Page 56 of Tell Me All Your Lies

“Thank you. It’s just chilly, so my dress was getting wrinkled.”

That feels like a lie, but I won’t call her on it.

Suddenly, the door opens wide, and I find Brad’s wife, Noelle, standing in the doorway. Her eyes widen in disbelief as they land on me before shooting over to Cara.

“Ace? Is that you?” Noelle asks.

“It is. Did Brad not tell you who your new neighbors are?” I say with a chuckle.

“No, that man certainly did not! Well, come here,” she replies.

Noelle widens her arms and steps forward to embrace me. I return her hug, and as we pull away, she holds onto my shoulders for a moment.

“It’s great to have you back around.”

“Happy to be.”

Noelle turns to Cara.

“Don’t tell me you married this one?” she teases.

“My own prince charming,” Cara jokes back.

“It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Noelle. My husband, Brad, is just out back on the grill. Would you two like to come in?”

“We would love to,” Cara says before I can.

“Come on in then!”

“This is for you,” Cara says as she takes a pie out of the container I’m holding.

Noelle’s eyes gleam with delight.

“Ace, you really found a good one, I see.”

“The best out there.”

Cara smiles warmly at the interaction, and in this moment, even I believe we’re a real couple heading to an old friend’s house to say hello.

Noelle lets us walk in first and then follows behind with the pie in tow.

“I’m just going to put this in the kitchen. Why don’t you both head on out toward the back, and you’ll see Brad in a pile of smoke.”

Noelle laughs.

“In a way like the old days, right, Ace?”

The memory of the building burning down and me getting Brad out of the fire in time will be imprinted in my mind forever. I left this memory out when talking to Cara, and I’m not really sure why. Brad may have had his suspicions about me, but after that night, he never said a word.

“Right,” I murmur.

Cara gives me a side-eye, clearly noticing the change in my tone.

I head out toward the back patio with Cara by my side. She doesn’t comment on that exchange.

Opening the sliding glass door, I step out to see the silhouette of a stocky man covered in tattoos behind a smoke-filled grill.

Brad pops his head to the side and must notice our two figures walking onto the patio deck as he closes the grill. The smoke around him starts to dissipate.

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