Lily White Lies(65)

I agreed to his plan and stayed quietly behind a large tree until I saw the three of them scurrying out of the house together. I thought I could hear Charlotte sobbing loudly as the topless Jeep Wrangler pulled away. A part of me felt guilty for playing such a mean-spirited prank, but as Con had reminded me, I was only getting even and teaching them a lesson in the process.

Con and the girls hadn’t been gone for more than fifteen minutes when I began to wish that I hadn’t gone along with his plan. It was a good plan assuming it worked and it would certainly give the girls something to think about the next time they meddled in someone’s life, but I was beginning to think it wasn’t worth the feelings of separation I was suffering now. It would have been nice to share more time with him before we had to face what was in store for us.

He had unexpectedly given me a storybook weekend but I wasn’t fooling myself into believing that everything would fall neatly into place once we returned to our normal lives. I knew we had our work cut out for us considering all of the bad blood between our families, but even after every negative word and insult I’d heard about Joker Ellis, a part of me was excited over the prospect of meeting him.



In the time since Con had left with the girls, I must have walked the imaginary path between the front door and the recliner at the far end of the living room a hundred times, my head twisted toward the bow window with each pass. Gram used to say that the watcher boils much faster than the pot and it turns out to be another of her many expressions I find to be true.

After watching the clock count down every minute for the last two hours I was beginning to feel anxious over his return when in the distance I heard an engine whine as it made its way up the road.

I met him in the driveway, eager to hear what happened after he left. His expression was a little sullen as he closed the car door behind him.

“So... what happened? Did they believe you?”

Before he answered my questions, he took me by the hand and headed toward the house.

“Con, is something wrong?”

“Yes... well, no but... yes. I knew they’d be upset, but I didn’t realize just how upset they’d be. They promised that they wouldn’t contact anyone until after they’d heard from me, but I don’t know how long they’ll be able to hold out.” Giving me a sympathetic grin, he added, “They’re both a mess.”

Suddenly I felt terrible for the prank we played on them. It seemed like a good idea at the time but now, I felt unworthy of their friendship.

Pulling on my hand when he came to a stop, I turned to look at him.

“Meg, don’t go getting all upset with yourself, this was my idea, remember? We’ll just go in and get our things and we’ll head back.” Lifting my chin with a finger, he questioned, “Okay?”

I offered a faint nod.

In an attempt to lighten my mood, he joked, “You know, I really outsmarted myself in the end.”

I shrugged. “How’s that?”

“Well, after what they did to us, I thought we’d one-up them. But, I’ve got to tell you, it put a real damper on my plans for this evening.”

As I asked, “Which were?” I happened to look up and catch the seductive gaze that lit his eyes.

Certain my cheeks had reddened, I let my hair fall across my face.

He squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry. I was teasing... well; a part of me was anyway.” He leaned forward and turned to face me, placing his head directly in front of mine to show me his animated smile. “I joke a lot, but I do have standards. Sort of like a code of ethics; friendship before romance, romance before love and love before sex. I know, a little corny and old-fashioned, but I think if you can stick to that order there’s a lot better chance of it lasting past the sex.”

He’d been able to read me like a road sign since our first meeting and now, if there were any particular words that could cause me to melt at his command, he had just said every one of them.

Before I could think of anything to say that wouldn’t embarrass me further, he added, “I think we have the friendship part down, so how about we pick up the pace a little and get to the good stuff?”

The air in my chest felt as though it solidified with his last remark. It wasn’t that I was opposed to any type of relations with him, sexual or otherwise, my dilemma was quite the opposite. I just thought that if and when that time came, it would be a little more romantic than, ‘let’s pick up the pace’.

I looked to him with my mouth wide open and completely empty of words. He was shaking his head and laughing.

Suddenly, feeling very foolish, I bashfully asked, “You were only teasing, right?”