Aunt Maggie Mae spins around on her stool. “She woke up feeling poorly, so we told her to stay home and rest. She’ll be right as rain before long.”
“Does she honestly think she can keep anything secret in this family?” Sara whispers.
“You underestimate how scared everyone is of Aunt Maggie Mae. We’ll all talk about it, but not in front of her,” Jake adds.
Graham nods along. “I bet even Nonna doesn’t say anything.”
And now I feel even worse for Mary Jo. Even though I hated the attention from the blind-date board when it first happened, I can’t deny that it’s brought me closer to my family in a weird sort of way. It feels pretty nice to have so many people rooting for your happiness. And Mary Jo may miss her chance at a piece of that.
Of course the family stays after Nonna’s spaghetti lunch to see who’s picking me up for the hockey game. Well, everyone except Aunt Maggie Mae and her crew.
“I have to work late tomorrow,” Uncle Ronnie says. “Somebody needs to FaceTime me during the pickup so I don’t miss it.”
Charlie is standing next to Graham by the staircase. He leans close and says, “Those hockey games last about two hours. If it starts at three, then the game would be over around five. And it’s about a twenty-minute ride from the arena back here.”
Graham holds up a hand. “But that’s only if she doesn’t bail halfway through like last night. I thought she’d at least wait until the end of the movie before she ditched that guy.”
Jake won the bet last night—only because he hearddinnerbut notmovie—and has been rubbing it in everyone’s face all day long. Charlie and Graham are determined to beat him tonight.
I lean in close. “You want the inside scoop? Aunt Camille probably picked someone halfway decent, so I don’t foresee leaving early.”
Charlie and Graham smile as they scratch their names in at 5:25 and 5:30.
“But you owe me half if you win,” I say before walking away.
“Hey,” Uncle Ronnie squeals from across the room. “Y’all got some insider info the rest of us don’t know about?”
Charlie shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “Please. Sophie’s a wild card. Never know what she’s gonna do on one of these dates.”
I turn to Uncle Ronnie and shrug. “There’s some truth in that.”
Wes pops in just before the designated time for my date’s arrival. “Hey,” I say when he stops next to Olivia and me.
He nods to me. “Hey.”
Before I can say anything else, the doorbell rings and a quiet hush falls over the crowd.
“This is getting ridiculous, people,” I say as I push through my family to get to the door. Several family members scramble to finish placing their bets.
I swing open the door and am surprised to see a familiar face on the other side.
“Hey!” I say enthusiastically.
“Hey,” Wyatt says as he steps through the door, giving me a quick hug. I met Wyatt last summer when Aunt Camille roped all of us into helping at the huge pet-adoption thing. Wyatt and I bathed all of the dogs before the event started so they would have the best chance of being rescued. He’s a really nice guy, and we have at least one thing in common—the inability to tell Aunt Camille no—but mostly I’m relieved that this date should hold very few surprises.
“Wait! Foul!” Uncle Michael calls out. “They already know each other. Therefore this can’t be a blind date.”
Aunt Camille rushes forward. “Wrong. She didn’t know he was the one she was going out with tonight. That is the very definition of a blind date.”
Wyatt and I just stare at them. They’ve definitely gone off the rails, and it’s only 2:30.
“We’ve only met once before,” Wyatt says. “And we really don’t know each other.”
I hold up my hands. “If we don’t leave now, we’ll miss the beginning of the game. And since I’ve never been to a hockey game before, Ireallydon’t want that to happen. We’ll see y’all later.” I grab Wyatt’s hand and pull him through the open door. “Oh, and don’t wait up. We may stop for ice cream on the way home.” I wink at Graham and Charlie. The uncles huddle together and whisper worriedly.
Aunt Camille waves from the front porch and says, “I’ll see y’all there!”
“Is she coming with us?” I ask Wyatt on the way to his car.
