There was a fine line between playing it casual and ratcheting up Sawyer’s sense of unease. Robbie walked it by making Sawyer’s third-favourite main dish with a vegetable he despised.
Then he waited until Sawyer was frowning at his plate in confusion to say, “So I got a weird email today.”
Warily, Sawyer looked up. “You did?”
“Mmm.” Robbie speared a brussels sprout and bit it in half. He took his time chewing and swallowing. Sawyer watched him the whole time. “Some reality show I’ve never heard of was letting me down gently. They said I just wouldn’t fit in with their brand, or something. But the thing is, I don’t even remember applying, so either I did it in my sleep or I need to go have a brain scan. Or I guess someone maybe hacked my computer—”
“What do you mean you wouldn’t fit their brand?”
Got him. Robbie shrugged and shoved the second half of the brussels sprout into his cheek. “How should I know? I don’t even remember applying. Obviously the sales pitch of yours truly was pretty half-assed—”
“It was nothalf-assed!” Sawyer said indignantly.
Robbie raised his eyebrows.
Sawyer said, “Shit.”
“Forgery is a crime, you know. Or would it be impersonation? I’m not totally clear on the details. I’ll have toask Eugene.” His friend, former billet brother, and convenient attorney.
Sawyer paled. “Robbie, wait—”
Finally Robbie took pity on him. “I said yes, kid.”
Sawyer’s mouth fell open. “Yougot cast? You said—”
“I said what you needed to hear to keep your ego in line, gremlin. The show sounds fun. It’s for a good cause.” And Robbie didn’t have anything going on that summer anyway, apart from feeding Sawyer’s scrawny ass. The show would at least make working out fun and different for a while. Besides, Robbie could never resist the chance to be a ham. He raised a finger before Sawyer could enjoy his success too much. “But.”
“But?” Sawyer repeated with a hopeful nod, wide-eyed.
“Try to stop breaking the law, okay? Any bail money I have to spend on you is coming out of your college fund.”
When thefront door opened, Finn was stuck under the kitchen sink, halfway through unclogging the drain for the third time that year because Holly never remembered to put the little strainer thingy in.
“Finn?”
“In the kitchen,” he called back.
There was a hesitation, then guilty footsteps, then Holly said, “Again?”
“Don’t have the nerve to sound surprised about it,” Finn grumbled, but he couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice. Holly might not be the world’s best roommate, but she was a pretty good landlord and his best friend. Besides, Finn liked doing all the minor repairs that came with keeping up an old house. It made him feel all manly.
Holly groaned. “I swear if you’d just let me pay for a kitchen disposal—”
Finn finished detaching the U-bend and shoved the bucket underneath to catch the slop. He’d learned his lesson the first time: safety goggles.
He poked his head out from under the sink. “I don’t think the wiring can take it. Plus you’d also need a whole new sink, and a plumber, because I’m not fucking around with the supply lines—”
“I said I would pay for it.” She kicked him gently in the thigh. “Come up here for a minute, I’m having a crisis.”
So is the kitchen sink, Finn thought, but he wiped his hands on a rag and dragged himself upright and into one of Holly’s grandmother’s ancient kitchen chairs. “What’s up?”
“Stef got in a car accident. Broke her collarbone.”
Finn blinked. “Oh shit. She’s okay otherwise?”
Holly nodded like a bobblehead, her eyes wide. “Oh, yeah, I mean her car is fucked, but she’s gonna recover and everything. Just, uh, not to make this about me? But filming is supposed to start this week and that is not a lot of time to find and prep a replacement ice dancer. Even in Canada.”
“Oh. Yeah, shit.” Holly worked as a producer onDance Your Ice Off, a competition reality show that paired professional ice dancers with hockey players. The winning pair won a donation to the charitable cause of their choice. That was how Finn and Holly first met, back when he was fresh off an injury that sidelined him for an entire season and nursing the wounds of his pairs partner moving on to greener pastures. Holly had initially hauled Finn in as a partner for one of the female hockey players, but he soon graduated to planning the choreography for all the competitors.
