Page 38 of The Roommate Lie

I don’t even try to stop her this time. Nobody does. Dottie is about to recite her favorite town slogan, the one that brings her Supreme Joy, and we let her have her moment.

“Ponderosa Falls,” she says wistfully, arching her hands through the air like she’s reading that slogan off a billboard in the sky. “A great place to fall in love.”

I count to five before I burst her bubble. Just long enough to make sure her moment feels complete; I’m no spotlight stealer. “I’m not falling in love with Alice.”

“Are you sure? Would you swear an oath?” Dottie coos.

“A million oaths on a million sacred texts. Trust me, I’m not falling for Alice.”

I already fell.

That ship has sailed.

I can’t tell if she believes me, if any of the Old Birds do. They’re too busy trying to have a silent conversation with their eyes. Normally, they’re a united front, but they’re all over the place tonight, as if they really should’ve had a team meeting before they started this little shakedown.

Edna tries to get them back on the right track. Her track. “Forget love and kindergarten. We’ve got something more important to worry about—revenge.”

That’s a pretty dangerous word coming from a woman like Edna Finch. A word that could get me in just as much trouble asmine.

“Revenge on who?” I ask.

“Jason from Texas. And I know just how to get it.”

I’m on the edge of my seat; we all are. Edna glances at me, and her next words are even worse than “revenge.” Her big plan making a chill tumble down my spine—for very good and very bad reasons.

“You’re going to fake date Alice.”

Chapter Nineteen

ALICE

When we get home from bingo,I wait until Charlie’s house gets quiet. Then I hide in the bathroom and check my phone. My heart pounds as I get ready to face the family news I’ve been avoiding all day, ever since my brother reminded me about our sister’s appointment.

There are two missed calls from him and one text. I go straight for the text. Medical news is better when it’s quick.

Marcus:It’s official. She has Stargardt’s.

That takes a moment to sink in, but it isn’t a surprise. Our sister Nicki has been slowly losing her vision for over a year. She kept quiet about it for a long time, until her husband left and I showed up on Christmas Eve. But keeping something a secret doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

The diagnosis itself also isn’t a surprise. Stargardt disease is rare, but it’s what her specialist in Dallas suspected for months. He just needed a genetic test to prove it.

There are no treatments or cures, but her condition isn’t fatal. And Nicki always said she’d rather have a known diagnosisthan a mystery. That if she had to have something, she at least wanted to know what it was.

I should call her.

Nicki and I have been trying to get her eye condition figured out for months, long before the rest of our family found out anything was wrong. We’ve talked about this moment—her official diagnosis—a dozen times, but suddenly calling her feels impossible. My very own Mount Everest.

So I take the coward’s way out.

Alice:Marcus told me about your appointment. Do you want to talk?

Nicki:No.

Nicki:Thanks, though.

She’s not being harsh or abrupt; she’s just being Nicki. My younger sister has always been our family’s Queen of Secrets—that’s what worries me. Much like last Christmas when I showed up to visit her in Nashville on a whim only to find out her entire world had fallen apart, that girl could watch everything burn down around her and never tell a soul. If she’s taking this news hard, if she needs anything, I’ll never know. Nobody will.

I consider calling her anyway to see how she’s really doing, pulling my Big Sister card whether she likes it or not. Except this is Nicki’s news, her tough day. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, nobody should make her.

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