Page 31 of Before We Break

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.”

She’s right. I hadn’t considered the long game, and the last time we had a run-in, it was all over town by morning. Everybody heard about how I carried her into the shop and took care of her injured ankle. That’s probably what sparked the dating rumors in the first place. “Fuck. I wasn’t thinking. How long before they let it go?”

“A few months at least. Long enough so that it’s not suspicious.”

“That’s crazy. People break up all the time.”

“Not people who seemingly weren’t even dating in the first place. They're going to have questions. They need to see us together. Happy, in love.”

Love. As if that’s something I want or am even capable of.

“What do you suggest?” I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“A few dates here and there. Hold hands in public. Canoodling. You know. Couple stuff.”