Page 112 of Little Lies


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She stared at him.

She almost didn’t believe him. It had been difficult to do that lately; tell when something was real.

It took her a while to take in the sincerity. Then it hit like a bulldozer. Tears stung her eyes.

She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to cry.

Her face dropped into her hands.

“I thought I was going to be alone,” she cried into her palms. She heard him shift before his hand patted her shoulder.

Thirty seconds later she was wiping run from her nose and tears from her eyes, trying to pull it together. Not a great impression after the time they’d been apart. She hiccupped and dug her palms into her eyes, blocking out his frown again. He’d already seen her a mess; that didn’t mean she had to see his reaction to her.

“Are you okay, Tully?” A warm, hesitant hand rested on her shoulder.

Stephanie might have been right after all. At least two people cared about her.

Tully couldn’t say that. It was Christmas. Eugene had gone out of his way to give her this surprise and if she said what she wanted, she risked tainting the moment. So she just wiped the damp area on her eyebags and shook her head, smiling. “I’m just so happy to see you.” That, at the very least, was the truth.

“Well good. Then I’ve done my job correctly. We have a lot to catch up on. Let’s go outside and talk.”

Tully twisted her face in distaste. “It’s too cold outside.” Eugene flicked her forehead, making Tully gasp in surprise and cover it with her hand. “What the hell?”

“Grow up and enjoy the snow a bit. Since when did you become so moody?”

You have no idea.“Fine. But you better make me some cocoa.”

“Deal.”

Twenty minutes later, they were sat side by side on the front porch, wrapped in two different blankets with mugs of hot chocolate steaming in their faces. The cold, December air felt nice when Eugene was there making it easier to bear.

“How’d the semester go?”

She sipped long and hard on the hot drink, attempting to not burn her taste buds while giving herself time to think of the right answer. She could confess about falling in love with the fake boyfriend she conveniently never told him about, or admit that she was avoiding said fake boyfriend, or complain that Joliet was determined to keep her life miserable. Or… “It was fine.”

He raised a brow and inhaled some of the chocolate steam. “Just fine?”

“Pretty unspectacular.” Lies, lies, lies.

She sipped too quickly and hissed as the hot liquid burned her tongue. The bitter cold was perfect for cooling her tongue off. “What about you, huh? Seems like that English major is keeping you busy.”

“I wouldn’t say it was the English major, more so the friends.”

Tully set her mug onto the porch and pulled the blanket in closer to her.

She wished she could say the same thing. She kept quiet and listened to him talk about his life in New York. His friends, his classes, all the stuff she wanted. She smiled and nodded along, and imagined that in a year’s time, she could be in his shoes with his stories.

“Then I . . .” He trailed off, distracted by something in front of them. Tully followed his furrowed gaze to the car pulling up to the curb, headlights on. In the dark, the details of the vehicle were blurred behind the light streaks, but she could make out a car door opening and someone stepping out. Her eyes squinted and Eugene’s head tilted as he leaned forward.

The shadow walked in front of the headlights and she finally recognized the shape and build of the person who had been invading her mind nonstop for weeks. Her breath hitched and the blanket slipped from her shoulders.

Eugene’s face scrunched. “Is that Nathan Rondeau?”

fifty-six

nathan

Jealousy.

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