We. I needed to intervene before they made themselves a dainty little picnic and skipped toward sandy shores and blue skies as if we were in the middle of a vomit-inducing romantic comedy. “Oh, well, actually I was hoping you’d start working on the garage.”
“We’re building a proper storage room for Maya,” Ash explained, as if Lily needed to know. She didn’t, not when I’d make sure she wouldn’t be sticking around town long enough to see its completion. “And we’re adding a shower.”
“Can I help?” she said, her voice eager and bubbly, like an annoying puppy bounding around, looking for attention. “I used to when you worked on the kitchens.”
He opened his mouth to say something but when he looked at her, he frowned. He crossed his arms, a sly smile spreading over his face. “Only if you don’t run a paint roller over my back again.”
Lily stared at him, her lips forming a perfect O in surprise. “You remember that?”
“It’s real? It happened?”
“Yes! I couldn’t help it. You’d taken your shirt off. It was the perfect—”
“Blank canvas,” they said at the same time. A beat passed before they burst out laughing, both of them babbling how exciting it was he’d remembered something new, something so recent, because the paint-meets-naked-back incident had been only a few months ago. I stared at him. His anger at me from the night before had long melted away, his happiness fully restored. By her.
“I’d love your help.” Ash was beaming now. “We can get the supplies and—”
“You shouldn’t trouble yourself with that stuff, Lily,” I said, needing to remind them of my existence.
“Oh, no, it’s no trouble,” she said, smiling. “I’d be happy to help, make sure he doesn’t do too much, too soon. He told me about the concussion. I know he has to be careful.”
“Great, I’ll show you the plans.” Ash turned to her, the bubble of intimacy enveloping them again. I had to get out of there before I threw something. As I muttered about seeing them later and left the kitchen, the air behind me shifted. The relief they felt over my departure was palpable and so thick, I could have served them a slice of it for breakfast. They didn’t want me here. My heart pinched as I pretended to go upstairs before tiptoeing back, getting close enough to hear.
“See? There was nothing to worry about,” Ash said. “She’s overprotective, that’s all. I’m sure once you get to know her, you’ll really like her. Anyway, about the garage...”
As their conversation changed to the project and I crept away, I heard a soft ding coming from Lily’s bag in the hallway. I leaned toward the kitchen, but she and Ash were talking about framing and plasterboard, and she hadn’t heard her phone. I bent over and retrieved it, read the message twinkling on the screen from someone called Sam.
How are things? How’s Jack?
I slid my finger across the phone, tut-tutting at Lily’s lack of proper security as the screen lit up with apps. It quickly became clear she and Sam were nothing more than friends, which was a shame because if she’d been seeing someone else, it would’ve helped me. I scrolled up, reading through more of her messages, did a double take when I found one from her boss. He apologized for having to let her go, and in another, told her he’d have to delay paying her two weeks’ severance. A third text was from her landlord, saying she could have an extra week to pay this month’s rent. Lily had replied she’d get the money as quickly as possible, but when the landlord had inquired the day before if a payment was looking likely, Lily had left the message unanswered.
I flicked through her photos, the green-eyed monster inside me surging to epic proportions as I saw picture after picture of Lily and Ash. At the beach, a bar, a movie. At a restaurant, ax-throwing, celebrating his birthday. It seemed wherever they went, whatever they did, there was a picture of the two of them smooshed together, her looking up at him with those fucking puppy eyes. It made me sick to think of them spending all this time together when I was here at the house, fretting over Ash’s well-being. This was her fault. He might have left Newdale, but she’d kept him in Maryland. If it hadn’t been for her, he’d have come home.
Standing in the hallway clutching her cell, it took every ounce of willpower I had to not delete her photos or hurl the thing on the floor and watch it shatter into a hundred satisfying pieces. Fingers trembling, I tucked the device into her bag and went back to the garage, where I sat on my bench, picked up a knife and started cutting into a piece of wood, slicing deeper and deeper. As I worked, I thought about the fact Lily had lost her job. It was a strike against me; she no longer had time constraints forcing her back to Maryland. However, from her boss and landlord’s messages it sounded as if she was broke. A point in my favor, something I could, and would, use. A plan of how to get rid of Lily formed in my mind. Her Newdale vacation wouldn’t last. With what I had in mind she’d be gone within the week.
25
ASH
Before Maya left for her shift at the Cliff’s Head, she came into the living room and hugged me first before giving Lily a hesitant embrace. “It’s so nice to see you happy,” she said to me, and I was glad we’d moved past last night’s argument. Given the circumstances, I hadn’t known what to expect when I’d shown up at the house with Lily. I knew Maya felt awkward about her arrival in town, and although I sympathized, I’d decided she’d just have
