Page 42

I love hyperbole.

Everything makes me literally want to die. If I exercise at all, I’ve run a thousand miles. The last time I wore a pair of high heels, I crushed all the bones in my feet. Basically, I’m very dramatic about any and all things in my life and that will never change.

But, when I say that the last month has been, hands down, the absolute best month of my life? I’m not exaggerating.

Not even a little bit.

I spend my days in the classroom, working with a group of kids I absolutely adore, my weekends with adorable animals, and most evenings with Luke.

My life has never felt so full. Being with Luke feels like someone yanked me out of my life and threw me into a rom-com that turns X-rated when the sun goes down—and sometimes when it’s still up.

Things with Nora have been a little tense since Keisha didn’t sign up for Petunia Lemon, but I’ve still been going to the meetings and pretending to be happy to be there.

I figured it might look pretty suspicious if I left right before an article written by a parent in my classroom came out.

Once the article finally goes live, I’ll exit out of the company.

And hopefully, I won’t be the only one leaving.

Until then though, I keep showing up with a smile on my face and a recorder in my purse, enjoying the spectacular spreads and chatting with the women I’ve come to really enjoy.

Priorities, you know?

Despite the sun shining high in the cloudless, bright blue sky, the cool November air is here to stay.

When I checked the forecast this morning, it predicted snow later this week, so I’m soaking up these final days where the kids will get to run some of their energy off outside instead of having to sit through indoor recess.

I finish off the iced coffee I brought in from home and toss the protein bar wrapper in the trash.

My kids are with Keisha for art, and I have a little over thirty more minutes to get my room set up for the science project we’re working on together.

I unlock the cabinet stuffed to the brim with supplies I’ve collected over the years and pull out the plastic bin labeled “slime.” I know I’ll get at least one angry parent email at the end of this, but the kids love it so much that I don’t even care.

I’m filling up ziplock bags with leaf confetti and glitter when my classroom door slams open and Nora barges in. She startles the crap out of me, and the copper glitter I’m holding flies out of my hands, raining down on me like remnants of the saddest parade ever.

“Emerson!” Her normally pale skin is downright translucent, and panic drips off of her like sweat on a summer day. “Have you checked your email?”

My stomach makes like the Titanic and sinks. I’ve been waiting for this moment for what’s felt like forever so it doesn’t take long to realize what’s going on. The article is live.

And I have to pretend to have no idea.

“No.” I gesture to the glitter piled around my feet. “I was setting up for our science experiment. What’s going on?”

“The Post just published an article about Petunia Lemon.”

“And that’s a bad thing? Isn’t more exposure good for us?”

“It’s not…” She stops and draws in a deep breath. “It’s not a complimentary piece, Emerson. It’s bullshit and completely full of lies. It doesn’t say it straight out, but it practically accuses Petunia Lemon of being a cult!”

“A cult? Why would they say that?” I try to sound shocked, but I’m nowhere near a good enough actress for this. They have matching tattoos, for goodness’ sake! This can’t be the first time she’s heard the accusation.

Thankfully she’s too in her head to notice my empty words and fake surprise.

She paces back and forth in front of my desk, mumbling nonsense as different emotions pass over her face by the second.

In the few minutes she’s been in my room, she’s gone from ghost white, to fire-engine red, and back again.

But even watching her and trying to keep up with her bordering-on-manic ramblings, I still can’t tell if she’s more scared or angry.

“It’s such bullshit, I can’t believe anyone would be dumb enough to fall for it, but Odette already told me she’s thinking of backing out and you know if she goes, Chloe will follow her.

This is all because of Jacqueline’s vindictive, piece of shit ex-husband!

” she snarls, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

Guess I’m going with angry, not scared. “I told her she couldn’t trust him.

He’s still pissed about her leaving him and has been desperate to get her back this entire time.

I don’t blame him for not being able to move on, but not even I thought he’d stoop this low. ”

I’ve been preparing for this article to drop since the first conversation I had with Luke about helping him.

