about a teaching job?That’s why you’re acting strange? I thought it was because you like Alice.”

I cough. Violently. When I recover, I scan the room to see if anyone overheard.

Dottie keeps going. “I could’ve sworn you were catching feelings. This is Ponderosa Falls, after all. You know what they say…”

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