Page 14 of The Guy Who Fake Dated Me

My mom opened her mouth, but I held up a finger. “And no, just because I own the place doesn’t mean I can pull any strings or offer any special favors.” I’d already done both of those things for just about everyone in town, and it had cost me a lot of time and money. At some point, I was going to have to initiate a charge for any changes made less than a month out.

Victoria:Are you busy? Can I call you?

“Told you,” Crystal said. “Logan isn’t playing nice with anyone.”

I shot her a dark look and sent Victoria a reply.

Logan:Yes, but give me a second.

Crystal saw my dark look and raised me a smug expression. “Is this about your friend’s kid’s birthday party?”

“Maybe.”

Crystals’ friend, Megan, had wanted to change everything about their 3-year-old’s birthday party at the last minute. I’d refused, and Crystal had been a little miffed at me ever since.

To be fair, Crystal was always mad at me. On an anger scale of one to ten, I’d say she hovered between a three and a four even when she hadn’t seen me in a while.

I was her older brother; it was my duty to annoy her.

Plus, she’d been a bit of a pill since Rachel had told her off near the beginning of the summer, and I may have been meaner than usual to her.

My phone buzzed again.

Victoria:It’s okay. We can talk later.

It was not okay. She’d never asked to talk on the phone before, and I wasn’t going to give up this chance to help her. And win myself some brownie points.

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do?” My mom gave me a puppy-eyed look that beat Sky’s by a long shot.

“Sorry, Mom, there’s not.” I got to my feet and waved my phone. “I need to take a call.” I pointed at my dad. “Peanut butter and jelly?”

“Yes.”

My mom let out a wail. I pressed the call button and retreated through the sliding door and into the spacious backyard.

Victoria picked up on the first ring. “You didn’t have to call.”

Her voice shook, and I longed to put my arms around her. I ignored her statement and said, “Your cousin is getting married.”

She sniffed. “Yeah.”

I hated that she sounded small. Victoria was one of those people who glowed. “Are we for or against said wedding?”

“For it, I guess.”

I walked across the deck and down onto the lawn. Sky saw me and trotted over. “You guess?”

“I should be happy for him.”

“But you’re not?” I scratched Sky’s head.

“I am.” She paused, and when she spoke, her voice was even smaller. “It’s dumb.”

“Anything that makes you cry isn’t dumb, Victoria.”

She sniffed again. “Thanks.”

I gave her a second before I said, “Do you want to talk about it?”

---