Page 55 of The Roommate Lie

As I finish my writing session and get ready for bed, I figure something else out too. I fix all those little plot holes in my fake-dating plan with Charlie. Piecing my final idea together until it’s so seamless, we can’t lose.

Because if we’re going to play this game—and save his reputation—we have to do it right.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

CHARLIE

Spotted:

A brother and sister causing the wrong kind of trouble in our hedgerow. Is someone trying to silence the Victorian?

Better luck next time.

Our plan goes awry on day one. And I’m not just talking about the newest scandal sheet, the fact that the Victorian knows exactly what the Sharp twins did to her last one. I send Alice to the general store for her first public writing session, and that goes sideways too.

Ponderosa General is the only place in town to buy groceries, and it’s right by the post office. There are a few cafe tables in the front window near the deli, and it’s the perfect spot for Alice to sit and write for a few hours. The ideal place for everyone in town to see her hard at work.

But when I get back from my morning dishwashing shift at the bakery, tucking my skateboard under my arm as I reach the gate, Alice is sitting on my front steps. And that girl hasn’t been anywhere near the general store.

“Alice…have you been hunting a ghost squirrel?”

She nods in a daze, a white film of baby powder dusting her copper-red hair. “Muriel gave me a whisk to use as a weapon, and she kept waving a smudge stick around to ‘smoke him out.’ I have no idea where she got the baby powder—I think she used dark magic.”

My mood lifts. All my worries about the Victorian fade as I try not to laugh. Glancing at the sky, I utter a silent prayer that some way, somehow, this woman will become less adorable.

It doesn’t work.

She gets cuter.

“Muriel says she’s never gotten so close to catching the ghost squirrel before.” Alice pauses to shake baby powder out of her hair, a plume of white dust rising like a mushroom cloud. “She says I’m good luck—but I don’t feel like good luck. I think I might be cursed.”

I give up. A chuckle rumbles in my chest, and it’s all over. Crouching down, I help Alice with her baby powder removal, running my fingers through her hair with no ulterior motives whatsoever. For the most part.

Once a rake, always a rake.

After she’s cleaned up, I make Alice some lunch while she does a little writing, and then it’s time to focus on the task at hand. We have groundwork to lay and a love story to create. But most of all, we have a to-do list to tackle.

And I know just where to start.

Alice doesn’t know where we’re headed until we round the final corner. Old Town spreads out in front of us with all its historic false-front buildings, everything straight out of the old west, and she gasps. “Seriously, Roscoe?”

I don’t answer.Roscoe?Carrots has called me that a few times, but it stings extra today; I miss being Blythe more than I want to admit. A knot of regret tightens in my chest, but I ignore it.

Today isn’t about me. Today is about Alice.

“This was on our list?” she asks.

I shrug as I glance at Old Ponderosa on the right side of the street, that row of buildings our historical society turned into a living history museum. I don’t tell Alice why we’re here. She scrunches her brow and figures it out herself, as if she’s got our list memorized.

A slow smile spreads across her face. A sunrise smile. “Number four,” Alice says. “Time travel.”

Bingo.

Now I’m smiling right along with her, and this was an even better idea than I thought. Cheering Alice up was exactly what I needed today. There’s just something nice about making her happy, and it’s the perfect way to forget about the Victorian.

Linking arms, I guide Alice across the street. The buildings that make up the living history museum look closed for the day, but a handful of tourists wander down the street. Everyone’s taking pictures and admiring the window displays, so that’s what we do too. From the lone jail cell in the sheriff’s office to the front parlor at the Ruby Lakes Hotel and everything in between, there’s so much to see, and Alice loves all of it.

Forget ghost squirrels and gossip columnists. None of that can bother us here. Alice’s mood only dims once, when she spots a woman from my book club across the street, but I remind her we’re just friends today. We’re laying the groundwork for our fake relationship, not jumping into the main event.

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