I pick my way across the yard, my mind churning. I’m sure Jera’s seen the photos of me and Dustin. And based on what she said the other day, she has to be really upset I didn’t listen to her. Squint needs to use the bathroom, so I let him run off in the yard as I enter Jera’s house.
I know something isn’t right the second I enter and see three large suitcases sitting at the base of her staircase. My heart jumps into my throat as I take another step. Jera’s here.
Jera comes running down the stairs. Her hair is up in a scrunchie, a pair of sunglasses on the top of her head, and she’s right, her eyes look like she was on the wrong end of a mugging. The bruising goes all around her eyes and is a deep purple. “Mackenzie, I’ve been calling you. Were you out with Dustin?” Her voice is high pitched.
“Yes. I’m sorry, Jera. I didn’t mean to.”
“You’ve seen the headlines?” Her gaze bounces around the house like she’s a trapped wild animal. “I saw them online and I came right over. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“No, I haven’t seen them. But I heard there are pictures of me and Dustin out there. I’m sorry, Jera. I had no idea someone would photograph us like that.” I wring my hands. I messed up in a big way.
She pulls her phone out of her pocket and shoves it at me. “Look! Look what they are saying about me.”
The online article sported a bold title: Caught in the Act: Jera Davenport’s Steamy Island Getaway with Dustin Sawyer. Further down, the article displayed another bold statement: Is She Seducing Him to Win Her Lawsuit?
Intimate photos of me and Dustin kissing on the beach are splashed all over the article. I stop scrolling, my stomach lurching. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes. Mackenzie, I told you to stay away from him. He’s using you to get me to drop the lawsuit, and the paparazzi got it all wrong. They think it’s me!” She points at her chest, which is blitzed out in a pink and silver sparkly shirt.
I shake my head at her. “No. Dustin isn’t using me. He tore down the fence. He’s moving it, just like you want.” I motion to the back of the house.
Jera stops and stares at me. “He tore it down?”
“Yes. Go look.”
She races past me, and I hear her footsteps and then a scraping sound as her sandals slide to a stop at the patio door. I walk through her house to join her, and I point at the spot where the fence used to be. “See?”
“I can’t believe it. He really tore that eyesore down.” She turns to me, her eyes narrowed. “What’s his plan? Why did he do that?”
My chest tightens. “He did it for me,” I say quietly.
“What do you mean?” She grabs my shoulders.
“I think…I think I’m in love with him,” I blurt out. Tears spring to my eyes.
“What?” Jera shrieks. “You can’t—” She stops talking when she sees my face. “Oh, honey.”
Jera pulls me into a hug, and I sob into her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to, I promise.”
“What happened?”
I open my mouth to tell her, but everything is so messed up I don’t know where to start. Where did I go wrong? I’m not sure how everything happened. Then I remember the window incident and words start pouring out of my mouth.
“I thought I saw something happening over at his house, and I almost fell out of your window, and I dropped my phone, then he came over to help because I was stuck, and then things got super crazy. At first I was desperate and needed his help, but then somewhere along the way it became more than that.”
Jera pulls back and squints at me. “You almost fell out my window?”
“It’s a long story.”
She gives me that older sister look. “I have time.”
I huff and wave my hand. “I thought I saw Dustin dragging a dead body. Turns out it was a CPR mannequin.”
Her mouth pops open but no words come out. Suddenly, she bursts out laughing. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes. I was so sure he was dragging a body around in his back yard that I stretched too far to see and got stuck in your tiny bathroom window.”
Her eyes grow large. “You didn’t.”
“And the worst part? I was only wearing a towel.”
“Mackenzie!”
The look on Jera’s face makes me laugh. “I know. It was very embarrassing. Dustin saw me struggling to get back inside the window, and I couldn’t…it was a nightmare. But he came over and pulled me back inside, even though he thought I was you and you were suing him.”
She stiffens. “Yes, I’m sure he was just being noble. Honey, I hate to break it to you, but he’s playing you. I don’t know what angle he’s trying, but Dustin Sawyer is not the man you think he is.”
I can’t understand why Jera is so adamant about this. “Why do you say that? What motive does he have to fool me? He tore down the whole fence. It’s not that.”
