I lift my cup to my lips, sipping slowly.
Cook! I can cook!
Duke genuinely looks perplexed, like this is a really important decision.
“Who’s going to cook all weekend?” I cross my legs at the ankles, attempting to appear casual and indifferent. It’s not that I want to spend time with Sam. I don’t. At all.
I just don’t want to sit at home all weekend and read romantasy books, or help Rosie with the twins, or watchSurvivorwith my dad. I want to get out, to live a little. I haven’t had a weekend away with young people in ages.
It’s not that I don’t love my life and my routine—because I do. I’m just beginning to feel … stuck. I’m a painfully single virgin at twenty-three years old. At this rate, my brothers will get their wish, and I’ll die an old maid, slumped over a lump of dough right here in this kitchen.
“We’ll eat hot dogs and steak,” Sam says.
Duke nods like it’s a no-brainer. “We need plenty of beer. And tequila.”
“And limes,” I add. “Also probably ice, salt, maybe a couple bottles of water. Sunscreen.”
Duke pulls out his phone. “Okay, so a list. Let’s make one.”
Sam is smirking and shaking his head while looking down at his feet. He knows I’m desperate to secure an invitation, but he’s not going to offer me one.
“Are you really going to eat just meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”
Sam lifts his head, the corner of his mouth turning up. “Do you have a better suggestion, sis?”
I clench my teeth before smiling sweetly at him. “I just think after a long day of drinking beer on the water, you might crave, like—I don’t know—a watermelon, some ice cream, something other than fermented liquid barley.”
Duke is tapping away on his phone, intent on making a list for the trip. “Hey, Dolls, how do you make those big-assbreakfast burritos? The ones with steak and eggs and the white cheese. What’s that stuff called?”
Here’s my chance.
I shrug, lifting my mug to my lips. “I’d have to look at my recipe book. It’s a little complicated.”
He sighs. “Maybe we can just order pizza.”
“For three days?” I lift a brow.
Duke throws up his hands. “Then why don’t you come with us and you can help me make it? Are you busy this weekend?”
Gotcha.
I twist my hair around my finger, pausing to pretend to think it over. “I guess I could make time for a little lake trip. But I’m not doing all the cooking. You have to help me, and someone has to clean up afterward.”
He nods, grinning. “We will, of course. Sam can be on cleanup duty.”
Sam is squinting at me, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Sure, I’ll help with whatever you need, sis.”
I glare at him. Duke is oblivious to the fact that I actually would happily do all the cooking and cleanup to secure an invitation—because I’m just that pathetic and desperate for something to do this weekend. And for the opportunity to watch Sam drive his boat with no shirt on and a backward hat? I’d scrub all the toilets in his lake house too.
“So, can you write up a grocery list? I need to make calls to find out who’s in. And don’t take forever to pack. I want to leave soon.” Duke grins at Sam, clapping him on the shoulder as he dials a number and puts his phone up to his ear. “Hey, Jesse. What are you up to, man? You in the mood to go wakeboarding?” His voice fades out as he walks down the hallway to his bedroom.
I lift my coffee mug to my lips, sipping the java goodness from the rim. Sam mimics the action, but doesn’t look directly at me.
“I really want you to stop calling me that.”
“Stop calling you what?”
“Sis.”
