His voice was quiet in the night. "So what's your answer?"
For all kinds of reasons, I didn't want to say. Technically, I had never lied to him, well, except for the little fib I'd just told about who'd messed with his wreath.
But that was only to protect my sister, so it didn't really count, not if I took the blame. Or at least, that's what I kept telling myself as Cole studied my face the way Santa might study his naughty-and-nice lists on Christmas Eve.
I gave a resigned sigh. "Okay, I've been living there for a while now."
"How long?"
I almost winced. "Since mid-November."
His face registered a flicker of surprise. "You're kidding."
Silently, I shook my head and braced myself for the fireworks.
But they never came. Instead, he moved closer to ask, "And what about yourownplace?"
With him standing so near, I could hardly think. But I didn't back away because, well, I didn't want to. "My own place?"
"The bungalow you share with your sister – are you livingthere, too?"
"Oh. That." I shook my head. "Not right now. Actually, we're renting it out."
"Why?"
He was so achingly close that I had to crane my neck to stare up at him. "Aside from the fact that we're livinghere?"
"Yeah. Aside from that."
Under his piercing gaze, I wanted to run for the hills or, barring that, to summon up a pretty lie – something about us needing a change of pace or liking our aunt's place so much that we were glad to give up our own house for a while.
But none of this was true, especially as far as Harper was concerned. She hated having strangers in our home, which was part of the reason she'd been acting so squirrely lately.
But this wasn't about Harper. It was about me and Cole. If only I'd been more straight-forward from the beginning, I wouldn't be in this current predicament at all.
Yup. It was definitely time to come clean.
I took a deep, steadying breath and forced myself to say, "Well, if you want the truth, it's because our own house needed repairs, and I didn't have the money." Heat flooded my face, but I forced myself to continue. "That's where the rent's going – to pay for the work that's already been done."
At the admission, I should've felt relieved. Instead, I felt like a loseranda fool. After all, the repairs would've been mostly within my budget if only someone – yeah,me– hadn't quit her job before finding a new one.
Just eight days ago, Cole had laughed at Mister Grampkin for finding himself in a similar pickle. Now, I could only imagine what he thought ofme.
I tried not to squirm as I awaited Cole's reaction.What would it be?Laughter? Scorn? Contempt? Or were scorn and contempt the same thing?
My stomach roiled as my thoughts churned with growing dread, but all I received was a puzzled frown, as if he'd just added two plus two and come up with five.
What on Earth was he thinking?
Chapter 24
Cole
Lexie was hurting for money?If so, this was news tome. "So you're what? House sitting?"
She shook her head. "No. I mean, yeah, we're watching the house, but mostly we're watching the cats."
I'd seen some of them while returning the sign. "You mean the kittens."
