River was laughing too by the time they made it to their room. It was cute—festive, warm, cozy. And their shared spacefor the next week. At least it had that gorgeous balcony right outside, shared with only one other room.
Hallie didn’t know who was in the room, but that was not her highest concern. “I think we have a problem,” she whispered to River, shutting the door sharply behind them.
River stared at her with wide, innocent eyes, and Hallie suppressed the urge to groan. She’d always known River was sweet and naive. It was fine. But maybe that was not the ideal personality type to attempt to con an entire family for a whole week with.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking for all the world like her dreams were about to be crushed.
“You don’t drink coffee,” Hallie said pointedly.
“I know.”
Hallie stared back. “And you don’t like peanut butter.”
“I know.”
“ButIdidn’t know.”
“Okay.”
“River. Oh, my god. I had a conversation with Audrey where she had to tell me you don’t like coffee, and another with your mom where I suggested we liked Saturday morning pancakes with peanut butter.”
“Oh.” What Hallie was saying slowly seemed to fully register, and she looked shocked that they’d find themselves in such a situation.
Hallie was no longer convinced River had fully thought this thing through. It was only the first whole day and they were already fucking it up.
“What do you think we should do?” River asked, completely at a loss.
Hallie sighed heavily and dropped into the chair in the corner of their room. “I don’t know. I think your mom bought it when I laughed and clarified thatIlike peanut butter on mypancakes, but Audrey…” She tried not to wince at how much she’d fumbled that whole conversation. She’d never been so slow on her feet before.
River smiled. “Oh, I’m sure Audrey wouldn’t mind.”
“That we’re fake dating or that I don’t know you dislike coffee?”
“That I dislike coffee, of course!”
Hallie narrowed her eyes. “Which, like, how? You’realwaysdrinking caffeinated drinks. It hadn’t once occurred to me that you wouldn’t like coffee.”
“When have you ever seen me with coffee at work?” she laughed, as if the whole thing was fine.
“Well, never, but when have I ever not seen you with soda or energy drinks? How do you not drink coffee? And how do you not like peanut butter?”
“Coffee’s too bitter. Peanut butter’s too… dry.”
Hallie laughed, mostly despairingly. That tracked. All of River’s drinks were incredibly sweet. And she had heard people describe peanut butter that way before. It really was all her fault for having assumed.
She took a slow breath and stood back up, looking seriously at River. “Any other likes or dislikes I absolutely should know about?”
“Um… I really like sweet things?”
“Yes. Thank you. I did notice that.”
River laughed. “You asked!”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I’m just trying not to blow your entire cover on our first day.”
“Hm.” She chewed her lip as she thought. “I don’t like cabbage.”
“Cabbage. Okay. Got it. Much less likely to come up in conversation than coffee or peanut butter—”