But somehow, in all my preparation, I didn’t even consider what would be said about him.

And, even on the off chance that I had thought about it, being still in love with Jacqueline would’ve never crossed my mind.

I start to cough and I don’t know if I’m choking on air, delusion, or audacity, but either way, I can’t catch my breath.

“Are you okay?” Nora eyes me with concern and hopefully not suspicion.

“Yeah.” I nod and hold up a single finger as my coughing fit dies down. “Sorry, I swallowed down the wrong tube. You think Jacqueline’s ex did this to win her back?”

Just referring to Luke as Jacqueline’s ex makes my stomach turn.

“Isn’t it so demented? Out of all the ways he could go about winning her back, he chooses the most spiteful tactic.” She sits down on one of the kid chairs, but unlike my very plentiful behind, her cute, tiny one isn’t exploding over the sides. “Why men? Am I right?”

“You’re right,” I agree, hoping with everything in me that she’s wrong, and I haven’t just been played by a gorgeous, nerdy, sex genius. “Thank goodness for sisters in skincare.”

“Oh my god! Yes!” She claps and hops out of the chair so fast I almost get whiplash. “I got so distracted, I almost forgot the main reason I came in here. I’m hosting an emergency meeting at my house tonight.”

“Tonight?”

Luke was going to cook dinner and we were going to binge a to-be-determined Bravo show.

“At six.” She nods expectantly, and I realize it doesn’t even cross her mind that I could have other plans.

“I’ve already been in touch with headquarters and they’ve been on the phone with legal.

But I figured it’d be best to get everyone together and make sure we’re on the same page as all of this misinformation starts coming out. ”

Yeah, misinformation .

I’m so sure.

It’s hard to look at her without my lip curling up in disgust. I don’t understand how she can stand in front of me and lie with a straight face. At least I have the decency to feel some shame when I lie to her.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her I can’t go. Now that the article is out, it’d be easy to say no and tell her I need to think about things on my own. That’d be the smart thing to do.

But when have I ever done the smart thing?

“I’ll be there.”

···

The girls are panicking.

When I walk in, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

It’s like they’ve set their hair on fire and nobody knows where the extinguisher is.

Everyone is talking over one another. Some people—Jacqueline and Nora—are yelling while others are literally crying in the corner.

It’s chaos, and if it weren’t for Janet spotting me across the room, I would’ve turned around and left.

“Can you believe this?” Janet’s always perfect nails have been bitten to the quick. “I don’t even know what to think.”

“I know.” I look around the room, half expecting somebody to jump out and confront me. “Did you read it?”

One of the tactics I decided to go with tonight is to ask more questions than I answer. The last thing I need is to get caught in a lie with tensions this high. I’ve never been part of a witch hunt before, but I have a feeling that’s about to change.

She nods almost imperceptibly. “I had to see what they were saying but now I don’t know what to think.”

“What do you mean?” Another question.

Way to stick with the plan, Emerson!

“It’s just…” She glances over her shoulder, and her voice drops so low that I can barely hear her over the noise in the room.

“Nora is telling me it’s all lies, but I’ve seen some of the stuff the article mentions firsthand and if it’s not wrong, then why would they say it’s not true?

I feel like they might be covering their tracks. ”

The seeds of doubt have been planted, and I can’t wait to tell Luke that they’re already sprouting.

“That is weird.” I echo her sentiment but avoid adding my own. My heart feels like it’s going to explode in my chest. I’m more nervous now than when I was getting the dirt to Luke. “I wonder why they’re doing that?”

“Alright, ladies!” Nora shouts from the front of the room, and poor Janet damn near comes out of her skin. “Can everyone please take a seat so we can clear this all up and get back to business as usual?”

I follow the herd deeper into her living room, and the sour taste in my mouth causes my stomach to curdle as I get my first real look at Nora’s place.

From the outside, her house looks cute and unassuming.

It’s not small, but it’s nothing extraordinary.

On the inside, however, it’s a different story.