Cami's smile faded to nothing. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," I said. "I mean, I would know, right?"
The truth was, I'd talked to Brody only one time since his sudden departure. It was the conversation we'd had late last night. I'd hung up on him, and with good reason, too.
On the front porch, Cami murmured, "Oh, crap." She bit her lip. "Gosh, I'm so sorry." Slowly, she turned and gave the town car a long, worried look. "What should I do?"
By now, I was so confused, I could hardly think. "For starters, you could tell me what's going on."
And so she did, right there on the front porch while the town car lingered in the driveway.
Apparently, some sort of courier had shown up at her parent's house early this morning and had asked for Cami by name.
When she came to the door, the messenger – an older guy in a business suit – had informed her that she was the recipient of an all-expense paid vacation here in Bayside. And then, he'd given her a packet of pre-paid reservations, along with a phone number to call for more information.
The number, as she'd learned after calling it, was to Brody's new cell phone. On the phone, he'd explained that he'd messed up in some sort of way and wanted to make it up to me with a nice surprise.
The surprise, apparently, was a local spa vacation with my best friend.
As part of that surprise, Brody had even sent a car and driver to transport Cami from her parent's place to where I was staying at the crew house.
In theory, after I packed a suitcase of my own, the same town car would carry both of us to the hotel.
According to the schedule provided by the courier, the car and driver would be returning to Bayside next Saturday to drive Cami back to her parent's place.
As I listened to all of this, tears pricked at my eyes. The whole thing was so incredibly thoughtful – or at least it would've been thoughtful if only I didn't know the ugly truth.
Brody was a snake, through and through. Even worse, he was a dangerous snake, considering that he'd been fooling me from the beginning – lying straight to my face, over and over, even as I'd been falling hard for the guy I thought I knew.
I'd been such an idiot.
And now my troubles were impacting Cami, too. After a brief discussion, she and I sent the town car on its way and retreated into the crew house. As I carried in her suitcase, I said, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
I set down her suitcase and shut the door behind us. "If you didn't think we were staying here, why'd you bring your suitcase to the front door?"
"Oh, that?" She gave a weak laugh. "It was for dramatic effect. You know, to put you in the vacationy mood."
Funny, it actually had, but not because of any hotel or spa plans. It was because I'd been so thrilled to see her.
I was still thrilled. But now I felt slightly ashamed about how she'd gotten here in the first place.
I didn't want to be ungrateful to anyone, not even to Brody.
Did that make me a sap?
Probably.
And yet, if things had been even slightly different, his gesture would've melted my heart.
But not now.
Now, all I felt was despair. And I hated that Cami had been caught up in the middle. I gave her a concerned look. "Are you disappointed?"
She sank down onto the living room sofa. "About what?"
I claimed the sofa's opposite end. "Oh, come on. You know. That we're just staying here."
Together, Cami and I had agreed on this revised plan because neither one of us had felt right about taking something so extravagant from Brody when my relationship with him was decidedly over.
But for Cami's sake, I still felt guilty for the bait-and-switch. I glanced around. "I mean, this is no luxury hotel."
"Forget the hotel," she said. "You were the main attraction."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "Because you really do look disappointed."
"Of course I'm disappointed," she said. "But not because of the spa or whatever."
"Oh. Then what is it?"
She sighed. "I'm disappointed because I actually believed him. He sounded so sincere. And I was so happy for you – for both of you, actually."
I knew the feeling. There was a time, and it wasn't too awful long ago, that I'd been happy, too.
With a wistful smile, Cami continued. "It was all so thoughtful. Or at least, I thought it was. And in the car, all the way down here, I kept thinking how lucky you were to find that special someone, you know?"
I did know. Until a couple of days ago, I'd been feeling pretty lucky myself. Whatever Brody and I had, it had seemed so achingly real.
But now I knew better. The whole thing was built on a foundation of lies.
It really was depressing.
On the couch, Cami gave me a hopeful look. "Are you sure you're not over-reacting, at least a little?"
I stiffened. "What?"
"I just mean, I know he bolted without telling you and all, but —"
"That's not it."
She hesitated. "What do you mean?"
The last time I'd talked to Cami, I'd been angry about Brody leaving so suddenly with no warning, and also for avoiding my phone calls after the fact.
But all of this was nothing compared to what I'd learned from my cousin. I'd been planning to call Cami later on tonight to give her the full story. I would've called her even sooner except I'd been too busy crying.
Now, I saw no reason to put it off.
But where to begin? Finally, I settled on, "See, the thing is, Brody's been lying to me all along."
Chapter 53
Arden
When I finished talking, Cami stared in obvious disbelief. "He didn't."
With a bitter laugh, I replied, "Oh, but he did."
In spite of everything I'd been led to believe, Brody had purchased the house under less than honorable circumstances. And, as if that weren't bad enough, he'd known all along about my connection to the place.
He'd known. And he hadn't cared.
Or worse, he'd cared only enough to buy the house out from under me as some sort of twisted revenge for what had happened back in high school.
