Free Tell Me No Lies by Rachel Branton

fiasco.
    “Look, I know you were planning on going to your sister’s, but I have a favor to ask.” His words came so hesitantly that I came out from under the blanket and sat up. I was still dressed in my sweats from the night before. In fact, I hadn’t even brought pajamas. My backpack wasn’t very big, and I’d figured Lily could lend me a pair when I got to her place.
    Gage looked like he’d been up for hours. His face was freshly shaved, his hair combed back, and he had on a red button-up shirt that was snug across the chest. Though he was standing near the edge of the bed, I could smell soap and aftershave.
    “What favor?” Then I had a thought. “I can’t give you more money.”
    “It’s not about the money,” he grated.
    “Excuse me. And I thought you were a morning person.”
    He clenched his jaw briefly before forcing out, “I’m sorry. It’s just that my sister wants to meet you.”
    “What?”
    “My sister wants to meet you,” he repeated. “She keeps calling and calling and calling. She’s rather persistent.”
    “Didn’t you tell her it’s all fake?”
    “What if the attorney asks her? We don’t know what we’re really up against legally at this point, do we? Besides, Mia wouldn’t approve of faking a marriage.”
    “She’s not the only one.” Lily would be worse than upset if I told her.
    “So I thought we’d go to Mia’s place in Kingman and stay a night. Let her see you. She has plenty of room, and her house is in a nice area. Peaceful. You’ll like it. Then I could take you to Lily’s in Phoenix, or get you a ride. I was able to take a few personal days off work, but I’ll have to get back soon. Mia won’t know we’re not going to Flagstaff together. She doesn’t visit me there. I usually go see her.” He rubbed his chin, and I wondered if he was thinking about his lost beard. “Sorry about the inconvenience. It would have been better if Mia hadn’t heard about this.”
    “Uh, that might be my fault. Remember those ladies at the restaurant? Well, they didn’t want my autograph.”
    “No kidding.”
    “They were from Kingman. They recognized you.”
    His brow furrowed. “What’d they say?”
    Oh, no. I wasn’t going into that whole poker thing. If he didn’t know the exact rumor going around, I wasn’t going to be the one to enlightened him. “Nothing important, but I did mention we were getting married.”
    He stared at me as if trying to read my mind, and I shifted uncomfortably.
    “Sorry. I bet if you hadn’t shaved for the wedding, they wouldn’t have recognized you.”
    “Probably not. My face is rather famous in Kingman.”
    “Why?”
    “I told you already. I served time.”
    “You weren’t joking?”
    He sighed, and the sadness in his expression hurt my heart. “Believe me, it’s not something I’d ever joke about. I’ve worked hard to put that all behind me, but some people won’t let it go.”
    I was beginning to suspect he’d accidentally hurt someone in self-defense, and I wondered if he’d ever trust me enough to confide the details. Normally my mouth would ignore my brain and demand the whole story, but he was saved because I wasn’t yet fully awake.
    “Please come to my sister’s with me,” he said. “We won’t see anyone else. I don’t have any friends there.”
    “Okay.”
    He blinked at me. “Okay?”
    “Yeah. I mean, why not. You did me a favor, so I’ll do you one. I haven’t talked to Lily yet, anyway. She doesn’t know anything except what my mother may have told her.” I reached over to the night stand and retrieved my phone, pressing the on button. “I’m sure she’s called and e-mailed, and texted, and Facebooked, and probably even Twittered.”
    “All that?”
    “She’s bored since she had to quit her job. Yep, I have thirty-five missed calls. More than half are probably from her.” My mother, Julian, Sadie, and even my father would make up the remainder.
    “I see.” There was a smile on his