One of Us Is Back (One of Us Is Lying, #3)

by Karen M. McManus

The one that says, I’m not sorry. The one that says, What would I do differently? I wouldn’t get caught.

Time for a New Game, Bayview

My girl’s back in town for the next two months, so I guess I am, in fact, living the dream.

And then all of a sudden—we were kissing. It was something I hadn’t realized I wanted until it was happening, and then it was… Well, not perfect. Like Cooper says, there’s no such thing. But it was pretty great.

“Just like who you like,”

I don’t understand how you can look at someone who’s obviously hurting and think, You know what this person needs? More time in their own head.

“The biggest unsolved mystery in Bayview is why that guy still has a job,”

“No,” I say as Jake’s head swings in our direction. This was bound to happen eventually, wasn’t it? I can’t spend my life skulking around the edges of a safe zone to avoid Jake’s wrath; I did enough of that when we were dating.

The third woman takes a long swig of her drink before saying, “Go ahead and hit him, Nate. I’ll tell everyone it was self-defense.”

“Do you have any idea how much I love you?” he asks roughly. “I do,” she says, her voice softening. “I love you too.”

“I’m not trying to stop you,” Mom says, stepping out of my way. I thud down the stairs, shoulders tensing when she calls after me, “All I was going to say is—” Why do you always need to have the last word? I think as I tug open the front door, waving toward Luis’s headlights. You and Jake both. “—if it’s something, then she’s a lucky girl,” Mom finishes, and I’m so caught off guard that I nearly catch my fingers in the door when I close it.

Luis shoots her a look that’s half admiration, half alarm. “Sometimes I don’t know whether to be turned on or terrified by you,” he says. Maeve smiles serenely. “Both is fine.”

“Lucinda will you see now.

It doesn’t matter how many times she smiles at me like that; I still forget how to breathe for at least a few seconds.

“It’s always the husband.”

“I don’t have a ring or anything, because I know we still have a ways to go before that makes sense, and also, you don’t like diamonds—” “They’re not sustainable,” she says breathlessly.

“I’m going to marry you, Bronwyn Rojas. Just so you know.” She puts her hands on either side of my face and pulls me close enough to kiss. But first, she says, “Oh, I know.”