Chapter 51
Chapter Fifty-One
ALICE
This is the most embarrassing thing my family has ever done.
I thought we passed that milestone years ago, when I went on my first date at seventeen and realized my dad was in the restaurant too. In the booth right behind us. But this is worse.
They flew to Colorado to hunt me down. Because I didn’t return their phone calls.
I’d love to blame my Aqua Phone—or Jason and Tiffany. (Did they really have to go Instagram official so soon? Right after he texted that he missed me?) Though I know it’s my own fault.
It’s been almost forty-eight hours since my family realized I wasn’t with Jason anymore, since they tried to contact me but couldn’t. Telling them about my breakup had felt too complicated a few days ago, but if I had, they would’ve known where I was when my sister saw Jason’s loved-up post on social media. No matter how broken my phone is, they would’ve known how to reach me.
Jason never returned their calls. They couldn’t even get ahold of Carl using the contact info I texted Marcus on my fist day in town. Maybe the local sheriff’s office could’ve saved me, but telling my dad Charlie’s not that bad—we’re sure she’s fine when he called only made it worse.
So now they’re here. And I’m living a nightmare.
“You could’ve at least emailed us,” Emma says, hands on her hips. “You still had your laptop, but I didn’t hear from you once. You didn’t even try .”
I should let that go—I’m in the wrong, and I know it. Keeping this a secret from the rest of my family is one hundred percent my fault. But is she serious?
“You’ve been mad at me for weeks—you told me not to text you anymore. Why would I send you an email?”
I should’ve emailed someone, though, and I do my best to explain, to apologize. Nicki is the only one who forgives me. Her face softens, and she spends most of my apology glancing between Emma and me, as if she has only now realized how much our sister hates me. How angry Emma is at me—and only me—about Nicki’s big secret.
Because it’s hard to be mad at the girl with the newly diagnosed medical condition. Even if the lie was her idea.
As I stammer and stutter in the mudroom, a lot of things happen in the rest of the house. Wild Bill realizes Barbara Anne—one of his favorite old rescues—has a pretty bad infection on her leg from a fight with another animal and needs extra care. After he loads her up with her babies to take them to his wildlife center, everyone else sticks around to clean up the Great Pie Disaster. While they work, Charlie’s mom, Muriel, and the Sharp twins keep giving me sympathetic glances, but I’m not sure about Charlie. I can’t bear to look.
“This is so like you,” Emma interrupts. “Why do you have to keep secrets all the time? Can’t you tell the truth about anything?”
Again, Nicki’s brow furrows. She’s wearing her sunglasses inside—probably because Charlie’s lights are too bright and she’s having another one of her headaches. I can’t see her eyes, but her head shifts back and forth between Emma and me like she’s watching a tennis match. Before she can intervene, Lydia beats her to it.
“Family meeting,” she bellows at the top of her lungs.
I’ve seen Lydia do this with Tyler twice before. One of them yells family meeting , and then they go to a different room to work something out. Except this time it’s different. She catches her brother’s eye, they share a nod of twin understanding, and then they spring into action. Tyler grabs Charlie’s arm on his way out the front door, and Lydia grabs mine.
Nobody tries to stop them. The Sharp twins are both smeared with so much strawberry pie, they look like extras in a horror movie. It’s more than a little intimidating.
Once we’re outside, those Sharps are still pretty intimidating. They drag us across the lawn, and neither twin says anything until we’re tucked inside Charlie’s art shed. Door shut tight.
Everyone turns to look at me. “We’re in this together,” Lydia tells me. “But we can’t back you up if we don’t know what’s going on.”
It’s true. When I glance around, no one’s mad, not even Charlie. Their eyes are full of understanding and concern.
I cave and tell them everything. Well, almost everything.
“My sister started acting strange last year, but she kept saying nothing was wrong. So I drove to her house a few states away on Christmas Eve to check up on her.”
My voice is shaky, my words rushed as I tell them how Nicki swore me to secrecy before she let me inside. How her eyesight had been slowly fading for months, and her husband had left. That she’s been living with me in Texas ever since, and it turns out she has a rare form of macular degeneration.
I don’t mention her condition is genetic—that one day there’s a slim chance I might get it too—but I tell them everything else. Including how Emma was the one who realized we were hiding something. That she uncovered our lie all on her own, and that’s why she’s so mad at me.
My voice breaks several times as I explain the situation. I still feel horrible about what I did. I was trying so hard to be there for Nicki, but I let everyone else down along the way.
“I shouldn’t have helped her keep such a big secret—especially from her own twin.”
Lydia shrugs. “It happens.”
I can tell she wants to leave it there, that Lydia has things she doesn’t want to share too. But Tyler gives her a gentle look, and she sighs. “I had some medical stuff happen in college—mental health stuff—and Tyler was the hardest person to tell. Believe me, twins lie to each other all the time.”
That makes me feel a little better, and I exhale a shaky breath. Lydia squeezes my hand. “How do you want us to handle this? It sounds like your family wants to fly you home tonight. Is that what you want to do?”
Absolutely not.
I don’t even have to think about it, and I shake my head. Thanks to the iron-clad date on my return ticket, I only had one full day left here anyway. Leaving Ponderosa Falls—and the Sharps and Charlie—is already going to be hard enough. I don’t want to cut anything shorter than it already is.
“I want to stay. I want to take the bus home on Wednesday like I planned.”
They nod, and Lydia extends her hand like we’re a sports team that’s about to take the field, like it’s time for our game-day chant. I’ve seen her do this with Tyler before too; it’s kind of their thing.
Usually they shout Team Sharp before they break away, but they can’t say that tonight. We need something new. After we all add our hand to the pile, we hesitate while the Sharp twins try to come up with a different chant for us to say.
Charlie’s hand rests on top of mine in the stack. It’s the first time he’s touched me all day, the first time we’ve been this close since we kissed in his kitchen last night. But it’s circumstantial—it doesn’t mean anything.
I accidentally catch his eye, and we both glance away.
“Team Ghost Squirrel on three,” Tyler says finally, and I can’t help the way my mood lightens. How those words make me smile, and how good it feels to be surrounded by three new friends who feel like family. No matter how complicated things are between Charlie and me.
All three of them give me a quiet smile before we count down, an I’ve got your back smile, and I know it’s true. Whatever happens inside, I’m not in this alone. I’ve got an entire team with me.
Team Ghost Squirrel.