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“Nora! That’s not true!” I say defensively. I feel attacked.
“Sorry, Dad, the truth hurts sometimes. Isn’t that what you always tell Grandma and Pop?”
This kid is always listening.
As soon as we enter Dom’s office, I look around at the leather furniture, the huge oak desk, the plants around the room, and the wall of windows overlooking the lake. This place is gorgeous. He’s one lucky man.
“Okay, let’s see what we can find,” he says as he wakes his computer up.
I pull up a chair next to him. My palms grow sweaty again. I don’t know what we’re going to find, and honestly, I’m scared to even look.
Dominick brings up Google and types “Penelope Maxwell” into the search bar.
The second he hitsenter, hundreds of articles pop up with her name and photo. I can’t believe it. Penelope Smith, who’s staying at my parent’s inn, who I’ve had around my daughter and in my home, is a celebrity.
And her last name isn’t evenSmith.
“Wow, Brent, that’s her,” Dom says in disbelief as he scrolls through the pages. There are so many pages that my mind can’t comprehend. “Iknewshe looked familiar. Why don’t we check out Instagram. If it really is her, I’m sure she’ll have an account.”
A part of me wants to stop right here, not look up another thing, and forget I saw any of this. But I know I can’t. Not now.
Dominick opens his Instagram account and searches Penelope’s name. Her account is the first one to show up, with a blue checkmark next to her name. I have no idea what that means. All I do know is it’s definitely her in that profile picture, and in all the other pictures Dom scrolls through.
“Wow” he says as he keeps scrolling. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“She’s been lying to me. To us. To my parents. Why would she do that?”
“I don’t even know man. Maybe she was worried you wouldn’t want her to stay with you? I’m surprised no one recognized her while she was here. Although, I did think she looked like someone famous. Remember when I asked her? She played it off like she hears that a lot.”
“Not many of us here in Winterberry care about movie stars or celebrities. How did someone get a pic of her from last night at the bar?”
Dominick clicks on something on her Instagram page and a bunch of photos show up. The first dozen look like they were taken last night while we were out.
“What are these?” I ask Dominick. I don’t know a single thing about social media, and I have no idea what I’m looking at.
“These are photos other people posted and tagged her in. I guess people at the bar recognized her,” he explains.
The way people stared at her that night makes sense now.
I sit there completely speechless. I really thought I was falling for her. For a woman who’s apparently been lying to my face, pretending to be someone she’s not.
“What’s going through that head of yours?” Dominick asks. He turns in his chair to look at me. “I can see the wheels spinning from here.”
“I honestly don’t even know what to think. If she can lie about her own name and what she does for a living, what else is she lying about?”
“It looks like she had her heart broken,” he says as he clicks back to Google and starts opening articles.
As we read, we find out that the man she was engaged to, some famous asshole, was caught cheating on her the day after Thanksgiving. At least that part of her story was true. But how can I believe a single thing that’s come out of her mouth since I’ve known her?
“She told me that her fiancé had cheated on her when I found her crying outside the inn,” I say, thinking out loud. “I wish she’d told me the whole truth.”
“Maybe she was trying to get away from the spotlight. Didn’t you say she doesn’t have a cell phone on her and no one has tried to reach her since she’s been here?”
“Yeah, that’s what she told me. But now I’m second guessing every single thing she’s said,” I say, shaking my head. I’m mad. And confused. And hurt. “If I’m being honest, I was actually falling for her.”
“I could tell, man,” Dom says, putting his hand on my shoulder. “The way you looked at her last night… I haven’t seen you like that with anyone since Michelle.”
“Yeah, and now look. I don’t even know Penelope’s real name.”
