Dare Truth Or Promise by Paula Boock Page B

noticed. Viola is a woman.”
    “You know what I mean, Louie. She was pretending to be a boy for most of the play.”
    “I couldn’t understand what they were saying,” offered Manetta. “I mean, you were good, Louie, but the rest of it was boring.”
    “I didn’t ask you,” Louie said grumpily.
    “Well I had to go, didn’t I? I’m allowed an opinion. I thought it was dumb.”
    “That’s because you’re dumb.”

    “Now, now,” Tony interrupted from the driving seat. “That’s enough. Marietta, I saw you laughing lots of times.”
    “Yeah, I was laughing at Louie in those dorky tights.”
    “Just shut up, will you. You’re pathetic.” Louie kicked her sister’s leg. She wanted to hit her harder, or punch a hole in the car window or something.
    “This is why we couldn’t take anyone else home. You’re both tired and I knew there’d be a fight,” said Susi.
    “What do you mean, ‘anyone?’ It was Willa.”
    “It doesn’t matter who it was,” replied Susi, in her reasonable voice.
    “Like hell,” muttered Louie.
    “Pardon?” Susi had turned around and looked directly at Louie.
    Louie stared back at her angrily. Why did Susi keep pretending? Why did she keep confronting Louie about Willa in snide, sly ways to try and bait her into saying the one thing she didn’t want to hear? She was on the verge of saying
You hate Willa because I love her,
but at the last minute she drew her legs up onto the seat and sank back into the leather. “Nothing,” she answered, looking pointedly out the window.
    “Get your feet off the seat,” ordered Susi, and turned back to the front.
 


13
Willa
    It was almost enough to throw her completely. Keith. Sitting nonchalantly in the bright blue seats, and with him, Kevin from Burger Giant. Kevin was wearing his usual work pants and leather jacket, Keith was in a dark suit and tie. What on earth were they doing there?

    She knew they’d seen her before the play started, scuttling backstage and then up to the lighting box twice. She’d only met Keith’s eyes the once, but his look was so direct, so full, that it was as if all the auditorium noise had died away and he’d stood and said, “Didn’t expect me, did you?” During the interval he held himself self-consciously, aware of her eyes, turning his head slowly round the auditorium with a slight smile on his lips. He didn’t resemble her of course, but his very presence was a reminder of Cathy, an old, painful feeling.
    It worried Willa. She tried to put it out of her mind but it was strange. Back at work, Kevin teased Louie about the play for days, but he never mentioned Keith, and for some reason neither did Willa. Then, one night the following week, Keith turned up at Burger Giant.
    It was late, almost midnight, and he walked straight up to her with the same small smile.
    “Hello.”

    Willa found she couldn’t look back at him straight. She didn’t say anything.
    “Bit of a change from a pub, isn’t it?” He smiled fully at her now, and Willa frowned. He was wearing a suit again, and bright tie.
    “Can I help you?”
    “Cathy’s brother.”
    “I know who you are.”
Stepbrother, actually.

    “Still remember, then, do you?” he asked coolly. “So do I.”
    Willa’s shoulders tightened. “What do you want, Keith?”
    He raised his eyebrows and looked at the board above. “A Coke, and regular french fries.”
    As she filled his order, Kevin appeared. He greeted Keith with a clap on the shoulder and they started talking cars and stereos. Willa followed their conversation, noting that Keith, unlike Kevin, actually knew what he was talking about. She handed his order over the counter.
    “Hey, it’s on the house,” insisted Kevin, putting his hand over the register to stop Willa charging him. “Just tell me about that natty little four wheel drive out there, what type’s that?”
    “Rav 4,” said Willa, when Keith hesitated.
    Kevin turned to her, surprised. “Since when did you