Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
CHARLIE
It doesn’t start off bad. Muriel walks in with a plate of lemon bars, and she’s actually a pretty good addition to bingo night. It’s the people who walk in behind her that are the problem.
Jason.
And Tiffany.
Somehow, Alice doesn’t notice her ex or his new girl, and they don’t notice her. They disappear into the crowd, and I can’t find them anywhere. Maybe I imagined them.
Muriel drops off her dessert before heading to our table. As she reaches us, she gives Alice a friendly smile, and Alice smiles back, both of them genuinely happy to see each other after surviving Terror in the Attic . “I was hoping you’d be here,” Muriel says. “Turns out one of my guests is from Texas too. Wouldn’t it be fun if you knew any of the same people? It can be such a small world.”
Send help.
Alice’s smile deepens, as if nothing would be nicer than meeting a fellow Texan, and Muriel springs into action. Before I can stop her, she sprints away and comes back with Jason. Tiffany follows suit.
When Alice catches sight of her ex, the color drains from her face. Her ex looks pretty surprised too.
“Alice, this is Jason,” Muriel says. “He’s been working in the kitchen at the wilderness resort for the past few months. Poor dear had some things he needed to get away from back home.”
Some things he needed to get away from?
That better not be code for “an amazing girlfriend he wanted to cheat on.” That man better have real issues he’s dealing with that have nothing to do with Alice, or we’ve got a problem. A big one.
“He went through a bad breakup before he left Texas,” Muriel continues. “His ex sounds like a real piece of work, but Ponderosa Falls has been the perfect place to heal.”
My jaw clenches, and so does Lydia’s. Judging by the look on her face, Tyler’s sister has figured out who Jason is, and she’s ready to make him pay. Even the Old Birds have it figured out. They shift in their chairs, perched on the edge of their seats like hawks eyeing a bunny rabbit. And that bunny rabbit is Jason.
Me? I take a different approach.
Alice’s knee bounces nervously under the table, and I press my leg against hers. It’s supposed to be a kind gesture, something to help steady her, but I’m playing with fire. The moment my leg touches hers, I feel the same steady pulse under my skin I had back at The BookSlinger. That primal protective urge I’ve been running from ever since.
A familiar word vibrates through me, and it’s such a simple, nothing word. One I never cared about until I met Alice.
Mine .
It’s not true, but I don’t care. I can still protect her like she’s mine.
I try to talk myself down, but Jason doesn’t help. His eyes linger on Alice, and my protective urge flares. Why is he staring at her like that?
Does he miss her?
That’s what it looks like. This guy broke her heart barely twenty-four hours ago, but now he’s glancing at Alice like she’s “the one who got away.” And that’s all it takes. He gives her that look, and I’m done.
Who knows what comes over me. Where my common sense goes, and when it might return. All I know is his gaze heats up as he stares at Alice, and I spring into action, slipping my arm around her shoulders. Claiming her like I’m her type, and she’s mine.
A few old ladies at our table gasp. Others give me a death glare because my heathen arm is defiling their Regency queen—and maybe they’re right.
I have no business holding on to Alice like this. Even if I was her type—which I’m not—she’s way too good for me. What am I doing?
I’m not even the relationship type. When it comes to dating, no one’s ever taken me seriously—why would they? When you’re the town screw-up, a happily-ever-after just isn’t in the cards.
I should move my arm; I should apologize and retreat, but then Alice leans back, settling against me, and my arm isn’t going anywhere. My arm is staying here forever.
Mine, mine, mine.
Jason eyes us as he tries to cut Muriel off, but she keeps going. “He even met someone new while he’s been out here, another one of my guests. They checked in on the same day, and they were just friends until last week—but now they’re inseparable. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Jason and Tiffany are staying at Muriel’s?
