“For what?” Vero asked. “Answering her damn phone?”
“For answering the call of duty last night.” I gave Vero a stern look.
Mrs. Haggerty’s grandson touched his chest in a gesture of gratitude. He put his arm around his grandmother, gently steering her back to the bus.
“That woman’s never gonna let you hear the end of it,” Vero muttered.
“It was the right thing to do,” I said, watching as Roddy helped Mrs. Haggerty up the steep bus steps.
Joey’s grin was smug around his toothpick. “Guess my team won after all.” Vero stared a hole in his back as he sauntered into the building.
“What was that all about?” my sister asked, slinging a bandaged arm around me. Sam stood beside her, their hands hanging close together, their pinky fingers touching.
“Nothing. Just giving a little credit where credit is due. Hey,” I said, “have you heard from Mom?”
Georgia nodded. “Dad’s fine. They got home from the hospital late last night. I’ve got to stick around here for a few hours, but I’ll run by their house on my way home and check on him.”
“Wish I could stay, too,” Sam said, “but Nick needs a chaperone for the buses. I told him I’d go.” She hooked her pinky finger around Georgia’s and whispered, “Call me.” Georgia looked a little starstruck as Sam waved good-bye and rolled her luggage across the parking lot.
Max leaned out her window and waved at us from the bus. “Bye, Vero! See you, Finlay! I’ll text you about that interview, okay?”
“So glad I never gave her my number,” I said to Vero as I smiled and waved back. Vero bit her lip, hiding a guilty grin. I gaped at her. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“Better to keep your enemies closer, right? And besides,” she whispered, “how else will we know what’s happening with Ike?”
As soon as the buses pulled away, Georgia took me by the arm and dragged me aside.
“I have a really big problem and I need your help,” she said urgently.
“What kind of problem?”
“I invited Sam to dinner.”
“That’s a problem?”
“I don’t know how to cook.”
“That’s easy. We’ll just call Mom—”
“No, Finn! You know how she gets. If you tell her I’m having dinner with someone, she’ll buy a bunch of wedding planners and magazines and turn into Mom-of-the-Bridezilla. She’ll scare Sam off.”
“Okay,” I said, gesturing for her to calm down. “Vero and I can probably help.”
“Help with what?” Vero asked, waddling up to us in her blanket.
“Georgia asked Sam to dinner, but Georgia doesn’t know how to cook.”
Vero reached for her phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“This sounds like an emergency. I’m texting your mom.”
Georgia lunged for her.
Nick took me by the hand, luring me away as Vero and my sister wrestled over her phone. He opened my blanket, stretching it to fit around his shoulders and closing us in a cocoon. “Is it wrong that I want you to stay?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I would really,reallylike to sleep in my own bed tonight.”
