Page 87 of Houston, We Have a Problem
“You came to my family reunion pretending to be engaged to my stepsister,” I reply, as if he might have forgotten that part.
“The week before that, I got laid off. I’d been teaching third grade for the last seven years, and I had been planning on doing that for the rest of my life.” He shudders. “I also got a new nephew that week, and Cam and Ben were both getting married soon. When Sky found me, my whole life had fallen apart.”
I’m not sure how this could possibly count as a pep talk. “That sucks, Morgan.”
He chuckles. “I know. But you know what? I had to get rid of all of those things that were holding me back in order for me to find the life I really wanted.”
“You just said Ben and I were holding you back,” Cam points out as he grabs a glass cake pan.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” Kit replies, rolling his eyes. Then he turns his attention to me again. “What I’m trying to say, Houston, is there is always another door. If one closes, you just have to find the next one.”
“I kind of hate metaphors,” I mumble back, but he’s right. Micah would probably slap me if she knew how pessimistically I was looking at my life. Suddenly I wonder what the queen of optimism would say if I had come to her with all my problems instead of driving to another state for advice from a bunch of dudes I don’t know.
“How much are you really wanting an answer to your problem?” Oliver asks suddenly, placing his phone screen-down on the counter.
My entire focus fixates on that phone, and I have never wanted to know something more than I do right now. “You’re saying I’m right? They’re the same person?”
Oliver shrugs. “No, I’m not saying that. But I am saying I found a forum where someone is claiming none of the reporters at Enhance actually exist. Legally, I mean. There aren’t any payrolls or social security records or birth certificates for any of them. The comment got deleted and buried, probably by Enhance, but nothing can completely vanish once it’s on the internet. I think it was a former employee who made the claim, so take that as you will.”
If Tamlin doesn’t legally exist, that would mean she’s an alias. Which means the chances of me being right are so much higher than I thought. My heart pounds in my chest, but I can’t decide if it’s good or bad. What do I actually want the outcome to be here? Either I have to choose between these two women, or Darcy has been lying to me this whole time.
“Have you asked Chad about this?” Kit asks. “As a private investigator, he probably—”
“I think he already knows,” I say. “But he decided he didn’t want to tell me. I think…” Man, my brother is a good guy. “He thought it would be better if I figured it out myself. Or maybe he wanted Darcy to tell me. If he’d told me they were the same person, I probably wouldn’t have believed him, and that would have made this whole thing so much messier.”
“Messier than a woman catfishing you with her own alter-ego?” Cam says, raising an eyebrow.
Okay, yeah, that sounds pretty convoluted. I run a hand down my face, exhausted. “What am I supposed to do? What if she’s been lying to me since the day we met?”
“Maybe it depends onwhyshe’s been lying,” Ben says.
“I don’t think anyone should lie about who they are,” Cam says.
“She could be working under a contract and legally can’t say anything,” Kit replies, making me wonder if I should askSkyler if that’s a thing. She used to be a lawyer; she probably knows how binding something like that could be.
“I totally get why a company like Enhance would create fake identities for their crews,” Oliver throws in. “Seeing some of the comments people have made about Tamlin Park, I’m surprised she’s willing to get on TV at all. There are literal death threats all over the internet because of some of the stories she’s broadcasted.”
I snatch Oliver’s phone, blood boiling. “There’swhat?”
He laughs. “Easy, Fastball. People on the internet are a lot braver than they are in real life.”
I still want to punch anyone who would ever try to hurt a woman like Tamlin. Or Darcy. Whoever she is. Doesn’t even have to be her. Anyone who threatens violence deserves to be beaten to a pulp.
Including me, apparently.
I force a deep breath, trying to stay rational. “So, you think she dresses up as Tamlin to protect herself?”
“It would make sense,” Oliver replies. “It’s probably similar to the reason Kit never uses his real name in his woodworking videos or talks about where he lives, except for him it’s to avoid public humiliation.”
Kit whacks Oliver on the side of the head. “We can theorize all we want, but if you want to know the truth, you’re going to have to ask her, Houston. You know that, right?”
It would be so much easier to make assumptions and avoid any confrontation by cutting ties and saving myself from potential hurt, but he’s right. If I want to be living my life deliberately, I can’t take the easy way out. I want to see if things could work between Darcy and me, even if it comes with the risk of discovering everything about her has been a ploy to get information for her big story.
It’s the only reason I can figure she would move in next door. If she really is Tamlin, that can’t have been a coincidence. She said she’s here for a story, and with all the time she has spent with me, that story has to be centered around me. Does she know about my shoulder? I don’t think so, or she would have told that story already. Maybe she’s just waiting for some evidence to validate her claim that I’m just a washed-up has-been who is too old and broken to play anymore.
Is she going to be my doom?
Honestly, I’m not sure it matters. Whether or not she tells the story, I’m out. Finished. Done.
