Page 15 of The Best Wrong Move

“Listen, I—”

“Wait . . .” Rex takes a step back from me. “What the hell?”

My stomach churns as he recoils, pushing his chin into his neck like he can’t back away fast enough. Shock visibly washes over him. The fact that it’s been me all along, with this terrible disguise. Hiding behind the door. Pretending to be British. Watching him last night while he fawned all over another girl.

A satisfying sense of joy seeps through me when I realize that he’s experiencing what I felt only yesterday, the moment Abby and I saw that he was my neighbor.

I squint up at him from under the rim of my hat and say the only word that comes to mind.

“Surprise?”

Chapter 11

The ruse is up.

“Olivia?” Rex spits my name out like he just ate something rancid. Then he has the audacity to add, “Did you follow me here?”

“What? No! I know you’re probably totally weirded out by this. I get it.” I slide my sunglasses down my nose, ready to face him head-on, to explain what unbelievable luck we’ve had, when I hear another set of feet hit the deck.

The woman from last night steps out from his side of the townhouse.

She’s just spent the night with Rex.

There’s no time to process. I shove the glasses back up my nose to hide.

“Oh, babe! The new neighbor! Introduce me!” The woman’s voice is way too perky for this early in the morning, and, of course, she has an adorable Australian accent.

She’s even more stunning close-up, in a silky navy-blue robe covered in pink peonies. This gorgeous creature is walking out of my ex’s place at eight o’clock in the morning while I’m standing out here — hungover as hell, in an ugly twelve-dollar bucket hat from the ABC Store.

Rex’s mouth hangs open, but he somehow collects himself enough to stumble through a quick introduction. I’ve had all of last night to get used to the idea of Rex being my neighbor, but he’s just learned that I’m here within the last twenty seconds, right when his new side piece is making her debut as well. Poor guy looks like a deer stuck in the headlights of his ex-almost-fiancée’s car. I almost feel bad for him. But not quite.

“Her door was stuck so I was helping her with it.” Rex reddens. “Um, Juju, this is — ah — well, this is Olivia.” He gestures toward me. “Our new neighbor.”

Your neighbor?I shoot him a death glare, about to correct him, but he continues on before I can get a word out.

“Olivia, this — this is,” he stutters, then collects himself. “Well, this is Juju.”

Juju? What kind of name is Juju?

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, girl, I’m Juju!” she nearly shouts, or at least it feels that way with my pounding headache. Then she does the cutest, most nauseating little shimmy across the deck to give me a hug like we’re long-lost besties. She even pauses at the end to sway me back and forth against her sizable bosom, like my great-aunt used to do at family reunions. She’s soft and warm, and, against my better judgment, I find myself not wanting to let go. I need a good hug, apparently, even if it’s from my ex-almost-fiancé’s gorgeous new whatever-she-is.

“Juju.” I force a smile as she presses her enormous chest into my flatter one in a second embrace. Then she pulls me back by the shoulders and leans in to give me air kisses on both cheeks. The whole thing gives me vertigo.

Rex looks like a fish that’s been gutted, making me feel a teensy tiny bit better.

“Cute hat.” Juju lifts a hand up to finger the brim of my very-not-cute hat. “I think I saw that at the ABC Store, yeah?” She’s smiling so brightly I can’t tell if she’s being serious or not.

“ABC Store,” I repeat, sounding like a parrot, mimicking the tail end of whatever she says, but I can’t stop myself. This whole situation is too much for my brain to compute so quickly.

She stops fingering my hat and smiles confidently again. I’ve always wondered how people get their teeth that white. No matter how many Crest Whitestrips I try, my teeth have always looked less glowy than advertised.

“These rentals are all a minimum thirty-day stay, so you’ll be here a while, right?” she asks happily.

“A while. Right.” I repeat her last words again. I’m about to start squawking next if I don’t pull it together. I’m grateful that she has no idea who I am from social media.Yet.To her, I’m just a new friend she gets to entertain as long as I’m staying next door.

“Did you come with anyone?” She glances into my side of the townhouse. “Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Husband? Fiancé?” She looks subtly back at Rex, then down at my empty ring finger. The irony of her question twists the knife already sticking in my gut.

I quickly shake my head. I just want her to stop.

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