If someone had asked me to guess fifty different versions of the future, I never would’ve guessed this. These people have been staying next door to me for months, and I haven’t spotted them once. Muriel’s bed-and-breakfast isn’t cheap, either. Most resort employees live in the dorms on the property for a reason. How much money do these people have?
Not now, Charlie.
I keep my focus where it belongs. On the beautiful girl I have my arm around. The one who’s so upset, she’s trembling.
This close, Alice smells faintly of strawberries, and I try not to let that scent mesmerize me. Muriel smiles at her expectantly, waiting for Alice to say something to her new friend from Texas. Tiffany jumps in before she can.
“Alice—was that your name? It’s so nice to meet you. How funny that you’re from Texas too. It really is a small world.”
She pairs that with her best fake friendly smile, and is this actually happening? Is Tiffany trying to pretend they just met?
Beside her, Jason’s face lights up with a fake friendly smile of his own. He starts to introduce himself, but Alice doesn’t let him finish. As she cuts him off, she hesitates, and her nerves almost get the better of her. Then she takes a deep breath, giving Muriel a soft look as she breaks the bad news.
“Jason’s my ex—the one who dumped me after inviting me out here to visit. And I’ve already met Tiffany. She helped him break up with me.”
Muriel is devastated. She really thought this was going to be a fun Texas meet-and-greet, and Alice tries to console her before glancing back at her ex.
She hesitates again, and for a moment, I think that’s it. That she’s going to freeze like she did during their breakup. But that girl is full of surprises.
“You came out here to work in a kitchen? You said you got a marketing job. You said it was too good to turn down.”
Alice hadn’t known that part until now—I never told her what Raven said back at the wilderness resort—and Jason blinks.
“If things were over between us, you didn’t have to wash dishes in Colorado. You could’ve just told me.”
Her face is flush, voice shaky, but she said what she needed to say. Today, Jason is the one who freezes, and silence falls over our entire group. I have no idea how worked up I am until Alice notices. No idea how hard my knee is bouncing under the table until she presses her leg against mine. That touch startles me, then it burns through me, lava under my skin.
I glance down at Alice as she glances up at me, and her brown eyes are the warmest thing I’ve ever seen. I should look away, but I don’t. She exhales softly as her eyes search mine, and I couldn’t look away if I tried.
Bingo!
Henrietta yells that with extra oomph, and we jump, the spell broken. Laughing nervously, Alice leans forward, and my arm slides off her shoulders. Message received, Carrots.
I keep my hands to myself after that. An official comes over to check Henrietta’s card, and Alice and I don’t even look at each other. She stares at her hands while I try to seem like a polite member of society. A future kindergarten teacher or someone Alice might’ve met at poetry summer camp. Anything but who I really am.
The boy from the wrong side of the tracks who doesn’t belong anywhere near a girl like Alice.
A guy whose only summer camp was rehab.
Edna kicks me under the table. She can tell something’s up, and she doesn’t like it. When I glance over, her eyes narrow as if she can tell every self-destructive thing I’m thinking, and I’m pretty sure that’s the same look a falcon gives its prey before it rips it to shreds.
The only thing that can save me is a cakewalk. Luckily, I’ve been keeping track. The bingo official raises Henrietta’s winning card in the air, and I know exactly what they’re going to say.
That makes three. It’s time to walk the walk.
People around us cheer. They’ve been eyeing those desserts up front for over half an hour, and whole tables empty as they crowd around the stage. Meanwhile, the winners of the first three bingo rounds climb up to take their place on the cakewalk circle. Including Henrietta.
Jason and Tiffany vanish into the crowd again, but Alice doesn’t notice. There’s too much commotion, and she glances between Lydia and me, waiting for an explanation. Then our town polka band gets into position, and she gasps.
“What. Is. Happening? ”
Lydia sighs. “I know, right? I came out here for my brother, but I stayed for the polka.”
“And the norte?o,” I remind her, listing the other local bands that switch off each month for bingo night. “And the bluegrass. And Riley Tipton’s punk band.”
