“Oh good!” I let out a sigh of relief.
Ella bunched up her shoulders and stretched, and Cole held her head with one hand.
“Right. Gotta go put this one to bed,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you soon?”
I gave him the thumbs up and had to mentally stop myself from rolling my eyes. Who the hell gives someone—a potential date especially—a thumbs up?
Could I be any lamer?
“Goodnight, little Ella,” I said, and the toddler flashed me a tired smile before her dad took her out, followed closely by Enzo and Lilian. I had no choice but to return to my seat at the table.
Both Alina and Zay were staring at me. It was creepy.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” they said in unison.
I grimaced.
“What were you two whispering with Enzo and his mom?”
Alina shrugged.
“That’s none of your business, Mr. Ali,” she said, and Zainab giggled.
I glowered at them both.
Now what were they cooking up?
11.Cole
“Remind me again, why did I let you convince me to do this?” I said, changing sweaters for the fifth time in the last ten minutes.
“Do what? Have a life? Be a normal person? Or are you talking about making you shower ’cause you stink?” Enzo asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm, paired with his biggest eyeroll.
I threw the previous sweater at his face in response.
“First, I don’t stink. You’re just being annoying because you think it makes you cute?—”
“Hey!” Enzo groaned, and Lilian patted his shoulder soothingly. “Iamcute!”
“He’s right, darling. He’s right.”
“Whose side are you on, woman?” Enzo bit back at her.
“Excuse me, I was talking?” I coughed.
Both mother and son turned to me, crossed their arms, and stared with a raised eyebrow.
They never looked like each other, but in that moment, they were like twins.
“You’re creeps,” I mumbled. “It’s your fault I had to do the stupid auction, and I’ve got to get through twelve,twelvefreaking dates! What were you thinking?”
The fact Enzo smirked confirmed my suspicion that they’d been behind this whole thing. Not that I needed proof. It was clear as day. No one else had gotten twelve dates with anyone. Only me. And only after Enzo whispered something in Hwan’s ear.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. We were thinking maybe you need to go out there, seize the day, have some fun, get out of your rut,” Lilian said.
“I’m not in a rut!” I barked back as if on instinct, but we all knew that was a lie.
