Page 90 of The Roommate Lie

He looks cuter than I want him to this late at night. More rumpled and up-to-no-good than I’d ever want a guy to look when I wasn’t sure where they’d been. He doesn’t owe me anything—especially not answers to questions like that—but I’d love some anyway.

He shrugs. “My mom was helping me with my résumé, and I accidentally fell asleep. They have the best couch.”

I can’t help smiling at how sweet that answer is, and he keeps going.

“Then I got home, saw the twins asleep through the window, and spotted this.”

Charlie grabs his phone to show me a video he recorded in his yard, our favorite evil raccoon gaming the system. He’s lying on his stomach, stretched across that plank of wood we set up so it stays perfectly balanced. His furry hindquarters over the table while his front paws reach into the kibble bowl. Eating that raccoon bait one delicious morsel at a time.

“That. Monster.”

But I’m smiling again. Our enemy is too smart for our own good. Even when we create an obstacle course of doom.

Charlie’s smiling too, then he glances at me. “I called your name half a dozen times, but you didn’t hear me. Why were you up so late?” He hesitates. “I saw you looking at your phone. It seemed pretty serious.”

I panic. Of all the things I want to tell Charlie this late at night,I think my ex broke up with me because he couldn’t handle my medical what-ifswill never be one of them.

“Nothing!” I say instead. “It was just a notification!”

But Charlie’s brow scrunches like he doesn’t believe me, and I can’t blame him. I wouldn’t believe me, either.

Chapter Forty-Seven

CHARLIE

Spotted:

A very sweet moment at the top of Four Pines Peak.

It seems our visiting author isn’t just writing a romance while she’s in town. She might be living one too…

In the morning, Alice’s phone is still buried in a bag of rice, Tyler keeps dozing off at his laptop, and Lydia is making vengeance pancakes for breakfast that look a lot like raccoons.Last night was quite the night.

Lydia especially is in a rare mood. Even showing her the video I took last night doesn’t cheer her up, and she usually loves stuff like that. Apparently, mischievous animal videos are a little less cute when it happens in your own backyard.

Cookie isn’t faring much better. That’s who I really feel sorry for. He’s whimpering in the kitchen by Lydia’s feet while she makes pancakes, and he’s curled up with the saddest dog toy I’ve ever seen. A prairie-style doll Lydia made out of an old dish towel, like she’d been possessed by the ghost of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Maybe I’m a little tired after staying out too late at my mom’s, but I’m doing all right. Way better than Lydia and Cookie—at least until the Old Birds show up.

The house is empty except for me when they arrive. Alice is writing at the general store, the Sharp twins are both at work, and I’m about to borrow Tyler’s car to drive to my shift at our local glassblowing hot shop when I realize they’re waiting on my front stoop. I’m almost happy to see them until I realize how somber they look—the Old Birds are never somber.

An odd sensation pinches in my stomach when nobody says anything. When they glance at each other and can’t decide who should speak first.This can’t be good.

“We need to talk,” Henrietta says, and Dottie nods, giving me a gentle smile without a hint of arsenic.

“Why don’t you step outside to get a little fresh air,” she coos. “A nice dose of Mother Nature can do a world of good.”

Uh-oh.

I’m not sure why Dottie’s talking like that, or giving me that look. As if she’s everyone’s favorite preschool teacher, or she’s about to lead story time at the library. But there has never been a more clear sign of the apocalypse. Sending a plague of locusts would’ve been more subtle.

Honestly, if they weren’t all standing in front of me, I’d think one of them had died. That’s how serious they look. I step outside with Tyler’s car keys gripped in my hand, and they still don’t know what to say.

All three of them hesitate before Edna does the honors. She holds up the latest scandal sheet, wincing a little. Even though that kiss I had with Alice got a glowing, five-Hallmark-star review.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with you two—what’s fake and what isn’t. But she might not be as over her ex as we thought. And we just wanted you to know.”

Henrietta steels herself and goes next. “Word on the street is she and Jason are still texting each other. Apparently, he got in a big argument with his new girlfriend about it late last night.”

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