Chapter Eleven: Growing Lies

After the confrontation which Lily felt she handled just fine, because Christopher stopped looking at her like a stranger, Lily went into the bathroom and stayed there for an unhealthy amount of time. The good thing was that Christopher would not be bothering her.

Actually, he was not bothering her for one of the things Lily had been worried and nervous about; intimacy.

“But how on earth am I supposed to keep up with this impersonation and not get caught?” Lily asked herself in exasperation. She turned on the shower so that the sound of the rushing water would be a distracting noise.

“I am supposed to be doing my job at the Top Taste Wine shop, not out here in a luxurious hotel in Miami, impersonating a dead man’s wife,” Lily said as tears brimmed her eyes. Each time she had to act or pretend to be Ashley Grander, Lily felt herself slipping away and she hated it, because Ashley held too any unpleasant secrets that Lily doubted she would be able to hide away for long.

Lily heard her phone Ashley’s phone actually beep and when she heked she saw that hristopher had sent the oney she requested for He ust be freaking rih to just throw oney around like that Lily said to herself

Then something struck Lily’s mind; she hadn’t spoken to her brother ever since the day she was kidnapped and forced into this life of lies and pretense. Thankfully, Lily had his number in her head, and this was a perfect opportunity to hear his innocent and sweet voice.

Joe picked on the first ring. “Who is this?” Joe asked.

Tears slipped down Lily’s face as she heard Joe’s voice. She would do anything right now to see and hold him. She had only been away from him for a few days now, but it felt like eternity already, and it was torturous to Lily.

“It’s Lily,” Lily answered. She tried not to sound like she was crying, because Joe was such an inquisitive young boy, and he would ask until Lily told him what was wrong with her.

“For real?!” Lily could feel the excitement in his voice and she giggled happily as more tears of joy poured down her cheeks.

“Yes,” Lily said. She knew she had limited time, so she decided to make good use of it. “How is baseball?” She asked.

“It’s great! I have been helping my team win our trainings three times on a row now. Gosh, I wish you could have come and watched me,” Joe rambled on excitedly, and Lily just let it, her heart swelling with so much love and pride for him. “Our coach is saying something about promoting me to the senior team,” he said.

“This soon?” Lily was pleasantly surprised. Joe had only joined the baseball team last season and she had never seen him so dedicated at what he did before, which made her take extra hours at work just to be able to afford the fees, because she would really hate to see Joe’s heart broken, because he could not play baseball.

He was literally the love of her life.

“Yes, because I have been super outstanding of late,” Joe said.

“I am so proud of you, Joe,” Lily said and meant it. She would gladly give her life away for Joe to be happy.

If Don Grander hadn’t threatened to hurt Joe, she might not have accepted to do something as evil as what she was doing now, but at the sound of Joe’s life, she had jumped at it without thinking.

“Thank you, Lily, I cannot wait to see you,” Joe said and Lily knew he missed her terribly too.

“Me too, Joe,” Lily said.

“When are you getting back from your training? Rudney doesn’t know that you were sent for training, and I was wondering why that was,” Joe said and laughed.

Lily hadn’t realized that there would be a loophole when she had told Joe that lie, but it was the only thing she could think of in such a dire situation. 

“He is not really in the know,” Lily told Joe “But I would get in touch with him to explain things to him, being that it was in impromptu decision and all,” Lily added.

“Okay, cool,” Joe said, and that was one of the things that Lily liked about him; he rarely took things seriously, “And I need you to know that he has been helpful and supportive sine you left. He even came to watch me play the other day,” Joe informed Lily.

Lily’s eyes welled up with tears again. She had never seen anyone who cared for her and Joe like Rudney did, and it made Lily grateful for the day she met Rudney and they became fast friends.

“Of course, I will,” Lily said, and after ensuring that Joe was okay, she said, “I would send you some money for upkeep soon,” and ended the call.

Lily meant to call Rudney and talk to him but, she hadn’t yet figured out the perfect lie, because she could not obviously tell him that she went for training; they worked at the same wine shop after all. Then she decided that she would give herself time to think of something convincing to tell Rudney and call him another time.

Lily transferred five thousand dollars to Emily Torres, and another five thousand dollars to Hedge’s account. After doing that successfully, Lily got up and was about to turn off the shower when the phone rang; it was Hedge.

Lily groaned and picked up the call. “I have sent you exactly what you asked for, so why are you calling me?” Lily asked angrily.

“We had a deal, Ashley, and that includes seeing you physically,” Hedge snarled.

“What? I am out of the country for my honeymoon!” Lily said. She had never encountered such an insensitive person before.

“End it and get back to me, otherwise you know what is at stake,” Hedge said and ended the call before Lily could protest.

Lily fell back to her earlier position, dejected.