Either way, he'd been lying to me from the start. And he was still lying to me now.
Cami frowned. "But are you sure?"
"Of course I’m sure."
This should've been obvious. After all, I'd just spent the last hour telling her everything I'd learned from Jason when he'd stopped by just last night.
Turns out, selling the house hadn't been Jason's idea at all. Instead, he'd been forced to sell when a prospective buyer had started making trouble with the city.
On the couch, Cami was saying, "But you can't be totally sure. I mean, Jason has lied to you before, right?"
I knew what she was getting at. "You mean about the repairs? Yeah, I know. But this time it's different."
On the couch, Cami still looked unconvinced. "How so?"
"Because this time, there's paperwork to prove it."
"Paperwork?" She leaned forward. "Did you see it with your own eyes? Because I'm just saying, maybe Jason's lying about that, too."
I had to give Cami credit. She was working awfully hard to come up with a happy ending to this story – an ending that didn't involve Brody being a total lying ass-hat.
Sadly, I could actually relate.
I'd gone through the same process last night when Jason had started weaving his tale of woe. I'd flat-out refused to believe him – until he'd gone out to his car and returned with proof. And plenty of it.
"Wait here," I told Cami as I got to my feet.
I returned a minute later with a big stack of papers. With a sound of disgust, I tossed them onto the sofa, where I'd been sitting.
As I sank down onto the nearby armchair, I gestured toward the scattered paperwork. "Go ahead. Pick one. See for yourself."
With obvious concern, Cami picked up a random sheet of paper and asked, "So, what ar
e these, anyway?"
"Letters from the city," I said. "And from Brody's lawyer. And a few fines. And notices. And all kinds of stuff. None of it's good."
And that was putting it mildly. Together, all of those documents told the full story of what I'd already explained to Cami.
When it came to the house, Jason had been backed into a corner. If he didn't get the property up to code within sixty days, the house would be condemned, which meant that it would surely be torn down – probably sooner rather than later.
The whole thing sounded like a total nightmare.
Cami studied the sheet of paper in her hand. "Three thousand dollars?"
I nodded. "And that's just one of the fines. There's a whole bunch of them."
She looked up. "So your cousin had to pay all of these?"
"Sure," I said. "Unless he made the repairs – or sold it to someone who would."
"So what are you saying?" she asked. "He sold it to avoid the fines?"
I nodded again. "He felt like he had to. Whether it was fines or repairs, there's no way he could've paid all of them." I paused. "Or should I say there's no way I could've paid all of them."
And yet, it would've been nice to have the chance to try.
I was still miffed at Jason for not telling me what had been going on. He'd claimed that he hadn't wanted to worry me during my final semester of college. But even now, I was finding this hard to believe.
Probably, Jason had been too afraid to admit that he'd let the place fall to pieces around him. And then, he'd been afraid of Brody.
That was a story in and of itself.
Cami's eyebrows furrowed. "So basically, your cousin was forced to sell?"
"Right." I'd explained all of this to Cami already in painful detail. But from the look on her face, it had taken the paperwork to truly drive the point home.
It had been the same way with me.
But there was one particular document that really broke my heart. I stood from the chair and reached toward the pile of papers. I began rummaging through it until I found the thing I was looking for.
It didn't take long for me to locate it, probably because in a fit of anger last night, I'd actually wadded it up and hurled it against the wall.
Oh sure, I'd tried to straighten it out afterward, because the document wasn't officially mine. But I'd done a sorry job of it, which meant that it stuck out like a sore thumb.
I handed it to Cami and waited in silence for her to read it.
The document was a personal letter from Jason to Brody, where Jason had practically begged Brody to buy only half of the house, meaning Jason's half, which would've left my half intact.
In the letter, Jason had confessed that his younger cousin – meaning me, of course – secretly owned half of the property and was, in Jason's owns words, "emotionally attached to the place."
In that same letter, Jason had gone into an awkward amount of detail on how I'd been working two jobs to keep up with the payments and how I'd lived there with my grandparents back in high school.
And on and on.
The letter was five pages long and pretty darn embarrassing, even if it was all true.
Embarrassing or not, I had to give Jason at least some credit for trying. Of course, his idea was totally impractical. I mean, why would Brody – or any other investor – be willing to buy only half of a house?
It didn't help that the secret owner – again, meaning me – appeared nowhere on the deed or in any other legal document related to the property.
And it especially didn't help that buyer – meaning Brody – totally hated me at the time of the transaction.
This was beyond obvious by the way Brody had responded to Jason's letter. He'd returned it with only a handwritten note, scrawled across the bottom of the letter's first page.
The note said, and I quote, "Not my problem."
When Cami finished reading the letter, she flipped back to the beginning and gave it a long, perplexed look. Finally, she looked up. "Not my problem? What does that mean?"
"It means he's a jerk, that's what."
"Yeah, but that was months ago, before you two were together." With a hopeful smile, she added, "I'm sure he would've responded differently now."
It was such a nice thought. But I couldn't quite agree. And that wasn't even the point. I told Cami, "This isn't about the house."
