Page 28 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

“Well, he likes gardens. That doesn’t exactly add to our list. We all knew that already. Regardless, the girls and I have someone in mind.” She waved a few women over from the front of the room. “Rosie, Phoenix, you remember Adeline.”

“You haven’t been to the book club meetings in forever,” Rosie said. “Was the last book selection that bad?”

“No, no,” I said with a laugh. “I haven’t been feeling well for awhile.” I really hadn’t. Or rather, I hadn’t been feeling anything at all.

“Well, we’re glad you could make it,” Phoenix said. “We all heard about you hanging out with Ben. We’re hoping you could give us the dirt.”

“I just hired him to handle my lawn care. Nothing more,” I said with a laugh. It sounded so fake. But that didn’t really matter. Everything about these women screamed fake.

“I’d hire him to handle my garden any day,” Rosie said with a wink.

Phoenix laughed and elbowed her in the side.

I was going to rip their throats out. Oh. My. God. I looked down at my hand that was clenched in a fist. I liked him. I really, really liked him. Who acted this jealous if they weren’t smitten? I knew I was attracted to him, but this reaction was intense. Ben and I weren’t supposed to be a thing. We couldn’t be. But if we were, in some crazy way, it would have needed to be purely physical. My emotions were completely out of control though. I unclenched my fist, placed my hands in my lap, and willed them to stop talking about Ben like he was a piece of meat.

“You should hire him. He does great work,” I said.

“You really haven’t learned anything else about him?” Charlotte asked.

“He drives a truck.”

She laughed. “We’ve all seen his truck. He’s so elusive, don’t you think? It just makes him sexier. But you know Sally? Of course you know Sally.”

I freaking knew Sally. Nosy Sally. The nosiest neighbor in the history of nosy neighbors. She was worse than Charlotte. For some reason since she was older, it was harder to hate her, though. “Yup. I’ve met Sally.”

“Well Sally’s daughter just moved back home after finishing med school. Her residency is at Kennett Hospital so it made sense for her to move back for the time being. We all think they’d be great together.”

How could they think that? They knew nothing about Ben. “She’s living with her mother?”

“Yeah, but weren’t you listening? She’s going to be a doctor. She’s a catch. Ben and her would be adorable together. I’m going to try to convince them to grab a coffee together.”

“I doubt he’s into older women.” It was a stupid thing to say. Because obviously he was. But they didn’t know that.

“She’s just a few years older than him. It’s not like she’s 30,” Charlotte said with a laugh.

“Mhm.” My hand had formed into a fist again. Stop it.

“What do you think?” Rosie asked. “Do you think they’d be a good match?”

“I don’t know. Why are you so interested in his love life anyway?”

“Single people in the neighborhood is bad for resale value,” Charlotte said.

That didn’t seem like a true fact. “Really? How would you even check something like that before moving into a neighborhood?”

“Everyone talks. And if there’s single people lurking around, it could lead to the neighborhood turning to a younger crowd…or affairs…or worse.”

I swallowed hard. She knew. She obviously knew. Did she see me kiss him in that parking lot? They were all staring at me. Say something. Say anything! I laughed. “Worse?”

“Like porn factories,” Phoenix said.

“What’s a porn factory?” Rosie asked.

Charlotte shushed them with her hand. “You know what we mean, Adeline. Only bad things can come of it.”

“Okay, but you could set Sally’s daughter up with anyone. Maybe another doctor or someone with something in common with her?”

A bell jingled at the front of the room.

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