Page 64 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

“Ben. Can you come up here?”

“I’m a little busy,” he said.

“Charlotte needs to talk to you.

“I’m preoccupied, Addy.” He pointed to his closed eyes. “Can you take a message for me?”

Oh for goodness sakes. “Ben please,” I hissed. “You can open your eyes. And you can come up.”

He slowly opened his eyes and smiled at me. “Why thank you, doll.” He pretended to tip an invisible hat at me as he made his way up the stairs.

“Be cool,” I whispered. “And don’t call me that in front of company.”

He laughed. “I’m always cool.” He winked at me and made his way to the foyer.

Please don’t make this any worse. I followed him and stood awkwardly to the side as Charlotte gave him a hug. A hug. The act of her touching him made me shiver.

“Good to see you again,” she said with a giggle. “You haven’t returned my calls.”

“I’ve been busy. Picking up odd jobs during the offseason. I’m sorry I missed your calls, Charlotte.”

“Please, call me Char.”

I swallowed down the laugh in my throat. Char? Who was she kidding? There was not one casual bone in that woman’s body. It probably hurt her teeth to say such a nickname.

“Char, then” he said. “What can I help you with? I’m just finishing up a job here. I should be done soon.”

For some reason his words hurt. He’d be done soon? Was that all this was to him? A job? I thought back to when we first met. He had offered to help me out while I was hurt. I bit the inside of my lip. Was I just imagining the sexual tension? Had I imagined all of it? I put my hand to my forehead. A sharp headache had just hit me.

“It’s nothing work-related,” Charlotte said.

Her stupid sing-songy voice was driving me insane. I wanted to clock her in the face.

“I just wanted to make sure you’d gotten Sally Ann’s number. I heard she’s free tonight.” Charlotte’s eyebrows seemed to disappear under her bangs in anticipation.

“I haven’t had time to call her yet,” Ben said.

Yet. It was like a knife to my heart. He had been planning on going on a date with Sally’s daughter the whole time. What horrible lies had I been telling myself? He was 23 years old. He was young and handsome and not a murderer. My mind was growing fuzzy.

“Now’s as good a time as any,” Charlotte said. “I happen to know she loves that new Italian restaurant on Concord Pike.”

“I’m a little busy at the moment,” Ben said. “I have that water heater to fix.”

“Oh come on, Ben.” Charlotte grabbed his arm and gave it a light squeeze. “You should go ahead and give her a call now.”

“I probably should finish this first.”

Finish with me? Well screw him. I needed to be alone. The foyer was starting to sway in front of me. I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “That’s okay, Ben.” My voice sounded foreign to my ears. “I actually watched a YouTube tutorial on water heaters. I think I can fix it myself.”

“I can stay…”

“I don’t need you,” I said, cutting Ben off. “Really. I don’t. So go have fun on your date. Tell Sally I said hi. Or Ann, or whatever her name is. I’ll let you both out.” I walked past them and opened the door.

“It was great seeing you,” Charlotte said. “Try to stay off your feet, hon. And we’ll see you Wednesday!”

“Great.” I hated the fake smile on my face. I kept it as I turned toward Ben. “Thanks for all your help.” I waved my hand through the door to show him to keep walking. “See you around the neighborhood.” Even though I wouldn’t. I’d go through with my original plan without him. And then I’d hightail it out of this stupid town.

He stepped through the door, but quickly turned around when Charlotte was out of earshot. “Addy, what are you doing? I…”

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