“Did I know about any of this when we were in Brookmount?” I demanded, but she took too long to answer, her silence telling me everything I needed to know. “Why not?”

“Because it didn’t matter—”

“Of course it did—”

“How can you be such a hypocrite?” Lily threw her hands in the air. “You lied to me about your name. You never told me about Celine or Kate. You never mentioned Maya, either, and we still don’t know why, but you have the audacity to call me out on not wanting to tell you something about my past? How dare you.” She took a step toward me. “Can’t you see what’s happening? She’s manipulating you.” When Maya started to protest, Lily cut her off. “She’s manipulating both of us. She lied about the Facebook photo, I’m sure of it now. Think about it. She didn’t even tell you I called. The first time I came here when you were out, she almost convinced me to leave town. She’s never wanted me here—”

“That’s completely unfair,” Maya fired off.

“I agree,” I said. “It was her idea for you to stay at the house. She got you the job at the restaurant.”

“Exactly,” Lily said. “It’s the perfect way to blame everything on me.”

“You’re crazy,” Maya said.

“What if it was her intention to get rid of me all along?” Lily said, ignoring her again. “You know the saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’? What if she’s the real reason you left Newdale?”

“Bullshit,” Maya said. “There’s no way I’d—”

“Enough,” I yelled, my head on the verge of exploding. I looked from Lily to Maya and back again, trying to figure out whom or what to believe. But then I thought how utterly exhausted I’d felt of late, how fuzzy my brain had been, particularly since Lily had moved in. If Maya was right and those pills were clonazepam... “I think you should leave the house,” I said to Lily.

“You’re right,” she said. “Let’s all take some time to cool off.”

I shook my head. “No, I meant you should leave.”

“Are you serious?” Lily said.

“Yes. You can’t stay here anymore.”

She tried to argue but I wouldn’t listen. Her shoulders slumped and I looked away until she pulled out her duffel bag from the closet and grabbed her clothes, stuffing them inside as fast as possible. As I watched her pack I almost told her to stop, and we should talk about this, but seeing my father’s watch, the earrings, the wad of the Cliff’s Head money and those goddamn pills made the words shrivel up in my mouth.

None of us spoke again until we got to the front door, where Lily turned to me.