Chapter 3

Dolores, wide-eyed and clearly shaken, started waving her hands frantically. “I didn’t touch her! She fell on her own!”

Technically, she was right. I had fallen on my own, but I wasn’t about to let her off the hook that easily.

Dolores stayed frozen at the door, too scared to come near me.

Carter was the first to step in, crouching beside me and pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to revive me.

When I didn’t respond, he rolled up his sleeves and made a show of preparing to give me CPR.

I opened one eye and winked at him.

He got the hint and pressed on my chest a couple of times, just for effect.

I gasped dramatically and “woke up” as if I had narrowly avoided some terrible fate.

Dolores’ face changed in an instant. She grabbed Carter’s hand and thanked him profusely.

Carter took the opportunity to say, “She might be fine now, but it’s possible she hit her head. She should probably rest quietly for a few days, just to be safe.”

He emphasized the words "rest quietly."

Dolores nodded quickly. She might have been running her mouth earlier, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew she had pushed me, and now she wanted to avoid making things worse.

She even asked me not to tell Ethan what had happened.

Since I wasn’t really hurt, I agreed.

Our little performance worked, and they finally quieted down for the rest of the day.

But they still didn’t show any signs of leaving.

I had no choice but to wait for Ethan to come home and deal with the situation.