“Was work really that bad?”
Lizzy looked up to find Jane in the doorway. Her hair was pulled back in a long braid, and she was wearing the same oversizedStar TrekT-shirt she’d had since grade school.
“No,” Lizzy said, hauling her body up to sit on the edge of her bed.
“Just screaming into your pillow for fun, then.”
“It’s therapeutic. Like yoga or running into oncoming traffic.”
Jane let out a soft laugh, but it was cut short by their mother yelling at Lydia downstairs.
Lizzy groaned, then motioned her sister toward the bedroom window. Jane nodded.
The evening air was warm as they crawled out onto the roof’s black asphalt shingles. They laid out a blanket and Jane took one side while Lizzy took the other, sitting with her back against the house and letting the rays of the setting sun stroke her face.
“So,” Jane said after a minute, “are you going to tell me what’s wrong, or am I going to have to withhold my latest romance novel?”
Lizzy didn’t reply.
“Are you sure?” Jane asked, leaning in with a smile. “It involves fairies. And a mating bond.”
Lizzy laughed, but the sound came out low and wistful before it faded. She let the silence expand between them a moment longer before saying, “I got a weird message on the answering machine at work.”
“From who?”
“Will Darcy.”
Jane’s face lit up. “Was he calling to ask you out?”
“No,” Lizzy said. The fact that this wasn’t too far away from the truth wasn’t lost on her, but she still ignored it.
“Okay, then what did he want?”
The full litany of Will’s confession was waiting on her tongue, but Lizzy swallowed it down, sticking to the one fact she needed to unpack. “He wanted to warn me about Tristan.”
Jane’s expression contorted with confusion. “Warn you?”
Lizzy let the story tumble out. Every detail that Will had revealed, every aspect it changed about Tristan’s history. Saying it out loud only made her admit to herself how wrong she truly hadbeen about Tristan. And Will, for that matter. She groaned and let her head fall into her hands.
Jane stared out at the treetops, stunned, before turning to look at her sister again. “Maybe it’s all a big misunderstanding.”
Lizzy shook her head. “Nope. In true Will Darcy fashion, he provided witnesses. An entire law firm, in fact.”
“Wow.” Jane’s eyes grew wide as she considered. “I mean, I’m not Tristan’s biggest fan after he broke your heart like that—”
“He didn’t break my heart! We never even went on a date.”
“—but I still thought he was a nice guy. He’s helping Hank, and everyone seems to love him.”
“I know.” Lizzy gnawed on her bottom lip. “Should we say something to them?”
“I don’t know. Will really only told you.”
“Technically, he told the bakery.”
“You know what I mean,” Jane replied. “It’s not public knowledge. We can’t just go around town gossiping about it.”
“True. Everyone would think I was making it up to be petty anyway.” Lizzy groaned, letting her head fall back. “How is he so good at pretending to be a nice guy?”
