Chapter 18: The Engagement That Never Was

Camille asked me to come alone, and I let Joanne wait in the Subaru at the end of the drive.

The house in Lake Forest belonged to Barbara.

Camille opened the side door of the guest cottage herself.

She wasn't wearing cream.

She was in a gray sweatshirt with her hair pulled back, and without the soft clothes she looked her age.

A suitcase lay open on the bed behind her.

"She told me to be out by tonight," Camille said. "Barbara. After the vote."

"I'm not here to help you pack."

"No."

"You said you had every text."

"I do."

She sat on the edge of the bed.

She didn't offer me the chair, and I didn't take it.

"I'm going to tell you something, and then I'll ask you for something," she said. "You can say no to the second part."

"I will."

"There was never an engagement."

I waited.

"I told Russell it ended in March. I told you the same thing, in your kitchen, with a tissue in my hand."

She almost laughed.

"There wasn't a man. I bought a ring at a department store and wore it for a year."

"Why?"

"Because I'd lost my job, and my lease, and Russell Tamblyn's wife had a guest suite."

"You lied to move into my home."

"I lied to be near him."

She said it without shame, and that was the worst part.

"I met him in the second week of college," she said. "He picked you eleven years ago. I've been waiting for him to notice his mistake ever since."

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