Page 24 of Play Pretend

With that, he hung up, and I dropped the phone to the ground beside me.

They were coming—they wereallcoming.

They were all coming in three weeks.

Three short weeks.

That was all the time I had to figure out how to tell them Ronan had died, or we’d broken up, or he was out of town, or…something. Anything.

God, I had three weeks!

Tears burned as they silently seeped from my eyes, down my cheeks. I stared out at the sea in the distance, just wanting to be with my lighthouse as my world burned around me.

Why did I tell that stupid lie? I should’ve never said it—or at the very least made someone up. Why did I choose to use my neighbor, the freaking sheriff, as my pretend boyfriend?

Because I never thought, in a million years, my family would come to visit. Ever.

But they were.

And they’d be here in three weeks.

I didn’t even ask how long they were staying. I couldn’t think past the shock, past the anxiety wrapping itself around my lungs.

It was too much—it was all too damn much.

I should call him back and tell him not to come, that I’d see him for the holidays at the end of the year. They just had to wait a few months…eight months.

And so what, they’d never seen Cedar Ridge before? They didn’t need to see it in person. That was what the internet was for. I’d sent them plenty of photos over the years. Though, I’d stopped, because they usually went unanswered or the conversation shifted to Vanessa.

A loud, long groan left me. It echoed and was full of pain I wasn’t fully ready to acknowledge. It wasn’t a physical pain, though I did feel it in my body—it was all emotional.

In my head.

“Willow?” I blinked at the sound of my name and robotically turned toward Gracie. Her brows crashed together as she sank onto the ground beside me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“They’re coming,” I rasped, my throat almost too tight to speak. “They’re all coming.”

“What? Who?”

“My family—my dad, my stepmom, my stepsister. They’ll be here in three weeks.” A sob broke free, one that was full of defeat. Gracie’s arm tightened, anchoring me to her side.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’ll be okay.”

“No,” I cried, letting the tears fall freely now. “It won’t be.” She smoothed her hand over my hair as she gently rocked me, letting me get all the tears out.

“Talk to me. What’s really wrong? And don’t tell me it’s because you have to see your stepsister. I know everyone thinks she walks on water, but she’s just a person, Willow.”

“It’s not that.” I pressed my lips tightly together, wanting to keep the words in—needing to keep them in. But the harder I tried, the harder they slammed against my lips like a battering ram. “I lied!”

Her movements froze at the words, then her fingers started their gentle combing again.

“Lied about what?” Her voice was soft, like she was speaking to a child or a frightened animal. And that somehow made it all worse.

“Everything.” I buried my face deeper in her neck, feeling her skin turn slick with my tears. “I told them?—”

I didn’t want to say the words. Finally admitting the truth, telling her what I’d done, the lie I’d kept…it was too much.

“Told them what, Willow?” The words were soft. Coaxing.

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