Free Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters Page B

about it, the more I wonder if everything she told me about herself was a lie.”
    Why am I the one who has to end up hurting her again and again? “She was going with someone else when she met you. She didn’t want either of you to find out.”
    I hear a small intake of breath. Liana goes, “Did she break it off with this other girl?”
    I tell her the truth. “Yeah. In October.”
    Liana turns slowly and stares at me.
    I can’t look her in the eye. I lower my head. “I’m really sorry.”
    “Why? It’s not your fault.” She looks away.
    No, it’s not. So why do I feel like shit?
    “I was wondering…” Liana lets out a long breath. “I’m trying to pick up some extra hours at work to pay for the engagement ring, since I charged it on my sister’s MasterCard.”
    “Engagement ring?”
    “We bought engagement rings for each other.”
    But Swanee would’ve taken it back after she met me. Right? Right?
    “I went ahead and gave her mine at Christmas, but she wanted to keep hers on layaway until she could pay it off.”
    Liana sounds furious, the way I feel, or felt. I can’t even begin to fathom this depth of deception.
    “Anyway,” she says, “I want my ring back.”
    I don’t blame her.
    “Have you seen a diamond ring in her room? She probably hid it from her parents. Or maybe she flaunted it, if what you say is true.”
    I shoot her a dirty look. Why would she have reason to doubt me? She doesn’t know about my texting her, and she never will.
    “Turn right here,” I say. We pull into the cul-de-sac and I tell Liana to park at the curb behind Genjko’s van. There’s no danger of us blocking him in, since all four of his tires are flat, not to mention he’s still in Hawaii, as far as I know.
    I get out and shut my door, and then head up the sidewalk. Liana’s not behind me. I go back and lean down to the window. She cracks it open an inch. “Are you coming?” I ask.
    “I don’t want to meet her family.”
    “They’re not home. They went to Hawaii.”
    She gives me that same bewildered look Mom did.
    “Hang on.” I walk to the porch and ring the doorbell. A minute passes and no one answers. I signal to Liana to come.
    She seems reluctant to approach the house. I find the key under the frog and open the door. It’s cold inside. Freezing. Maybe I should’ve turned up the thermostat the last time I was here.
    Liana stands outside, peering in through the doorway.
    “It’s not haunted,” I say. But my eyes stray to the urn of ashes and I wonder.
    Liana finally steps inside so I can close the door. Her eyes dart around. “Huh,” she says. “It’s definitely not what I expected.”
    That makes sense. If Swanee said she lived in Greenwood Village, Liana would expect a mansion.
    “She said her parents were loaded—like country-club types. Which is one reason she couldn’t come out to them. Their reputations, you know?”
    That makes me laugh out loud. “Asher fixes foreign cars, and Jewell works part-time as a caretaker for a man with Alzheimer’s.”
    Liana’s big eyes narrow.
    “Do you want to see her room?”
    Liana shrugs one shoulder. “I guess so. It’d be nice to find that ring so I don’t have to work my butt off for the rest of my life.”
    On the way down the hall, I ask, “Where do you work?”
    “Victoria’s Secret.”
    A visual of her in a skimpy bra and a thong flashes through my mind, and I get this little thrill. Feeling ashamed, I push it down. Swanee owned a ton of provocative underwear. Did Liana use her employee discount to buy it all for her?
    I never thought I’d be back here, and I wish I weren’t. But I suppose after so many lies, Liana deserves as much truth as Swanee’s room will reveal. “It’s here.” I point to the closed door.
    She hesitates the way I did, maybe hoping this is all a dream and Swan will emerge. Liana clasps the handle and turns it slowly. Inside, emptiness. She enters, while I sit cross-legged just outside the threshold.
    I