“Cooper?” Waverly says again while Kiva climbs out of the car behind us.
I start to laugh. Stop myself.
Shoot a chagrined look at Waverly. “So, ah. About how you hate pranks…”
Her brows go up.
“Are you, ah, gonna be okay with…me getting pranked?”
Also,how the fuck did she pull this off?
I look up the road.
Then down the road.
This is definitely where my driveway belongs.
I amnotconfused.
That’s my mailbox.
She didn’t just move my mailbox, did she?
Oh, and make no mistake.
Sheis not Waverly.
Sheis Tillie Jean.
Waverly looks at me again, then at the mailbox, and I see the moment the light dawns. “Did someone remove your driveway and replant it with nature?”
“Looks like.”
“Oh my god.”
“I can disappear. I can make both of us disappear. I mean, I love my family. They’re the best. They really are. But we can recreate Shipwreck and family somewhere else. I know a bunch of retired baseball players who’d love it. We can survive this if you don’t want to get caught in the crosshairs of a prank war between me and my sister. Or if you want me to give up pranks, I can do that. I would. For real. I will submit to only being pranked without doing prank-backs for the rest of my life. For you. Butonlyfor you.”
“She replaced your driveway with nature,” Waverly repeats in awe.
I scratch the back of my neck. “We kinda have this thing in the off-season…”
Her eyes light up with utter joy and more than a little mischief. “What are you going to do to get her back?”
I blink. “Seriously?”
“She replaced your driveway with nature.”
We stare at each other a beat, and then we both crack up.
That’s a good one.
That’s aseriouslygood one.
“You hate pranks,” I remind her.
“But this isnotjusta prank. This…this calls for creativity and Cooper Rock Awesomeness.”
I chuckle.
