Page 84 of You'll Love it Here

But Lana just has to continue. “I’m here to meet with my clients. What are you doing here?”

Shit. The dread hardens as her eyes sweep over me to the group. Because the clients she’s referring to must be Northern Property Management.

Maybe she won’t recognize the other tenants around me—it’s not like she ever spent time in the building interacting with them. I gesture toward my group and mumble, “Sorry, I’m just in the middle of—”

“Are these the other tenants?” Lana asks.

I will her to shut up. I will her to leave. To be struck by some kind of random indoor lightning that temporarily stuns her.

But it’s too late. All the tenants are looking at us with piqued interest.

It’s like my breath is sticky—like I can’t breathe because all the air is stuck to the walls of my lungs. I will myself to dissolve away from this reality. To stop what I know is going to be... not great.

“We were here for the town hall,” says Carmen, who’s still apparently in the spirit of turning others to our cause. “To keep these Northern Management creeps from tearing the building down.”

Lana snorts. “Mona, are you kidding? I told you, it’s a done deal.” She crosses her arms. “Did you seriously gather all the tenants to harass my clients? I’m not sure we can work together if you’re going to undermine me this way.”

“Wait, what?” I’m already cringing into myself as Jane asks, “You’re in business together?”

Lana’s eyes sharpen, and I see it all before it even happens—I’ve interfered with her business, and now she’s poised to strike where it’ll hurt most. “That’s right. Mona’s been invaluable throughout this entire process. She’s been so wonderful getting the building into sellable condition for me to make all this possible. So I’d appreciate it if you’d leave my clients alone now.”

I watch the realization settle on Jane’s face. Then it spreads to Sami, whose features twist with a sudden, uneasy clarity.

“Mona, what the hell?” Carmen calls. “Did you know the building was going up for sale?”

“I just...” My eyes flick to each of them. I should’ve told them everything sooner, before we got to this point. I thought I could get away with a half-truth. But now, with Lana’s razor-sharp grin daring me to stay silent, I know I’m out of time.

And really, they deserve the whole truth. They always did.

A familiar dread—the same one I felt that first day in the lobbywith the whiteboard—starts to harden in my chest, settling like poured concrete. “Yes, I knew the building was going to be put up for sale.” The world seems to freeze around me as the truth slowly unravels for the group. I feel exposed. A total imbecile. I continue despite all my instincts. “And I helped prepare the property for the sale.”

It’s like a dam bursts, and the outrage comes at me at once.

Sami is the first to react. “All the improvements—that was for the sale?”

“What the fuck?” Jane yells. “That’s twisted.”

“The whole time?” comes from Carmen.

I can do nothing but nod. I can’t defend myself. All their anger is deserved.

Norm won’t even look at me. I think back to the first fire alarm, when I didn’t recognize him.

Even Divorced Dad’s eyes slide away from me to the floor. He shakes his head to himself, puzzled.

“Why would you do that, Mona? Why wouldn’t you at least tell us?” The hurt in Sami’s eyes sinks into my chest like a blade and stays there, a heavy knot of dread. He has that rare gift—seeing the best in people. “It makes no sense.” Sami’s always seen me as someone better than I really am. But I’ve managed to shatter that.

Now he sees the truth.

I have a hard time taking a proper breath. “I’m really sorry. I agreed to help when I... before I knew you.”

“You mean, when you thought we were losers?” Jane nods at me like she’s confirming something she already knew. “But I don’t get what was in it for you.”

My hands shake. I can’t find my voice.

Lana is gracious enough to step in. “Mona and I have been discussing her living arrangements,” she says, then turns to me with a condescending pout, like I’m a misbehaving child. “Though, Mona, I’m not sure my clients at Northern Property Managementwill be thrilled to welcome a new tenant who’s been so publicly critical of their business.”

“A better apartment?” Carmen announces like the town crier. “Well, folks, we’re all hooped by next month because Mona wanted a better apartment.”