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“I’m taller than I look,” I said, just as Jack said, “She has a tall personality.”
Jack elbowed me and said, “Take him out in the yard and flip him.”
Doc frowned and shifted his eyes to Jack. “Can she?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“We were pretending to be a couple,” I went on, staying focused, “so I could stay near Jack and protect him.”
I don’t know what kind of reaction I was expecting… but what I got—from Connie at least—was not it.
“Well, that’s ridiculous,” Connie said. “You should be dating. You’re clearly in love with each other.”
“It was all pretend,” I said very gently.
But Connie turned to Jack like she didn’t believe that for a second. “Jack,” she said, “was it all pretend?”
Jack held her gaze for a second, and then, with a decisive nod, said, “It was all pretend.”
“Please,” Connie pooh-poohed, shaking her head.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “He was acting.”
But that just made her laugh. “He’s not that good an actor.”
“It was a fake relationship,” I said again.
“You’ve been sleeping together this whole time. Were you faking that?”
Jack looked down. “Hannah slept on the floor.”
This got her attention. “On the ceramic-tile floor?”
“I offered her the bed,” Jack said. “She wouldn’t take it.”
Now this, Connie was pissed about. She stood up and reached across the table to bat at Jack’s shoulder. “You let our Hannah sleep on that cold, hard floor? I raised you better than that! Be a gentleman!”
My heart fluttered a little at the words “our Hannah.”
“I was fine,” I said. “I’m tough.”
“You shouldn’t have to be,” Connie said, and for some reason the tenderness in her voice made my eyes sting.
I coughed. “The point is, we were trying to keep Jack—everyone—safe. Without worrying you.”
Now Hank, who had been menacingly quiet, had a question. “Safe from what?”
I looked over at Jack.
Jack took the reins. “A minor—almost nonexistent—stalker situation.”
“We didn’t want to take chances,” I said, “but we also didn’t want to create stress for anyone.”
“You had a stalker?” Hank asked.
“Have,” Jack said with a nod. “Just a minor one.”
“But rather than just tell anyone about it… you lied?” Hank said
