Page 5 of Anchored Love
Jess and Casey would run off on some quest to save the polar bears or something, leaving us all to our own vices.
I would die trying to get undressed to pee. Growing up it never failed. The very second I’d get my snow boots on the urge to pee would overwhelm me. I’d have to have Mom help me get undressed and go through the whole process again. It could totally happen again. It’d be my luck, no doubt.
“Everly?” my mother prompted, and I blinked. All eyes were focused on me. I blinked again, clearing my head of thoughts about freezing temperatures and polar bears, wondering why I was the center of attention. “What?”
“I said since you have a plus one, I want to pick your date,” Mom said with utter seriousness.
My stomach dropped to my feet, and the wine I’d consumed threatened to make a reappearance and not in a good way. Palms sweating, my mind raced with images of all the horrible dates my mother had set me up on over the years.
The guy she knew from work who it turned out had a warrant for his arrest for failure to pay child support. Then Kevin, who shouldn’t have been dating because he was in the twelve-steps program. Or Steven, who talked so much about his car I wondered if he wanted to marry it. There was no way in hell I was going to allow her to stick me with some crazy man for a week on a cruise. No way. She had the worst taste in men where her daughter, namely me, was concerned.
I had visions of nightmare dates from the past. I could only imagine what kind of miscreant weirdo she had lined up in her head for this trip.
“I’m seeing someone,” I blurted the words before considering the consequences.
“Who?” Jess asked, her brow arching up. If I was seeing anyone on a serious level, Jess would've known about it. We told each other things like that.
“You haven’t mentioned anyone?” Mom’s eyes narrowed on me, trying to catch me in my lie, but I was going for broke here. There was no way I could allow myself to suffer another one of her ill-fated set ups.
“It’s new.” I shook my head. “We haven’t told anyone yet.” I grabbed the stem of my wine glass as though it was my lifeline and took a healthy sip. The lies spewed from my mouth like diarrhea. The word vomit continued to rush out of me.
“I haven’t mentioned it because we’re still feeling things out, ya know. Modern dating is different for someone like me who works all the time.” I grasped at anything to get her off my back.
One lie led to two, and two turned into five as my foot went deeper and deeper down my throat. We hadn’t even set sail, and I already felt the waves pushing me down. I weaved a sea of lies, and eventually I would drown. My mother could sniff out lies like a freaking bloodhound.
But first, who in the world could I ask to stand in as my plus one?
“Well then. I guess that’s settled.” Mom sunk back into Herbert’s embrace like a deflated balloon rejected for her quest to find me a man she deemed a worthy and appropriate suitor.
“Time to open my gift next.” Jess jumped up and presented everyone with white envelopes. I was beginning to sense a theme and wondered if I was the only one who bought actual gifts everyone could unwrap. “Don’t get too excited. I’m not as fancy as Drake with that expensive trip, but Casey and I made donations on your behalf to charities we thought you’d love to support.”
“Thanks, Sis. Very thoughtful.” I glanced at the receipt while everyone murmured their own gratitude. The charitable donation was so Jess and Casey. I admired her passion. She stood up for what she believed in, and no one could test her beliefs.
I, on the other hand, had gotten everyone shoes. I couldn’t help myself. I lived for great shoes. At the moment, though, I was glad no one had interrogated me about my fake boyfriend, and I wondered if I could stage a break-up the day before the trip. That, however, would require a fake boyfriend. Something I didn’t have.
Something I desperately needed.
I needed a plan.
No, scratch that.
I needed a miracle.