Lydia nods, sighing again. “Live cakewalk music is everything.”
Alice feels the same way. The polka band starts up as our three bingo winners dance around the cakewalk circle, and her face lights up like she’s having the time of her life. As if Jason was never here.
Henrietta goes all out for the crowd, dancing and shimmying as her glasses sway on a thin gold chain around her neck. It’s her time to shine, and the other Old Birds cheer her on. Alice does too.
As soon as the music stops, so does the dancing. Each bingo winner glances down, calling out the number they landed on, and our emcee for the night announces which three or four desserts that number was paired with. Everyone cheering as those items are added to the empty refreshment table.
Then we feast.
Pondies line up, bingo winners first, and Alice gives me the happiest possible glance, suppressing a delighted sigh of her own. “Those are the bingo prizes? Food for everyone?”
“It’s like a community potluck, but we’ve got to earn the food. And survive Henrietta.”
She laughs, getting up to follow Lydia to the refreshment table before we start our next round of bingo. I try to join them, but Edna grabs my sleeve.
“Sit, kid. It’ll only take a second.”
My stomach knots, but I knew this was coming. I’ve been too obvious about my feelings for Alice. There’s no way the Old Birds haven’t noticed, especially since she’s the first girl who’s had this effect on me.
Edna waits until the coast is clear, until my new favorite redhead is long gone, and then she smacks my arm. A nice grandmotherly backhand.
Dottie nods in agreement. “Charlie’s being weird tonight.”
Her voice is a singsong taunt. A spoonful of sugar laced with arsenic. As if she’s uncovered my weakness—Alice—and she’s ready to torture me with it.
Henrietta joins us before she can, pointing a lemon bar at me. “Is this about the kindergarten-teacher job at Ponderosa Elementary? Is that why you’re being so weird?”
“I’m not being weird. This is me behaving myself. I’m being good .”
But also?—
“How do you know about the kindergarten job?”
My mother hasn’t officially announced her retirement yet. Carl and I didn’t even find out until this morning at breakfast. How do the Old Birds always know everything?
Henrietta shrugs. “News travels. Sue me.”
It hadn’t traveled far enough. The other Old Birds look surprised, Dottie most of all. “This is about a teaching job? That’s why you’re acting strange? I thought it was because you like Alice.”
I cough. Violently. When I recover, I scan the room to see if anyone overheard.
Dottie keeps going. “I could’ve sworn you were catching feelings. This is Ponderosa Falls, after all. You know what they say…”
I don’t even try to stop her this time. Nobody does. Dottie is about to recite her favorite town slogan, the one that brings her Supreme Joy, and we let her have her moment.
“Ponderosa Falls,” she says wistfully, arching her hands through the air like she’s reading that slogan off a billboard in the sky. “A great place to fall in love.”
I count to five before I burst her bubble. Just long enough to make sure her moment feels complete; I’m no spotlight stealer. “I’m not falling in love with Alice.”
“Are you sure? Would you swear an oath?” Dottie coos.
“A million oaths on a million sacred texts. Trust me, I’m not falling for Alice.”
I already fell.
That ship has sailed.
I can’t tell if she believes me, if any of the Old Birds do. They’re too busy trying to have a silent conversation with their eyes. Normally, they’re a united front, but they’re all over the place tonight, as if they really should’ve had a team meeting before they started this little shakedown.
Edna tries to get them back on the right track. Her track. “Forget love and kindergarten. We’ve got something more important to worry about— revenge .”
That’s a pretty dangerous word coming from a woman like Edna Finch. A word that could get me in just as much trouble as mine .
“Revenge on who?” I ask.
“Jason from Texas. And I know just how to get it.”
I’m on the edge of my seat; we all are. Edna glances at me, and her next words are even worse than “revenge.” Her big plan making a chill tumble down my spine—for very good and very bad reasons.
“You’re going to fake date Alice.”