Page 52 of Ever With Me

“No, they haven’t.” Maddie bit her lip. The lie was the worst part of it. Would it really be that bad if she told Naomi the truth? They’d been through this sort of thing before—when Lindsay and Travis had been sneaking around, afraid to tell everyone they were dating. And Maddie remembered how hurt they’d all been about Lindsay’s lies.

But this . . . this felt more insidious. Maddie could understand why Lindsay had lied—she’d been terrified about the family finding out she was dating one of the Wagners. The Yardleys had been in a decades-long feud with them.

On the other hand, Maddie was lying just because Brooks had asked her to.

Because, despite what he says, he fears looking worse to the public. He cares about his reputation on some level, even if he tries to pretend he doesn’t.

Yet he’d let a huge thing like the accusations Paulette had made go. Why this? Why was he choosing this as the thing he didn’t want to get out?

“Maybe I should ask to see if the Stricklands have better footage. They might have gotten something on their cameras across the street.”

“No!” Maddie took an involuntary step forward, her hand shooting out toward Naomi.

Why didn’t I think of that?

Naomi’s eyes widened with bewilderment. “Why?”

“I-I just . . .” Maddie scrambled, her palms feeling sweaty. “You know. Josh is so close with the Stricklands now, and they’ve hated us since they felt like their ice cream business was threatened by us selling gelato, and I . . . just don’t want to owe them any favors. Please?”

“All right, all right, I won’t ask them. Calm down.” Naomi scanned her face, doubt clear in her expression. “Is there something I need to know?”

Tell her, tell her, tell her.

“No, nope. Everything’s good.” Maddie glanced down at her watch. Crap. If she didn’t leave right now, she was going to be late for Brooks. “I’m taking off, though. So we can talk about it more later.”

Naomi followed her as she made her way through the store to the back. “Wait, where are you going?”

“Uh, you know, the band thing from yesterday. Still working on it.”

“Again?”

Maddie pushed the door open to the back, wrinkling her nose at the faint smell of stinkbug. They were swarming near the windows and doors, trying to get inside the buildings for winter. She pulled her keys out. “Yeah. It will probably take me about ten hours—the whole process of getting things nailed down isn’t so straightforward.”

She stopped beside her car and opened the door, then glanced back at Naomi. Her sister’s expression was less than thrilled. “I’m sorry if I’m leaving you to do too much around here.”

Naomi shook her head. “You’re acting really weird.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yeah, you are. You’re being super weird.”

“I’m really not.”

“Trust me. I know what I’m talking about.” Naomi leaned closer to her car. “Andwhydo you have a car seat in the back of your car?”

Shiiiiiit.

Tell her, tell her, tell her.

Maddie grimaced, then closed the door, drawing in a breath. “All right, fine.” She covered her face. “I’ll tell you. But you have to swear you will not tell a soul.”

Naomi crossed her arms. “How can I swear when I don’t know what I’m promising?”

“Just do it.” Maddie gave her a hard look.

“Fine. I swear.”

“Okay.” Maddie drew a deep breath, then looked around. She wasn’t taking any chances. “Get in the car. We’ll talk in there.”

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