And I wish I had a picture of their faces when Wes said his name! That mix of shock and disgust would be my screen saver. I would send it out as Christmas cards.
“Why are they out there watching him?” Mary Jo screeches.
“Why aren’t y’all?” I ask.
Jo Lynn looks like she wants to go for my throat. “Mom and Dad are there. We offered. He said he didn’t want us to miss our party for that.”
For that. For the most important tournament of his high school career. We should have convinced Leo to defect to our side years ago. I’m finding I like Leo even more now that I know the Evil Joes hate us being friends.
“Yeah, okay,” Wes says, then walks back to our station. I just give thema lookand follow him.
Wes has his phone out and says, “He came in second!”
Hell yeah. “Maybe Olivia won’t be so hard on herself now.”
Wes laughs. “You know how Olivia is.”
Yeah. I do. She’ll hold on to this for a long time.
Her phone vibrates in my pocket, so I pull it out and see a notification from L. I flash the screen at Wes and he raises his eyebrows.
“You opening it?” he asks.
I give him a look like he’s crazy. “Of course I’m opening it.”
L:Heard you were here
“Don’t reply,” Wes says. Then rolls his eyes. “You’re going to reply.”
ME:This is Charlie. I have Olivia’s phone. Long story. But we all hope you’ll be at the crawfish boil that our family is throwing for us tonight. We figured you’d get invited by the Evil Joes but you also have an invite from us too
“Aw, look at you being all sweet,” Wes says, and I punch him in the arm.
The timer on his phone goes off, letting us know our cupcakes are ready. “C’mon,” he says. “We have a cupcake competition to win.”
Mom and Dad are home when we get back from the golf course.I’m hugged and kissed on the cheek, and it takes all my willpower not to blurt everything out, but I don’t want to put a damper on the party Nonna and Papa are hosting tonight. I’ll confess after it’s over.
Mom sits at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and says, “Okay, tell me all about it! I hate that I wasn’t here this week. I know you had so much fun at all the parties!”
Sophie and I join her at the table and give her just enough detail that she’s satisfied. Charlie and Wes pop in not long after. Charlie and I trade phones when Mom turns away to put her cup in the sink.
“Well, I’ve got to get changed and get to the shop to help everyone prep for the party tonight. I feel bad—they’ve been working all week and I’m just gonna waltz right in,” Mom says.
“Yeah, we need to get ready, too,” Sophie says.
Wes moves toward the door, motioning for Charlie to join him. “We told Nonna we’d help, too, so we’ll see y’all there.” They leave and Sophie heads upstairs to get dressed, but I hang back to talk to Mom alone.
“Can we get rid of the tracking app now?”
I can tell she’s struggling with her answer. She likes the inside peek into my life, though she never treated it like aGotcha!where she was trying to catch me doing something wrong. “Yes, of course,” she says with a smile. “It was just for the week, wasn’t it?”
I move closer to her, giving her a big hug. “I’m glad you’re back.” And I mean it.
She hugs me back fiercely. “I can’t believe you’re graduating next week. And then the house will be empty.”
Mom is going to be devastated when I tell her the truth. I pull away quickly.
Sophie is in the shower when I get upstairs, so I lie on my bed, scrolling through my phone, until she gets out and I can get in.
