Stone pulls me closer to him. “Our engagement!”
The guys look surprised, and then seem to quickly realize that surprise is not the correct response, because Isaac slowly claps and yells, “Congrats!”
Ron joins him.
And while they clap and shout their congratulations, Hercules trots up to me, lifts his leg, and aims to pee on my shoe.
I barely move out of the way before the full stream splashes to the ground. What the ...? Sheep don’t lift their legs to pee.
Apparently, this one does, and he’s not happy with me. Neither is my conscience, because what I’ve just done ... this is a ticking time bomb, an explosion that, maybe, with a little luck, I can avoid.
But how?
Chapter 27
Coco
The chair creaks beneath me as I drop my head to the desk, relishing the cool wood against my flaming, guilt-soaked skin.
Cristina’s voice blares through the phone. “You didwhat?”
“I agreed,” I tell her, my voice strangled, “that we’re engaged.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Apparently.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“How in the name of sweet tea and bad decisions did Stone getthatidea?”
Then I explain Nu-Nu’s ring and how he somehow put the two completely unrelated things together. I end with, “I couldn’t find it in myself to disagree. Please don’t kill me.”
“I can’t make any promises, Coco Higginbotham. This is low. Very low. Like, I’m-surprised-you-haven’t-sunk-into-a-pit-of-despair low.”
That’s what I’m afraid of.
Cristina’s voice is laced with worry. “This is bad.”
My bowels tighten so painfully it takes a second to breathe through it. “You don’t understand. His cousin showed up and started saying theresort was terrible. He asked what had happened to Stone because he’s not right—”
“Well, he isn’t,” she snaps. “We deleted his memory. It’s gone, and frankly, I don’t see you being very worried about this, not like you should be. This is potentially catastrophically bad, and you don’t seem to realize it. In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if you’ve lost your memory, too.”
“Stop it. You know I haven’t.”
“Haven’t you? You’ve had chances to tell him.”
“I know, but he’s different now. He’s kind, and he met my parents—”
“You took him to the preppers? Oh my God. Now I know you’ve lost your mind. Did they chew him up and spit him out?”
“No, he was great. He defended me in front of my family.”
There’s a short pause before she realizes. “You’ve fallen for him.”
“No, no, of course not. I haven’t ...”
