Page 80 of Nothing Like the Movies

Liz

“Hey, guys.”

I looked up from my screen and there was Lilith, standing beside our cubicles with a big smile on her face.

“Hey,” I said, surprised to see her.

“Hey, Lil,” Clark said, and I quickly shot a glance at her to see if she was going to kill him for that.

She looked like she hadn’t even noticed.

“I am here to ask a favor, and I’m a little nervous.” She looked anything but nervous in her black leather jacket, jeans, and Mary Janes with three-inch heels.

“We are your humble servants,” Clark said. “Ask away.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Want to go to Omaha tomorrow?”

“What?”I looked from Lilith to Clark, wondering if I’d heard her right. “Omaha?”

“Consider me already packing,” Clark said.

“I mean, ofcourseI’m down,” I said, trying to keep up with Clark’s enthusiasm, “but why? I mean, Omaha isn’t usually anywhere that people go.”

I would love a free trip home, especially when I knew Wes wouldn’t be next door, but why on earth would Lilith want to send us there? It had to do with him, though, right? That was the only thing that made sense, maybe…?

“Here’s the thing,” she said. “Wes Bennett is headed home because his mother sold their house and he’s helping move everything out. I would like for us to get footage of the house and his high school field to accompany your interview.”

“Oh.” I tried keeping my face calm when every part of me was flinching at the thought.

I mean, I wasn’t even sure what I was freaking out about more. The fact that Lilith wanted me to go back home and follow Wes to all the old places I’d avoided for years, or the fact that the Bennetts weren’t going to be living next door anymore.

“Are we sure about this?” Clark asked, running his hand over his chin as he looked at Lilith like he was unhappy. “I imagine this isn’t going to be easy for him, so it feels a little ghoulish for us to show up with cameras. No offense, of course.”

Good point, Clark.

Listen to him, Lilith.

“None taken,” she said, nodding. “He said it’s fine.”

“He did?” Clark asked.

“Hedid?” I said at the same time.

“Yes,” she repeated, looking amused by our matching reactions. “I fully expected a no, but he said okay.”

I stared at her, shocked.

“I’d like to see if his sister or mother will consider an interview,” she said. “I know it’s obviously a tricky issue, but it’s been a couple years, so they might be ready to talk.”

“I’m sure Sarah will,” Clark said, nodding. “From what Bennett told me, they’re close and she’s kind of a smart-ass. The mom, though—I’m not so sure about her.”

The mom.It was beyond weird that we were discussing Mrs. Bennett from next door.

“Yeah, me either,” Lilith said. “But we might as well try. Listen, the closing is Friday afternoon, so I was thinking if we fly out tomorrow after classes, we can all get a good night’s sleep and then walk through the house with Wes first thing the following morning. Before the closing. Hopefully afterward, Wes will let us get some footage around town and at the ball fields.”

“I don’t have any classes on Fridays, so that’s perfect,” Clark said.

Was it me, or was he being a kiss-up? I’d apologized for snapping at him the other night, and he’d apologized for trying to get me to forgive Wes, but hisWes lovestill rubbed me the wrong way.

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