Chapter 1
“I don’t believe I shall ever marry; I’m happy as I am, and love my liberty too well to be in any hurry to give it up for any mortal man.” –Louisa May Alcott
“Let’splayagame,”Eliana said into her camera. It was the way she began every livestream, and already she could see the number of watchers ticking steadily upward into the hundreds.
“What game?” Dad yelled from the kitchen, suddenly clanking dishes around like he was a one-man pot-and-pan band. “I’m up for cards.”
“Uno! Uno! Uno!” her younger brother, Cameron, yelled out, using his talking device, as he streaked behind her wearing nothing but bright yellow swim trunks.
Eliana stared at the chaos behind her, streaming live to her seven-hundred viewers. Nope, now it was eight-hundred.
“I cannot play one more game of Uno.” Mom groaned. “Maybe Grandpa will want to play with you. Should I call him?”
“Hey, guys?” Eliana called over her shoulder in her kindest, sweetest tone. “Remember how you all said right now would be a good time for me to start a livestream?”
“It is,” her mom assured her. “Go right ahead. You’re not bothering us.”
She gritted her teeth, but tried to smile through it, as she knew over nine-hundred people were now watching her every move. Comments streamed in:
Where are you?
Is that your family?
Who’s the teenager? He’s hilarious!
She glanced up from her notes to see Cameron making faces at himself in the camera. He carefully held Louisa May Alcott, Eliana’s adorably tiny desert tortoise, beside his cheek so she could look into the camera too.Oh, Cameron.He was her seventeen year old brother with Down syndrome.
Comments careened down her screen, most of them turtle emojis and hearts. Everyone loved Louisa May Alcott, and partnering that cuteness with Cameron was enough to make the internet explode.
Eliana ran a finger down her livestream outline, but everyone was going to be too distracted for her to go through her bullet-pointed list of why being single was better than being in a relationship. She flipped her notebook over.
“Actually, let’s save the game for another time.” She’d come up with a really cute version of two truths and a lie where she’d reveal her big news. Oh well.
“As you may have noticed, I’m not in my usual recording space. My sister is getting married at the end of the summer, so I came home to Florida to help plan the wedding.”
Speaking of Eliana’s sister … Julia walked into the tiny apartment and threw her bag down on the couch with the heavy sigh of someone who’d just turned in their grades at the very last minute.
“I’m done,” she said dramatically.
“Your sister is doing a livestream,” Mom whispered loud enough for the camera to pick up the sound. Eliana closed her eyes. There was no way to salvage this.
Julia yelped when she realized she was in the frame, being streamed out to over two-thousand people now. She threw herself on the floor and army crawled behind the couch—still on display. “I hate being on camera!” she hissed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Time to land this plane, though both wings were on fire and it was heading straight toward crash-and-burn. Her numbers continued to tick upward. For someone usually so in control of what she put out into the world, this was very off-brand for her.
“I’m going to make this quick,” she said.
More comments rolled in about how they loved seeing her family. She loved seeing them too, just not in the background of her recordings.
“My parents’ plumbing pipes burst a few days ago, and they have to rip out the flooring and replace it all. So we’re all staying in my sister’s two-bedroom apartment together!” Was that enough enthusiasm in her voice? Enough excitement?
Dad grumbled something about paying for burst pipes and new flooring and a wedding. Eliana had only been staying with her parents for two days when the pipes burst in spectacular—and disgusting fashion—driving them all out of the house immediately and changing everyone’s plans.
“I want to tell you the big news I’ve been teasing all week … Are you ready?”
“Yes!” Cameron’s talker blasted right beside her ear. He rested his chin on her shoulder and stuck out his tongue at himself. She took Louisa May Alcott from him and kissed his cheek, feeling the scruff of a beard on his face. When had her baby brother started growing facial hair?
“I’m excited to announce that I’m under contract to write a book! The working title isHappily Single, and I can’t wait to share it with you.”
