Page 23 of No Summer Hotter than You

If he thought his mom had a knack for lying, then he should listen to himself. But I knew he was just being polite. The Hughes twins were always good with being overly polite and kind.

Evelyn nodded, still eyeing where Anthony’s hand was suspiciously. “Yup, it’s been a whole year,” she chirped.

I tried to smile naturally at her answer as the uncomfortableness wafting in the air settled into an awkward silence between Evelyn, Kelvin, Anthony, and me for a second. Aunt Sue was the one who kept the awkward silence at bay as we waited for Evelyn’s luggage, which was why I was grateful she was there.

I honestly didn’t know much about Evelyn since she hardly ever talked much to me all the previous times she visited California. All I knew about her was that she was an English literature PhD student. Meanwhile, I remembered absolutely nothing about Kelvin. I could hardly recall what we chatted about before I blocked his number.

“How was Wisconsin?” Aunt Sue asked.

“Horrible and boring, just like Dad. I hated it,” Evelyn mumbled.

“Well, Evelyn, he wanted to see you.” Aunt Sue snorted, clearly satisfied by her daughter’s answer. “So . . . How’s his bitch?”

My eyes widened. I’d never heard Aunt Sue talk like that before. I knew she and her ex-husband divorced because of an affair. But I didn’t know she had the capacity to be so blunt about it.

“She’s after his money, as far as I’m aware. When that dries up, she’ll leave. It’s all fake,” Evelyn said with a sigh.

Her eyes trailed back to Anthony and me as his grip on my hip tightened. She probably scared him. It was easy to fool Aunt Sue because of her unassuming nature, but Evelyn was another. I may not know much about her, but I’m aware she was smart, analytical, and speculative, which was the biggest threat of all to this scheme.

“Congrats on you two getting together, by the way,” she said. A forced smile now was on her lips. “How unfortunate for you, Kelvin. I know you really liked her.”

I flashed her a small smile as I glanced over at her cousin, who was now scarlet red.

“Thanks, Evelyn,” I said as I put my hand on Anthony’s hard chest. Under my palm, I could feel his body tense for a split second with the sudden physical contact before relaxing. “It just sort of happened.”

My voice wavered slightly, but Anthony’s breath tickled the top of my head as he let out a light laugh. Whether Evelyn was trying to be inconspicuous about it or not, I immediately noticed the way she stared slightly at how at my chest was flushed against Anthony’s.

“The best moments in life are always the unexpected ones,” he said huskily as he stiffly leaned into me. His hold on me tightened as I tried my best not to let my back become rigid. Yet it did from how awkward this all was. My heart hammered against my ribcage so hard I was sure he felt it. “There’s nothing like falling in love with your best friend.”

Aunt Sue beamed at us while Kelvin shifted on his feet with a soft grin and nod. Evelyn was smiling as well, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “How sudden, but how lovely all at once,” she mused, feigning sweetness. “You two are the cutest, to be honest.”

Her eyes flicked to Anthony’s hand on my hip again then at my tense back. She looked up directly at me and her lips upturned just slightly, and my stomach flopped uneasily. As I suspected, none of this scheming and lying was going to be smooth sailing. Not with Evelyn around.

CHAPTER 9

shoua

My mom called yesterday and demanded I come over. With summer being my busiest season as a realtor, I used the home showings I did every weekend as an excuse until last night. She was insistent on the phone that I needed to go over today, and I already knew exactly why since she was being vague.

Once I was back in my parents’ home after a long day at work, I immediately helped my mom make dinner even though I hadn’t planned on staying. I figured it was just best to be there to hear whatever my mom had to say and then get out of there. That was typically how I handled our visits for years now.

“So, I was thinking,” she started, as I stirred a boiling pot of herbs and chicken. “Why don’t you ask Anthony if your brother can work for his company?”

My face pinched in uncertainty. My mom kept pushing me to ask Anthony to do my younger brother a huge favor by hiring him. Again. We had been at this before last year and it didn’t work out. In fact, it was his dad’s company that ended up with the short end of the stick.

“You mean have their company hire Sai back?” I asked.

Sai, my younger brother, had been unemployed for years. After he dropped out of college during his freshman year, he hadn’t bothered to get a job at all. Technically, he could have a career. He could make some kind of income from streaming all those video games he kept playing for practically eighteen hours a day. There was an avenue there for him to explore, but both he and my parents always brushed me off as if all I ever said was nonsense.

Last year, my mom pressured me into asking Anthony if he could give Sai a job. To which he graciously did. My lame brother was supposed to take care of mundane and minor office work as a part timer.

When the office couldn’t get a hold of him for a shift after barely working there for a few days, Anthony notified me. He was worried something might have happened to Sai and so was I. I used my lunch break, worried something horrible happened to him, and drove home to check on him. Well, to no one’s surprise, he was playing video games.

Without even batting an eye, he said simply, “Tell them I quit.” It was such a waste of everyone’s time, especially Anthony’s because he tried his best to pull strings to create the position for Sai.

“Mom, he’s not built to do general contracting work,” I pointed out.

There was no way the receptionist would ever want to hire him back after what happened. The only job he could be considered for was manual work, which Anthony and any of the project leads always needed help with.

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