Today, none of them had their swimsuits on, so they all sat—Grandpa in a chair, Eliana and Cameron on a beach blanket, until they got the go-ahead to come back into the house. She’d offered to stay and help, and tried not to be offended at the nose-scrunching reluctance in their expressions. You accidentally cut one tiny hole in the hem while trying to trim loose threads, and no one lets you near the dress again.
She checked her phone, hoping to see a text from Asher—but nothing so far. He met with Mike today, and she was dying to hear how it went.
“I watched your video,” Grandpa said. “I’ve never liked those flamingos.”
“Why not?” she asked, surprised.
“Too pink.”
She burst out laughing. “What do you have against the color pink?”
“I prefer green animals.” He winked at her, and her heart warmed. He’d been sweet to Louisa from the beginning.
“Me too,” she said.
Cameron was focused on burying his feet in the sand and didn’t join in their conversation. They chatted about Grandpa’s golf statistics, which she assumed was just as interesting a topic for her as hearing about her social media statistics was for him.
But they talked about it anyway, and they listened anyway. These kinds of conversations were one of the things she loved about her grandpa. With him, she didn’t have to try to be interesting or marketable or wise or witty. She could be boring and analytical, and he loved her and kept coming back for more.
After her incident with the flamingos, her social media had exploded … both the good kind and the bad kind.
Another viral video: Yay!
People mostly making fun of her? Boo.
People resonating with her happiness message? Yay!
People determined to misread her every word and label her a hypocrite? Boo.
Social media was definitely a mixed bag.
“Eliana!” Logan called out. The flamingos had moved closer, but were still far enough away that Eliana didn’t have to flee. What was a fear of flamingos called? If she was developing it, she’d need to look it up.
“What?” she yelled back.
“Come help us! We can’t recreate it,” he called.
“We’ll buy you dinner!” Kai offered. “Bait for bait!”
Logan smacked Kai on the chest with the back of his hand, and they whispered furiously at each other.
“I was joking, of course,” Kai said.
She crinkled her nose. No, he wasn’t. “No way! I have enough bruises on my legs already.” She stared mournfully at her blue and black legs. There was no way they’d heal in time for the wedding, which meant she’d have these stylish polka-dotted legs in pictures for the rest of time—unless she could convince Logan’s sister to trade dresses with her. They were about the same size.
“Logan, can I get Willow’s number? I need to call her.”
He pulled out his phone, and a moment later, her phone pinged with a text from him.
“Thank you!” If she trusted anyone enough to keep her from getting hurt as she was acting as live bait, it was Logan. But that didn’t mean she was going to do it.
Eliana:Hi Willow! This is Eliana, Julia’s sister. Would you be willing to trade bridesmaid dresses with me? I had a run-in with some flamingos.
Willow:I saw the video! Are you okay?
Eliana:Yes, but my legs really bruised.
Willow:Your dress was the short one, right?