She gave me a dubious look. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," I said. "Look, yes, I would still love to buy it. In fact, I told Brody so on the phone." Under my breath, I added, "Except I wasn't so nice about it, I guess."
Cami asked, "So what is it about?"
"It's about him lying to me." I blinked away sudden tears. "Look, I get that he didn't want to share ownership, especially when I had nothing to offer. But what I don't get is why he never told me the truth, not even after we got so close."
Cami paused as if thinking. "Well…Maybe he was embarrassed." She gave the letter another quick glance. "I mean, he does come across as a cold S.O.B."
"Yeah, but he still could've told me. Given our history, I would've understood."
"But maybe he didn't know that."
"Well, he should've," I said. "And even if he didn't, why make a point to keep lying to me?"
"Well…" Cami bit her lip. "Maybe he didn't want to lose you."
I made a sound of frustration. "Why are you sticking up for him?"
"I don’t mean to," she said. "I'm just saying, maybe he never got up the nerve to tell you the truth."
At this, I had to laugh. It wasn't a happy sound. "Trust me," I said. "If there's one thing Brody has it's nerve. And plenty of it."
"Yeah, but he's also crazy about you."
"Oh, please," I said. "He can't be."
"Sure he can." Her tone grew wistful. "And love makes you do funny things."
"Love?" With a choked sob, I said, "He doesn't love me. Cripes, he probably doesn't even like me."
"Oh come on," she said. "That's not true. If it were, I wouldn't be sitting here right now."
I saw what she meant. And if things were just a little bit different, I might've seen it that way, too. But obviously, Cami still wasn't getting it.
Desperately, I tried to explain. "Do you have any idea how many times he lied to me? And that's not all either."
She gave me a wary look. "There's more?"
"Oh yeah," I said. "Get this. Jason is banned from the house."
Cami shook her head. "Banned? What do you mean?"
"I mean," I said, "if he comes anywhere near it, or even talks about it, it'll cost him, bigtime." I pointed to the scattered paperwork. "Do you know, he took a huge risk in showing me those?"
Cami glanced down at the documents. "Sorry, I'm not following."
"It was part of the deal," I said. "Apparently, he signed some sort of non-disclosure agreement, where he can't talk about the place, not even to me."
Cami frowned. "Is that even legal?"
"I don't know," I said. "But it's legal enough to make Jason act all funny about it. Do you know, I practically had to wrestle those documents away from him last night?"
"Really?"
"Oh yeah," I said. "I had to beg over and over for the chance to go through them on my own. And he only agreed to that after I assured him that Brody was on the other side of the country."
I gave the paperwork another glance. "Jason's picking them up later on tonight. And get this. I had to swear up and down that I wouldn't make a copy of anything either."
Cami's brow wrinkled. "Well, that's weird."
"I know," I said. "But it's not Jason's fault. You should see him. He's terrified. He was even afraid to stop by, or call me or anything. In fact, he only did stop by in the end, because I was the only one around."
On the couch, Cami was looking more concerned with every passing moment.
I waited, wondering what she'd say next. And when she said nothing, I asked, "So…what are you thinking?"
She wi
nced. "I'm almost afraid to tell you."
"Why?"
"Because you're not gonna like it."
I sighed. "Is this where you tell me that I was stupid for trusting Brody in the first place?"
Cami shook her head. "No, I'd never say that. But I will say this. I think you should call him."
My jaw dropped. "What? Why?"
"To give him the chance to explain."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Just hear me out," she said. "He obviously cares for you. And I know you care for him—"
"I do not." I hesitated. "Or at least, I shouldn't." And yet, I did, so very much.
How pathetic was that?
Cami reached out and gave my hand an encouraging squeeze. "Look, I know you're mad, but for your sake, just do it, alright? And if he doesn't come clean, you can say, 'I told you so.'" She smiled. "Deal?"
After a long, tense moment, I felt myself nod. "Okay. Deal."
Chapter 54
Brody
I was standing in the charred remains of the California kitchen when my new cell phone rang. I picked it up and glanced at the display.
It was Arden.
Knowing what the call was about, I answered with a smile. "Hey."
After a long pause, her voice – sounding cold and distant – replied, "Hey."
My smile faded. "Is something wrong?"
"No. Well, maybe." She sighed. "First, I guess I should thank you, huh?"
I frowned. I hadn't expected her to kiss my ass, but I had thought she'd be happier than she was now.
Had something gone wrong with my surprise?
I said, "So, Cami got there alright?"
"Yeah, she got here. And I guess that was really nice of you."
Again with the "guess."
She continued, "So, um, thanks. I guess."
What the hell? In a tight voice, I replied, "You're welcome."
"So, um…have you thought any more about the house?"
I felt my jaw clench. "No."
She sighed, but said nothing in reply.
With growing anger, I asked, "Is there a problem?"
"Well…I guess I'm just wondering if there's anything you want to tell me."
"About what?"
"I don't know. Maybe…" Again, she paused. "About the house?"
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