His Friends, Her Friends, His Mother, All Lied To Her Face Chapter 01

His Friends, Her Friends, His Mother, All Lied To Her Face Chapter 01

My boyfriend’s mother had dementia, and whenever she had one of her episodes, I was the only person she recognized.

When she clung to my hand again, Ryan Mercer looked torn.

“Claire, I already bought the amusement park tickets.”

“Guess that brat Tyler lucked out this time.”

I glanced at her fingers locked around mine and sighed.

Every time Ryan and I had a date planned, his mother would have another episode. So our friends and family took turns going with him instead of me.

My best friend went with him to watch the sunrise from a mountain overlook.

His younger brother went to Disney with him.

His closest friend joined him for a hiking and camping trip outside the city.

Today, by accident, I found a group chat on his mother’s phone.

It was called “Team Maya.”

Maya Collins was Ryan’s ex-girlfriend.

The newest messages were from Ryan.

Ryan: [Maya’s doing much better lately.]

Ryan: [Mom, thanks for pretending to be sick and keeping Claire occupied.]

Ryan’s mother replied: [Just focus on Maya. I’ve got things covered here.]

Then she tagged everyone in the chat.

Ryan’s mother: [Be careful. Don’t blow our cover.]

One after another, familiar contacts sent the same reply: [Got it.]

My hands shook as I set the phone down. A tear splashed onto the screen, reflecting the pain on my face.

After five years together, every date that should have been mine had gone to another woman. The bitter irony was that everyone knew except me.

***

“Claire, are the spiced apple hand pies ready?”

At the sound of Ryan’s mother’s voice, I slowly looked up.

Whenever she had an episode, the only thing she ever did was insist that I make different homemade treats—strawberry cream puffs in the spring and chilled lemon bars in the summer.

None of them was especially difficult, but they took hours, and she always asked for them right when Ryan and I were supposed to leave.

I had always thought she simply wanted company. Now I understood that she had been deliberately stalling me.

I met her eyes and set down what I was holding.

“I’m not making them.”

Ryan’s mother frowned at once.

“You promised Ryan you’d take good care of me.”

I held her gaze.

“You remember who Ryan is now?”

Her displeased expression froze, and panic flickered through her eyes.

“I-I just remembered. My condition seems to be getting better lately.”

I watched her in silence.

The front door opened, and Ryan’s younger brother, Tyler Mercer, walked in.

Ryan’s mother blurted, “Weren’t you at the amusement park with your brother? Why are you back so soon?”

Tyler glanced at me instinctively, then scratched the back of his head.

“Uh… it was packed, and the lines were endless.”

“I got tired, so I left after walking around for a while.”

I stared at him. Just last week, he had hugged the limited-edition sneakers I’d given him and said the luckiest thing that had ever happened to him was that he was about to get a sister-in-law like me.

Now he could lie for his brother and another woman without even blinking.

The whole performance was clumsy and ridiculous, yet I had believed it for so long.

I murmured a flat, “Okay,” and they both relaxed at once.

“I’m heading home.”

Without waiting for an answer, I picked up my bag and left.

Back at the place Ryan and I had bought for after the wedding, I started packing my suitcase. Then I submitted a transfer request to one of my company’s branch offices.

Ryan didn’t come home until after dark. He walked in smiling.

“Claire, the amusement park was packed today.”

“Tyler’s such a coward. He clung to me through the entire roller coaster ride. You should’ve seen him.”

He sounded exasperated, but warmth filled his eyes.

I could picture the scene perfectly. The only difference was that Tyler hadn’t been the one clinging to him. Maya had.

Ryan walked toward me and held out a hair clip.

“Here. I got this at the park for you.”

A long brown hair was caught in it. I didn’t take it.

I suddenly remembered the Disney plush he had brought home last time. There had been a lipstick mark on it too.

When I asked him about it, he claimed Elsa had kissed it at a character meet-and-greet and said the mark made it special.

Only now did I understand the truth: everything he brought home for me was something Maya had already used.

When I still didn’t reach for the clip, irritation crept into Ryan’s expression.

“What’s wrong with you today?”

“Are you upset because I didn’t take you? You know Mom can’t be left alone, and you’re the only person she recognizes…”

He stepped closer and pressed the clip into my palm. A wave of heavy perfume hit me.

“Ryan.”

I cut him off.

“Tyler doesn’t wear perfume, and his hair isn’t this long.”

Ryan’s face froze for a second before darkening.

“What are you implying?”

“You think I’m lying to you?”

I stood and tossed the clip onto the coffee table.

“I’m not guessing. I saw the group chat.”

“I saw ‘Team Maya,’ the group chat I was deliberately excluded from, where your mother pretends to be sick to keep me occupied so you can go on dates with Maya.”