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Back One White Lie Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. DEDICATION
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. Acknowledgments
  59. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

‘I know,’ she said, blinking fast. ‘I’m sorry, just – can we talk? Please?’

‘Of course, but I’ve got him.’ I motioned to Dusty, who pawed at the door of his prison.

Claire smiled, briefly, at my dog. ‘It’s fine. It will only take a minute.’ Her head swiveled up the block and back. ‘Can we, uh, get in your car?’

I walked around to the driver’s side and tossed my junk mail to the back so Claire would have a place to sit. I turned the ignition, getting the heat cranking. Woodstock’s hippie radio station blared – with a flick, I shut it off.

‘I won’t keep you long,’ Claire said as she shut the door behind her. ‘I’m supposed to be working, anyway. I saw you, and I told them I needed five …’ She bit her lip, then shoved her hands into the pockets of her apron. She blinked slowly.

‘What is it?’

Her eyes locked ahead, as if there were an answer in my frost-kissed windshield. ‘I never meant it to turn out like this,’ she said. ‘I should have … I should have …’ she stammered.

‘Claire,’ I said, reaching a hand across the console, taking hers in mine. She seemed more a child than ever. Desperate. Scared. ‘What is it?’ I asked again. ‘Whatever it is, you can tell me.’

‘Vera.’ Her eyes welled with tears. ‘If she had known the truth …’

‘Claire,’ I said, squeezing her hand in mine as I tried to keep my voice calm. ‘I believe Vera did know the truth.’

She pulled her hand back, and her eyes flashed at me – a brief spot of rage – but just as quickly, the look slipped away with a shake of her head. ‘No. I’m saying that I know she didn’t. She thought that John and I were, that we …’

I narrowed my eyes. ‘Weren’t you?’

‘No. We were just friends.’ She huffed. ‘I know you’re not supposed to be friends with someone that much older, but that’s how it was. My dad can be a dick sometimes, and John’ – she turned, her eyes catching mine – ‘he would listen. Sometimes I’d stay after class for an hour just talking to him.’

It had taken me so long to believe the worst of John, but over the past week, the wool had finally fallen from my eyes. Vera and John weren’t the people I had thought they were. They never had been. ‘You don’t have to protect him, Claire. It’s okay. I know you were … I know you were pregnant.’