7. Recently Engaged
SEVEN
RECENTLY ENGAGED
? Risk - Gracie Abrams
NOAH
Hurried footsteps echo in the hallway between our apartments, a chorus of giggles following the sound. I pull open my apartment door to find Auggie rushing up the stairs with Lexi and Clio on his heels like a stampede of mischief.
“You can’t get me,” he chants.
When they reach the landing, Clio doubles over like she’s trying to catch her breath. “You’re too fast for me, Super Auggie.”
Lexi holds out her fist, and Auggie bumps his against it as they make an exploding sound. “Good job, little dude. Mom’s the rotten egg.”
Clio plasters on a fake scowl, her lips barely twitching. “I’ll get you next time.”
Lexi heads into the apartment, leaving the three of us alone.
“Thanks for bringing him home,” I say.
“Wow. First, an apology, and now a thank you from Noah Weston?” She pulls out her phone and opens the camera app. “Can you say that again so I can record it. Nobody’s ever going to believe this.”
“Ha ha. Very funny, Princess.”
“I have my moments.” She shrugs one shoulder, pocketing her phone.
The stairs creak, and I turn to find an unfamiliar dark-haired woman in a pantsuit approaching. My blood runs cold when I spot the Child Protective Services badge hanging around her neck.
I crouch down to Auggie’s level. “Hey, buddy. Go inside, ok? I’ll be there in a minute.”
Auggie tilts his chin up, smiles obliviously. “Ok.”
Fuck me. I wish I had his courage right now.
I widen my eyes at Clio, silently signaling for her to leave, but she doesn’t get the hint.
She scrutinizes me. “What—”
I grab her by the wrist and pull her to my side.
“Hello. Are you Noah Weston?” the woman asks.
“Yes. And you are?”
“My name is Charlene White. I’m a caseworker with Child Protective Services. I’m here to check on the well-being of August Weston. May I come in?”
My muscles are coiled tight. I fix my intense gaze on the caseworker. “Do you have a warrant?”
She hugs a stack of paperwork to her chest. “No, sir. It’s a routine visit at the behest of the judge in your brother’s court case. We just want to make sure August is in good hands.”
A gentle hand presses against my bicep, and I relax in spite of myself.
I peer down into those brilliant green eyes that shimmer even in the dim light of the hallway, finding a quiet comfort I don’t deserve staring back at me.
“It’s alright, Noah. She’s just here to make sure Auggie’s ok.” She turns her attention to Charlene, giving her that kind smile she offers to everyone she meets as she holds out the opposite hand. “Hi. I’m Clio.”
Charlene shakes Clio’s hand, and her brows furrow. “That’s an uncommon name around here. Are you the Clio who teaches preschool at the elementary school?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Charlene’s face lights up the same way most people do when they meet Clio for the first time. She just has that effect on people. “Nice to meet you! You taught my grandson, Archer, last year.”
Clio beams at the recognition. “Oh, my goodness. How is little Archie doing in kindergarten?”
“Wonderful. He loves it.” She flips back and forth between pages on her clipboard. “I was told August is under the sole care of his uncle. You must be the girlfriend I’ve been hearing about?”
Girlfriend and me in the same sentence is ridiculous. I don’t know who’s been spreading that shit through the town rumor mill, but it’s laughable. Maybe I could use it to my advantage, though. If I can show CPS that I’m in a stable relationship, they’re less likely to give me a hard time.
“Oh,” Clio starts. “Actually, we’re—”
“Engaged,” I say. “It’s recent.”
“Really recent,” Clio mutters under her breath.
I weave our fingers together, ignoring the way my heart tugs at the feel of Clio’s hand in mine.
“Come in.” I step back through the open doorway, bringing my brand-new fiancée with me.
As Charlene glances around the entry, I lean in next to Clio’s ear. “Just go with it.”
While the caseworker is distracted, Clio discreetly takes a gold ring with a green stone off her right hand and slides it onto her ring finger. My stomach sours at the sight.
“You owe me,” she whispers through clenched teeth, but the statement barely registers as my mind strays into far more dangerous territory.
“Consider it repayment for all the times you’ve woken me up at ungodly hours with your ridiculous playlist.”
“It’s not ridiculous,” she grits out. “It’s not my fault you lack taste.”
Charlene clears her throat, drawing my attention back to the situation at hand. “Would you mind showing me around?”
“Right. Sure.” I give her a quick tour of the apartment, starting in the kitchen, which is directly off the entry, then the large living area, where Auggie’s posted up on the couch with his tablet in his lap.