Jera glances out of the patio door to the back yard. She blows out a frustrated breath. “He hasn’t liked me from the start. He acted like he did, but then he set me up. He invited me over to a party and—on purpose—humiliated me in front of everyone there. I don’t know why, but he’s had it out for me since he met me.”
I shake my head. “No, he didn’t humiliate you on purpose. I swear, this whole thing between you two has been a huge misunderstanding.”
“You weren’t there. You didn’t see what he did.”
I look out the patio window and see Squint happily running in the grass, chasing a moth. “What exactly happened?”
“I saw him moving in. That weekend I ran into him at a celebrity hang out and I talked to him. I thought he was cute. He said he was having a Halloween party and invited me to come. I thought we had a connection, you know? We chatted, and I thought this could go somewhere. When I showed up at the party, he’d forgotten to tell me it wasn’t a costume party.” She used air quotes around the word forgotten. “Who holds a party on Halloween and doesn’t make it a costume party? I was so embarrassed, but I told myself it was a mistake. He didn’t mean it.”
I try to hold in my smile. “What costume did you wear?”
“I dressed as Barbie. I mean, it wasn’t that bad, would have been worse had I chose that sexy kitten costume, but I was still embarrassed. But then, at the party, he started talking about celebrities who get plastic surgery. He said it was shallow and vain, and then he pointed at me and said—and I quote—‘Jera hasn’t had any and she looks fine.’”
Jera pressed her lips together and stared at me like that proved Dustin was a horrible person.
“So?”
“So? I’d just had my lips done, and I wasn’t happy with how they turned out. Everyone knew, Mackenzie. Everyone. The whole room busted up laughing.”
“I didn’t know,” I said quietly.
“Well, you don’t read the celebrity gossip. It was all over the news.”
“He didn’t know. I’m sure of it.”
Jera blinked back tears. “And then he tossed wine down my Barbie dress, and I’d had enough humiliation. I left. When he put up that fence, I had them come survey the land, and it was on my property. I knew he’d done that on purpose too. That’s when I slapped him with a lawsuit.”
I take Jera’s hand. “Can you imagine that the whole thing might possibly be one mistake after another? That Dustin didn’t mean to do those things?”
She frowns and brushes her hair over her shoulder. “It’s hard to believe.”
“He didn’t say it wasn’t a costume party, but he didn’t say it was either, did he?”
Jera cocks her head to the side. “Well, no.”
“How could he have guessed you’d assume? And he told me he doesn’t read the celebrity gossip unless he’s in it. And the wine was a pure accident.”
Jera contemplates this for a moment. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve gotten to know him this last week. He is really kindhearted. He’s moving the fence, even though I wouldn’t talk to him about it. He knew it being on your property made you angry, so he’s spending all that money to get it moved. He’s giving you what you want. Only—he thinks he’s giving me what I want.”
Her expression changes as realization dawns on her. “You mean, he still thinks you’re me?”
All the emptiness and pain that I’d pushed away comes rushing back to me. “Yes. I’ve been lying to him this whole time. At first I was just playing my part, but then, things got complicated. I started falling for him. But I didn’t tell him the truth, and now it’s too late.”
Her eyes turn sympathetic. “Are you really in love with him?”
I nod, totally miserable. “Yes.”
She pats my shoulders. “It’s not too late. I have to make a phone call. Let me help you fix this.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Just give me a second.” She leaves the room, and I stare out the patio door, watching Squint. He runs through the grass, still chasing moths as they flutter up into the air. He plays for a while, and I think about what Jera might be able to do to fix my problem. What is she thinking? I don’t know what good she can do. I’ve lied to Dustin. Nothing she can do will fix that.
Squint walks along the cement surrounding one of Jera’s pools. He pants, and I can tell he’s thirsty when he sniffs the pool water.
I slide open the door. “Come here, boy,” I yell. “I have water for you.”
Squint runs to me, and I fill up his water dish. I set it on the floor. When I turn back around Dustin is standing in the doorway. “I couldn’t get a hold of you. Are you done with your phone call?”
Panic seizes me as Jera walks around the corner.
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