“Also,” I add, not bothering to look at my sister because she’ll try and tell me no, “I need somebody to share one of those ridiculous milkshakes with me.”
Oliver smiles. “The kind they top with whole candy bars?”
“And chocolate straws.”
Eden blows out an annoyed breath, but I pretend I can’t hear her. She complains I load Oliver with sugar, and then leave just in time for the sugar high to really get going. But hey, what are uncles for?
Oliver rides with me to Sugar Shoppe, and Eden meets us there. She eats one single scoop of strawberry, while Oliver and I polish off a large Mud & Worms milkshake topped with marshmallow fluff, cookie crust, and gummy worms.
History repeats itself when I take off soon after. Oliver is kicking his chair as I back out of the store, and Eden mouthsScrew you.
Ten minutes later my phone dings with a text from Eden.
I told Mom about you fake dating. Expect her call.
I’m at a red light, so I let my head hit the steering wheel.Shit. My mom.
This plan Paisley and I have hatched is going to delight her. She loves romance. She loves love. She inhales romance novels, and owns a T-shirt that says ‘Book boyfriends do it better’.
She has even?—
Ring!
And there goes my phone.One guess as to who it is.
I press the button and answer the call on speaker. “Hi, Mom.”
“Eden told me.”
What is the word for what she’s doing with her voice? Oh, right.Trilling. The sound fills my car.
“That was kind of my big sister to tell you all about my fake date before I got a chance to.”
“Pfft. You weren’t going to tell me.”
“Sure I would have.”
She ignores my lie. “Don’t be so reductionist, Klein. It’s not a fake date. It’s a weeklong fake-out on an island.”
Oh, man. The way her voice grew in excitement the longer she spoke her last sentence tells me I’m in for it.
“I want to meet her,” she announces.
“No, Mom.”
“Yes, Klein.”
“There’s no point.”
“You’re going to fly across the country to a little island off the coast of North Carolina and stay with people I’ve never met. What if they’re serial killers and this was all an elaborate trap?”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Not for a second. Did you know they don’t allow cars on the island? Just maintenance vehicles and things like that. Everybody drives golf carts.”
“Mom, how?—”
“And there are alligators!”
