Page 48 of Lies We Tell (Thistle Cove 3)

She smiles and walks out the door, leaving me in stunned silence.

Alice Kendrick is crazy. The disturbing thing, though, is that I’m the one that feels like I’m losing my mind.

“I can’t admit I’m going to miss her,” Ozzy says. We’ve moved out of my office and to the small seating area in the back of the classroom. There’s a couch and a few chairs. A big table sits in the center where staff sits around to work on projects. An open pizza box is on one of the chairs—half eaten, and there are two stacks of photos on the table. Keep and toss.

“I know. I guess I just figured we’d work things out, but it seems like she’s not interested.” I add a photo of a group of kids sitting on an old 1950s car in front of the school. It’s perfect. “Maybe she’s right. Maybe I am the one that’s toxic?”

“What?” He frowns, tossing his pizza crust in the box. “No. You’re definitely not the toxic one. Alice is…I don’t know, intense is the wrong thing to say. You’ve always meant more to her than she meant to you. She’s jealous and possessive. Be thankful she finally opted out.”

I find a stack of photos marked “State Champs.” One look makes my stomach turn, the smug expressions plastered on their faces. Brice Waller, Ezra Baxter, and Jason Chandler—always in the forefront.

“Do we have to include these?” I ask.

“I don’t see a way around it.”

I pick out a couple, trying not to overly think about it, and stumble on one of them with a few girls. I’m drawn to Monica; fresh-faced and looking more like Juliette than I can imagine. Her eyes cast up at Jason with devoted affection. His arm is flung around her shoulder, but he’s looking straight at the camera with a wide grin. Brice is next to him, then Regina, Ezra Sr., and Courtney, his girlfriend at the time. Ezra’s mom. I haven’t seen her in years, but I remember her from when we were kids.

“Let me see that,” Ozzy says, taking the photo from me. He narrows his eyes and studies it for a moment. “Huh.”

“What are you looking at?”

“You know those memes that are like, 'you’ll know it when you see it'? Like the ones that looks like someone has three arms or something?”

“Yeah.”

He hands me the photo. “Tell me when you see it.”

I relook at the photo, trying to ignore the obvious…Jason’s smugness. Ezra’s handsome face. Courtney’s adorable outfit, that ironically matches today’s fashion trends. I can’t see anything amiss, so I start at the top and move down. Brice has his arm around Regina’s waist. His hand visible on her hip, and there’s a gap between Ezra and Regina, but I look closer and say, “Wait, are they holding hands?”

I look again. Sure enough, Brice Waller’s hand is definitely on Regina’s left hip. On the same side her hand is hanging down, fingers interlocked with the boy next to her.

Ezra, Sr.

“Holy shit.”

“That’s like, really fucking bold,” Ozzy says.

“Do you think Brice knew?”

“No idea.” He leans back and stretches his legs. “It could mean a lot of things. Maybe Ezra and Regina were cheating together. Maybe those guys were all cheaters.”

“Or maybe we’re not the first alternative relationship in Thistle Cove.”

No, I tell myself. That’s exactly what Alice said earlier. I take little things and turn them into something big—and to what end? Maybe I am paranoid. Maybe I do just want attention.

“We’re probably wrong,” I say, tossing the photo aside.

“What?”

“It’s probably a shadow. My imagination is rubbing off on you.”

“I don’t know.” He picks up the photo. “It looks pretty obvious.”

“Which is why it can’t be true. Mr. Baxter is smart. This is stupid.”

“He’s also overly confident. We did track him down to that apartment.”

“Did we? All we found is a photo. It could mean anything.”

---