Page 61 of The Roommate Problem
Lilly pushed her glasses back on her nose and gave Mo a pointed look. One Mo chose to ignore. If only her friends knew just how involved she was in Agatha’s matters. A part of her wished she could tell them, unload at least one of the secrets burdening her down. But she’d promised Agatha she wouldn’t. Dammit. Hiding Agatha’s surgery from August, hiding her relationship with August from Agatha, hiding all of it from her friends…
It was enough to give her an ulcer.
She didn’t want an ulcer. You weren’t supposed to eat fatty foods with an ulcer, and those were her favorite kinds of foods.
At least part of it would be over soon. Agatha’s surgery was next week, and the woman had promised Mo she would tell August all about it once everything was finished. All August knew was his grandmother was taking a few days off to go on a road trip with some friends from her living complex. At least, that’s what he told her his grandmother had said. Good thing Agatha was a better liar than Mo, and good thing August had shared that in the dark of night so he couldn’t see her face burning with guilt.
It’s not my secret to share.
She had to keep reminding herself of that when the words wanted to burst forth from her lips. Every time they were intimate or August shared a piece of himself with her, it cut a little deeper, the tiny whisper saying that by holding on to this secret, she might be doing something wrong. Even though she had promised and Mo always kept her word, it still felt…deceitful to be hiding something so big from the man she was coming to care deeply for.
“Temporary roommate,” she reminded Lilly. “And I know what I’m doing. Trust me.”
Her friends looked at each other and started to chuckle.
“What?”
At her question, they just laughed harder, until Pru was bent over and Lilly was wiping tears from her eyes. At least she’d gotten them to laugh. Better than the apprehensive glances they’d been giving her the past ten minutes. But she’d like to be let in on the joke, too.
“What is so funny?”
“Oh, sweetie,” Lilly said, working to compose herself. “Whenever you say ‘trust me,’ we know to do the exact opposite.”
“Hey!” She sat back in her seat with a huff, sending her friends a disgruntled frown. Even if what they said was true, it didn’t mean she had to agree with them.
“It’s true,” Pru agreed with a nod. “Remember the time we went hiking, took the wrong trail head, and got lost? Then you said, ‘Trust me, I can get us out of here,’ and we spent another hour and a half climbing all over the damn mountain?”
“We found our way back.” They had. “Eventually.”
Lilly gave a delicate snort. “Only because a ranger came by and escorted us back down to the trail.”
“We made it home. I’m still calling it a win.” She lifted a finger as her memory pinged. “And the ranger had a cute butt, so that’s a double win.”
Lilly shook her head. “What about the time you convinced us to try out your friend’s new food truck and we all got food poisoning?”
“That wasn’t Noah’s fault.”
“He was using raw milk in his iced coffees, Mo,” Pru pointed out. “It’s why he got shut down. It’s dangerous and illegal.”
Okay, so maybe that had been his fault, but she hadn’t known that at the time. She’d just wanted to support a friend.
“We love you, sweetie, but you tend to always think the best of everything and everyone.” Lilly reached out to squeeze her hand. “Not everyone can see the silver lining like you can. Some people aren’t as…easily convinced. Just be careful with this plan and maybe loop August in before you and Agatha sign anything, okay?”
But if she looped him in, he’d find a way to poke a hole in it. The loveable grump would dump his pessimism all over her and Agatha’s bright, shiny plan. Besides, it was still Agatha’s business. If she wanted to take out a loan—with Mo as a co-signer—she had every right to. She didn’t need to ask her grandson’s permission, and Mo didn’t have to ask her roommate/lover’s permission, either.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” she said to appease her friends. She grabbed a pen and one of the vendor contract agreements for their upcoming wedding. “Now, don’t we have a business to run or something?”
“Wow.” Pru gave Lilly a sly grin. “Hell must have frozen over if Mo wants to drop personal issues and get back to work.”
Mo pointed her pen at Pru. “You are not as funny as you think, Prudence Jamison.”
“I’m hilarious,” she responded. “Just ask my toddlers.”
“They laugh at fart noises. I’m not sure they’re the best judges of comedy.”
“Okay, break is over,” Lilly said, moving back toward her desk. “Mo is right—we have a lot of work to attend to.”
Pru playfully stuck her tongue out at Mo, which she maturely returned, smiling as her friend went back to her desk. As meddlesome as her friends could be, it was wonderful how much they cared. Mo felt lucky to know these two women, to be loved and supported by them. And while their advice might be given with the best of intentions, they didn’t know the whole story.
And whose fault is that?
Hers.
Her gut gurgled, acid churning away at the lining. Or it could be all the secrets. Could guilt eat stomach lining?
She pushed down the panic causing her heart to race. It was fine; things were fine. Everything would work out in the end, because it had to. The loan would go through. Agatha would find a nice plot of land for August to grow his flowers. They’d both stay in Denver. Agatha would make it through surgery just fine, and August would never have to know Mo had known about it ahead of time.
Things would be okay.
They had to be.
