Page 15 of When The Rain Falls

"If I text him, he'll insist on calling and asking for details. He'sthatkind of dad." Ruby sags her shoulders in frustration. I don't know what she means, but I take it that's not a good thing. Ruby shoves her phone back into my face. “He’s better when he talks to parents. Actually, now that I think about it, you should pretend to be Alicia. He probably won’t know the difference.”

I wince. Ruby is starting to warm up to me, but I can’t help but feel like I’m just being manipulated.

I take the phone from Ruby's hand. “I don’t think I should lie on my first day of Cool Aunt duty,” I say solemnly. “If I get demoted, then we can’t do fun things. Alicia might ground me or something.”

“I’m always grounded. We can be grounded together. Parents don’t get it. We like to be in our rooms. It’s not really a punishment.” Ruby rolls her eyes. And I swear, her facial expressions are so,sofamiliar.

I look down at the phone in my hand. It's already set up to callDad,so I hit the green dial button. The call picks up after three rings. I hold the phone between us so everyone can hear and hit the speaker button.

"Hey, where are you? You didn't fold your laundry," comes an angry voice on the other end. It's deep and rumbly. Even though I know the voice is not meant for me, it sends a spike of chilly fear down my spine. Ruby closes her eyes and groans.

"And how exactly wouldyouknow that?” I ask. “Unless you’ve been taking inventory of my intimates.” Ruby covers her face and Julie stifles a laugh.

"Who are you?" The voice sounds colder, if that's even possible.

“Julie's aunt. I'm taking the girls to the trampoline park in Tacoma to meet their friends. We need you to sign Ruby's waiver,” I explain. “It's all online. Ruby will text you the link," I say quickly. I lean against the large window and prop myself against the windowsill that’s been warmed by the sunlight sneaking in from outside.

“Will you be there supervising?"

"No, I'm going to drop them off with some booze money and pick them up in the back alley later," I say sarcastically. Seriously, is there a single person on this godforsaken planet who believes I can do anything right?

“Are you insane?” I can’t tell if that was meant to be sarcastic. The tone was rather ambiguous.

“No, you’re right,” I tease. “You can’t trust teenagers to pick out good alcohol. I should probably help them.”

"Where's Alicia?" the voice asks, full of unspoken accusation. He's clearly not impressed by me. I’m not so impressed by him, either.

"At work. Why? Is that a problem?" I shoot back, propping a defiant hand on my hip. If he wants a problem. I can give him a problem. I excel at being a problem.

“How old are you?"

"Old enough for that to be a rude question,” I snap back. And then silence swallows up the conversation. It seems like he’s thinking a little too hard about what he should do next.

"Don't worry. I promise I'm not a serial killer," I offer helpfully.

There’s a long and steady sigh before the guy responds. "Only a serial killer would lead with that." There's something commanding in his voice. Something that I enjoy far too much. There's an awkward pause and I fill it with laughter. He's probably right. Serial killers probably deny being serial killers all the time.

"You want to run a background check on me or something?" I offer. Julie and Ruby give me the same confused look. I roll my eyes, point at the phone, and shake my head. Just so they know thathe’sthe problem here. Not me.

"Sure. Just need your name and social."

My mouth drops. And I slightly panic. If charges get dismissed, do they still show up on your background check? I should probably look into that whole Jeep theft thing.

"Please tell me you're joking." What the hell did I just get myself into?

"Alicia never mentioned having a sister. You could be anybody."Surprise, surprise.Alicia never mentioned having a reckless, troublesome sister.

"Welp, you caught me." I throw up my free hand. "The ruse is up. I'm really a Nigerian princess who wants to transfer onemillion dollars into your bank account. I just need your routing number, sir.”

"That was..." He pauses, as if searching for the right word. He finally settles on, "Unnecessary."

"You'rebeing unnecessary," I tell him. “Unnecessarily difficult.”

Ruby is clutching her head and groaning again. I think when she asked me to talk to her dad, she saw this conversation going in a different direction. Oops.

“Ihaveto ask questions,” he snaps. “Otherwise, I’d never know what’s going on.” Oh brother. I wish this guy were in front of me so I could straighten him out in person. I bet he’s a giant, snarling, hideous beast of a man. He’s probably got a giant beer belly and a big shiny dome head. That’s probably why he’s so angry at the world.

"I'mliterallytelling you what's going on." I scoff. “And you’re being a giant dick.” I clamp my hand over my mouth and peek at Julie. I’m fairly certain that was a no-no word.

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