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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 closed my eyes, then opened them again. This wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t some plot to toss about over drinks. It wasn’t even Van Gogh-ing. This could save us all. ‘We need to do this,’ I said. ‘We need to do this right away.’

‘But what about you?’ Vera asked. ‘If the police interview you, and your name gets in the media – I know last night you said you’d try to avoid that, but what if you can’t?’

I paused, wondering what would happen when the police took my name, but I shook my head, trying to focus only on what I had to do – get out. ‘Davis will know soon enough,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t matter anymore.’

In her eyes, understanding, but in John’s, reluctance. ‘That’s really what you want?’ he asked. His voice was warm and soft, a blanket of protection. He cared about me – truly. They both did. ‘You’re not just doing it for us? I couldn’t handle it if you were only doing it for us.’

We’re the us now, I wanted to say.

‘I’m not,’ I said instead. ‘I’m doing it for me.’

‘You’re sure?’ Vera said. ‘You’re positive?’

I hesitated, racking my brain, wondering if there was another way, but what I could hardly say to her, though I felt it, deep in my heart, was that it didn’t much matter if there was another way. When I’d come up here, I’d only wanted protection, but then I’d found the two of them. Now I wanted both – safety and family – and even if we were a cobbled-together one at best, ours was a family I’d come to adore.

I wanted us like this, together, off the grid, away from Davis – a trio, however strange.

‘I’m doing it for me,’ I repeated. ‘Believe me, I’m sure.’

Vera stood, began to pace. ‘We’d need to go on a practice hike, you know, to get the lay of the land. This week.’

I shook my head. ‘If we have to practice, it’s got to be tomorrow. Davis could turn up any moment.’

‘What?’ Vera asked. ‘We don’t want to rush and mess it all up. I don’t even have a car for John.’

‘You said last night you knew where to get one.’

‘Yeah … but …’ Vera stammered.

‘Then you’ll have to do that tomorrow, too. You have to try, at least. I can’t stay here, just waiting for Davis to find me. If he does, Christ, I don’t know what he’ll do.’

They stared at me in horror, and for a moment, I wondered if it all had been a joke. If they had never been serious about any of this. I felt it then, in the marrow of my bones, that I’d already lost them. That I was alone. Again.