Page 72 of The Fangirl and the Grump

I stiffen as my office door slams open, and my sister blows in like a tornado. Stopping in front of my desk, she props her fists on her hips and snarls at me.

“What’s with you?” I ask, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest.

“What’s with me?” she scoffs. “What’s withyou? Tell me what you did.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lie.

“Keegan quit her job at the shop, and I haven’t heard from or seen her all week. Did she check out of the lodge?”

“No. Not officially. Not yet.”

“So she’s still there.”

“I don’t know.”

Another lie.

I’ve been driving by Lycan Lodge every night after dark, and I’ve seen lights on in the house and her perfect shadow moving behind the drawn curtains. She’s still there. At least, for now.

“Tell me what you did.”

“I didn’t do anything, Will,” I say in a soft, cajoling voice, but it doesn’t work.

She turns around, and I think she’s leaving until she gently closes the door, locks it, and plops down into the chair across from me. Then she copies my posture, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest before frowning at me.

“I’m not leaving until you give me a straight answer.”

I close my eyes and scrub a palm down my face with a sigh. I know Willow, and she’s not going to let this go. So, I give her an abbreviated version of what happened in that bathroom. She blinks slowly like she’s processing, then her frown turns into an outright scowl.

“You fucking idiot.”

“Hey, now,” I say, holding up both palms to slow this train before it gains momentum.

“Stupid douche-nozzle fuckfaced asshole.”

Too late.

“Willow, please,” I beg, but she’s on a roll, and there’s no stopping her.

“You pushed her away because you were afraid she’d leave, and you wanted to leave first, didn’t you?”

“I’m not afraid…sheisleaving.”

“Not if you give her a reason tostay, dumbass. She has nothing in Seattle to go back to, and every reason to stay in Evening Shade.”

“What about her big influencer gig with Pressley? They have to be near each other to film videos together, right?”

“Right,” she says, but the word carries a tinge of sarcasm and a boatload of disappointment.

Inme.

She thinks I should’ve fought, and instead, I just gave up and ended things with Keegan.

But what would I be fighting for? While I admitted to myself that my feelings were evolving, Keegan never made any such admission. She, for one, stuck to our deal.

And I refuse to acknowledge what I overheard her saying to Willow in the kitchen that night about wanting to be my girlfriend. She was drunk. Nothing more.

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