Tyler: Good. Keep me posted.
I set the phone face down on the nightstand.
I told Rick and Melodie the truth. I told them what Tyler wanted, and they trusted me with it. But I didn't tell Falon.
Three months. April to July. That was the plan. Long enough to catch my breath.
I knew it was a lie before I finished telling it to myself.
Watching her tonight, and how excited she got talking about her house. She moved through her kitchen and talked about the beams she'd cleaned up. She looked at me across the table, genuinely glad I was there.
I know three months won't be enough.
And staying might break me worse than leaving ever did.
Falon
Millie is already in the booth when I get to Ethel's, which means she's been there long enough to order coffee and collect at least two pieces of gossip from whoever sat nearest the window.
"You're late," she says cheerfully.
"I'm two minutes early."
"I've been here ten. That makes you late." She wraps both hands around her mug. "Also, Ethel already knows."
I slide in across from her. "Knows what?"
Millie tilts her head. "That Bo Gates moved into your guest house yesterday."
I open my mouth.
"She said, and I'm quoting directly, 'about time.'"
I close my mouth.
Daisy arrives thirty seconds later in a burst of energy and canvas tote, dropping into the booth beside me with the look on her face that means she has been waiting to say something since approximately six this morning.
"Okay," she says. "Talk."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"He moved into your guest house, and we had to learn this info from the Everwood gossip chain."
"He needed a place to stay. And I was going to tell you at lunch."
"You have known this man since you were eight years old, and you offered him a place to stay the same week he got back to town." Daisy folds her hands on the table. "I'm not saying that's not generous. I'm saying that is notjustgenerous."
Kinley slips in beside Millie, unwinding her scarf, catching the tail end of the conversation. "How'd he look?" she asks.
"Fine."
"Fine like fine, or fine like?—"
"Kinley."
She smiles and picks up a menu that hasn’t changed since the place opened.
Lila appears with coffee for everyone and a look on herface that says she is fully informed as well. She doesn't say anything, which is almost more alarming.