He barely looks up when we enter. Does this make me look bad?
Should he be doing something more enriching with his time?
Fuck. I’m questioning everything now. I wasn’t cut out for this.
“I’ll stay with Auggie,” Clio says, taking a seat beside him on the sofa.
The relief I felt with her at my side evaporates as she abandons me for my nephew. I can’t say I blame her, though. He’s much better company.
Charlene makes a few notes on her clipboard as we walk through the living room and into the hallway where the bedrooms are.
I open the door to Auggie’s room. She peeks inside and scribbles something else, her face a mask of cold indifference.
I can’t tell if she’s on the verge of taking my nephew from me or not; the thought terrifies me.
Emma helped me set up Auggie’s room when he first moved in. Everything from the twin-size bed with a green comforter set and the glow-in-the-dark stickers was handpicked by him.
The next door leads to our bathroom. Thank fuck I decided to clean earlier.
Bath time is an adventure that usually leaves water sloshed all over the floor and towels strewn about the place to soak up the mess.
Bathing Auggie is comparable to bathing a cat.
He can’t wear his ears, so communication is next to impossible, and he hates having his hair washed.
The last door at the end of the hallway leads to my bedroom. There’s a large bed taking up most of the space, and a grey comforter and pillows. Matching curtains hang over the sole window, lighting the dark room. It’s not much, but it’s home.
After a few more scribbles on her clipboard, Charlene trails back into the living room where Clio and Auggie are laughing and signing. This time of day, he usually turns off his processors to decompress.
“Mind if I join you?” Charlene asks Clio.
“Not at all,” Clio replies.
Charlene sits in the armchair across from the sofa.
I stand awkwardly, unsure what to do next. “Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Coffee?”
“Water would be great, thank you.”
As I make my way to the kitchen, I hear Clio introducing Charlene to Auggie, who apparently has turned his ears back on. “Hi,” he says in a nervous voice.
I return with the water and sit beside Clio.
I’m usually really good at reading people, so it rankles that I can’t seem to get a read on Charlene. She’s stoic and unwavering, asking Auggie a few mundane questions.
What does he like to do for fun: watch funny animal videos and color. Where does he sleep: in his bedroom, duh. Who takes care of you: Uncle Noah.
She glances between Clio and me, her pen poised over her notes. “How long have you two been together?”
“Six months,” Clio says.
At the same time, I blurt. “A year.”
“You only officially asked me to be your girlfriend six months ago,” Clio says. “Before that, it was casual.”
My eyes lock on hers. “There’s never been anything casual about us, princess.”
Clio blinks rapidly, twisting the ring on her finger, then she swallows hard.
“And you live together?” Charlene asks.
It feels like a test I was woefully unprepared for. Lucky for me, Clio seems unfazed by the question.
“No. I live in the apartment across the hall with my daughter, Lexi. She’s sixteen, and we thought it would be best if we kept our place until we can find something that fits all our needs. It’s not easy being a teenage girl.”
Charlene smiles at that. “No, it sure isn’t. Would you mind if I spoke to August alone for a few minutes? I just have a few more questions, and I find children are much more honest if the adult isn’t present.”
My spine stiffens. It’s on the tip of my tongue to deny the request, but I think better of it. I have nothing to hide.
Clio follows me to the kitchen while Charlene interviews Auggie.
Her palm presses to the middle of my spine. “It’ll be fine. She’ll see that Auggie’s being well taken care of and be on her way.”
“What if he blows our cover?” I ask through clenched teeth.
“Then we’ll tell her we haven’t told him yet because he has had enough changes in his life, we didn’t want to add more.”
I quirk a brow. “I didn’t realize Clio Marsden was such a good liar.”
She looks me dead in the eye, more serious than I’ve ever seen her. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Noah Weston.”
She’s right. Clio’s been living across the hall for over a year now, and I haven’t even tried to get to know her—a choice I made the day we met that never wavered, but that’s changing more and more as the days wear on.
It’s getting harder to keep her at arm’s length, and the foundation of that decision is on shaky ground with this new development—the one that put a ring on her finger that doesn’t belong to me.
Before I get the chance to dig deeper, she fixes a smile back on her face, turning on the charm like it has an on/off switch.
Maybe it does.
She turns her back to the counter, keeping her voice low. “You do realize what you’ve done, don’t you?”
I glance toward the living room to make sure nobody’s eavesdropping. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing stays secret in Willow Valley. By noon tomorrow, the whole town is going to think we’re engaged. We’ll have to keep up the charade for a while.”