“You’re married?” Willa shrieks. “To who?”
I glance at Miles, and Willa’s eyes grow wider, if that were even possible.
“To him?” she croaks out, her cheeks flushing.
Uh oh, not good. Willa doesn’t lose her temper very often, but when she does, it’s a volatile mess. And this makes it twice on my account lately.
“It’s not like we’re really married!” I try to explain.
But she’s busy muttering to herself and pacing back and forth. She stops in front of Kingston and grabs both of his arms. “You knew, didn’t you!”
I can’t let her accuse her boyfriend of keeping secrets. “No one knew, Willa. Only Miles, me, his sister, and Margaret.”
Willa freezes and pivots on her heel. “Margaret?”
I shift uncomfortably. “I needed a maid of honor.”
“WHAT ABOUT ME?” she yells.
Oh boy. This is beyond Willa’s volatile temper. We’ve moved into fear-for-my-life territory.
I take a step backward and bump into Miles. He settles his arm around me, pulling me comfortably back toward him. “Willa. We didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. We’re just roommates who wanted to win a bet.”
“Yes!” I latch onto the lifeline that he’s throwing to me. “It’s not a real marriage. I mean, it’s real, but we’re not like in a relationship or anything.”
“What?” Willa exclaims.
Kingston clears his throat. “Maybe we should all sit down while you explain this.”
Miles squeezes my shoulders and nods. “It’s not that long of an explanation. Just the usual. My grandma offered to pay the first grandkid who got married fifty thousand dollars.”
Willa’s still glaring daggers at us, so I allow Miles to lead me to a seat and wait for Willa to sit down as well.
And then, we explain everything. The marriage. The bet. Ainsley. Preston. Even the camping trip. (Well, noteverythingabout the camping trip.)
The clock on the wall says we’ve been here for an hour by the time I finish the story.
Some of the fight has left Willa, but I don’t believe for a second this is over. She’s thinking, and when Willa sets her mind to thinking, it’s a dangerous business. “Why did you need the money? You have a good job with great benefits. Plus, you have a roommate. It’s not like you needed a chunk of money.”
“It’s for her student loans,” Miles oh-so-helpfully adds.
I pinch the inside of his leg, and he yelps. He turns to glare at me with a raised eyebrow. “What? There’s nothing wrong with admitting the truth.”
I draw my finger across my throat slowly, hoping he’ll get the message. I hadn’t decided how much of the truth I was ready to tell her.
“Lucy. What student loans? You had a full-ride scholarship!” Willa’s staring me down and looking more confused than ever.
Kingston is staring at me with a similar quizzical look. “You don’t have a student loan? I thought you had a debt to pay off and that’s why you needed to have a roommate.”
I tug at my sweatshirt collar and stare at Kingston. He’s the only one with a neutral face at the moment. “Would you believe I have a gambling problem?”
“No.” All three of them reply at the same time. Miles smiles at me and I have the urge to reach over and pinch him. He knows the truth and he’s not making this easy on me.
“I’m involved in a tax evasion scheme?”
Three heads shake as if one. Willa glares at me. “We are not leaving here until you tell the truth.”
She means it too.
