“Fuck it,” she says, grinning. “Now I want champagne. Y’all?”
She doesn’t wait for us to all grumble yes before she starts pouring. Eli and Levi come grab glasses, still both watching me expectantly, like I’m going to break into a musical number any moment now.
“Here’s to Daniel and Charlie very definitely not being together,” Levi says, holding up his glass.
His eyes light up and his beard twitches like he’s smiling. I don’t like it.
“We’re not,” I say.
“Here’s to nothing at all weird happening today,” Eli says, and he’s definitely smirking like an asshole.
“Here’s to champagne because we like champagne,” Violet says calmly.
“That one,” I agree. “I like that one.”
We clink glasses. I take a sip, then another sip, and then before I know it, I’ve guzzled a wine glass full of champagne and it’s empty.
Everyone else just looks at me.
“You want to talk about it?” Eli offers, just as my phone dings in my pocket, and I sigh.
“The hearing was shitty besides everyone thinking that I’m engaged now,” I say, pulling it out of my pocket. “Crystal’s married, and she’s pregnant, and—”
I’ve got about a thousand texts, but it’s the most recent that stops my sentence in its tracks.
Charlie: I’ll do it.I have half a second of perfect blankness, where I can’t remember what we were talking about earlier that she’s agreed to.
Then it hits me, and I have a thousand thoughts all at once: shit I just told my brothers another story thank God for Charlie maybe I’ll have a chance now oh my God how do you act engaged and especially engaged to Charlie what face do I make? Do we get to kiss? Will people know?
Everyone will know.
“Do what?” Eli asks, craning his neck around so he can see my phone.
I shut it off as fast as humanly possible.
“It’s take your daughter to work day next week,” I lie, my mouth running ahead of my brain, moving my phone back to my pocket. “I’d asked Charlie if she’d take Rusty, since—”
My phone dings again in my hand, and then, suddenly, it’s not in my hand.
“Hey!” I snap, whirling around as Levi steps back, holding my phone up in front of himself.
“She also says she wants a ring the size of Texas,” he says.
“You can’t just take my phone!” I hiss, still trying to keep my voice down because Rusty’s asleep.
I lunge at Levi.
“Seems like I can,” he says, and smoothly tosses it to Eli, who catches it one-handed.
“Give me that,” I order him, whirling around, my hand out.
“Tell us why Charlie wants a ring the size of Texas for take-your-daughter-to-work day,” Eli says.
“I don’t know. Maybe she’ll explain it in another text,” I say.
I grab for the phone.
Eli throws it back to Levi, just out of my reach. I ball both my hands into fists of impotent rage and stand there, every muscle in my body tense, seething.
“Fucking stop that,” I tell them.
“What are you guys, ten?” Violet asks, sipping her champagne and leaning against the side table.
Levi glances at me, then looks down at my phone again. I force myself to stand still, because I’ve played this game far too many times before in my life, and I know the only way to win is not to play.
“But she thinks you should go to some wedding cake tastings for real,” he tells me.
“I know all the good places,” Violet volunteers.
Levi tosses my phone in his hand, flipping it end over end. I watch it, tempted to lunge again, though I know exactly what will happen if I do.
Having two older brothers really sucks sometimes.
“So you’re going to go taste wedding cake for take-your-daughter-to-work-day,” Eli says cheerfully, because he’s a dick. “While Charlie is wearing a ring the size of Texas and all of Sprucevale thinks you’re engaged.”
“Which no one will think after you shop for wedding cake together,” Violet volunteers. “That will definitely make people think this was a misunderstanding.”
“You two deserve each other, you know that?” I snap.
Violet and Eli just clink their glasses together. I glare.
“Would you like to tell us the truth or should we continue meandering into this increasingly ludicrous web of lies?” Levi asks, stoically as ever.
I look from Levi to Violet to Eli, and I know one thing for certain.
There’s no way I’m getting out of this. I’d prefer to begin our charade with as few people in on the secret as possible, but this will have to do.
They can keep a secret. Right?
I hold my wine glass out toward Violet, who reaches behind her, grabs the bottle, and gives me a refill. I drink about half of it down, then take a deep breath and try to figure out where to begin.
“I lied to a judge at the hearing today,” I start.I take another sip of my black coffee and fiddle with my phone. I’m sitting at one of the back tables in the Mountain Grind, the coffee shop in downtown Sprucevale where Charlie told me to meet her this morning. I’ve got about twenty minutes to waste — I was ten minutes early, she’ll be ten minutes late — and I keep rereading her texts from last night.