“This is nothing.” Riley made a face.
Riley was now gainfully employed at Compass BioTek and enrolled in a program where she was taking university classes while still at Hadley Hall. Of course, given she originally learned her computer skills from Grandpa, who’d basically done the same thing Wes had done in the military, then done cybersecurity for banks, we shouldn’t be that surprised.
“But yeah, Sasha has some people in her life, and it might be getting serious. So, you know, if she wants to have a wedding, she might need to change her opinions on a few things.” Riley shrugged.
Huh. Sasha had been a little nicer in the past few months.
“Hey, Evan, is this the right room?” Sasha knocked on the door.
“You’re here. Come in.” I let her in.
Sasha came in, dressed in her emerald gown, looking a little frazzled, hair up.
“Sorry. I forgot my shoes, and we had to find me a new pair. Wow, you look good.” Sasha gave me a hug.
“We?” Riley smirked.
“Um, I might be seeing some people. Yes, they’re here in Rockland but not coming to the wedding. No, you can’t meet them yet, because you’ll scare them.” She sighed and grabbed a soda from the table.
Riley rolled her eyes. “I’m not scary.”
“I’m just glad you came,” I assured her. “Your test went okay?”
“Yeah. It went great,” she replied. “This place is fantastic.”
“Bren literally bought it so Evan could marry Grace.” Riley gave her a hug. “I’m happy you came too. I suppose you can meet Hiro.”
“Hey, I’m excited to meet your boyfriend. Are Marcos, Kilroy, Mercy, and Rose here? I hear so much about them.” Sasha gave Sonja a hug.
“Yep.” Riley nodded.
Riley had invited some of her friends, but it wasn’t like they didn’t all know Grace. I was pretty proud of Rose, who’d be graduating high school with honors next month. Mercy was an attendant, along with Verity. Marcos, Hiro, and Kilroy’s families were here, too.
Sasha’s eyes lingered on Riley’s pack tattoo on her shoulder, which she’d gotten last November when she turned sixteen. The entire pack had gotten them together.
I tensed, waiting for her to say something, given she’d been against it.
But she didn’t. All she did was sigh.
Sasha took a box out of the bag and handed it to Riley. “I found one of the old videos you used to make of your dolls having adventures, and I feel terrible about what I did. I know it won’t replace them. I’m sorry. It wasn’t you. I was mad at Evan, but it was easier to punish you.”
“Yeah, that’s something to talk to your therapist about. But I accept your apology.” Riley took the box and opened it. “Awww, is this me and you?”
It was an Everydoll doll holding the hand of alittle sisterEverydoll. They were custom. Grace and Tru had one made of the two of them.
“Yeah. I do love you, and I’m sorry I’m a bitch sometimes. You didn’t ask to be born and usurp me as the youngest. You didn’t cause Mom and Dad’s death. And you didn't become a theta to taunt me.” Sasha hugged her tight.
Wow, that was a lot coming from her.
“I’m proud of you for saying that,” I told her. While I could handle her being mad at me, her taking out past grievances on Riley really hurt her.
Sonja sucked in a breath. “Are you actually going to therapy?”
“Um, yeah.” She looked away for a moment. Sasha would see a therapist once or twice then quit, saying she didn’t need to talk to a stranger about her problems.
“Thank you for realizing this. The doll is cute,” Riley replied.
“Also, I’m proud of you for getting into that dual enrollment program at Rock Tech. You’re doing really well here with Evan,” Sasha admitted.
