Page 65 of Love Redesigned
I willed conviction into my voice. “Do the research, find the evidence, take it to the wedding, steal a dress, and expose Sasha as a thief.”
“You just made that sound really easy.”
“It won’t be easy, but—”
“Wait,” Dani said, cutting me off. “When is the wedding again?”
“New Year’s Eve.”
“So we’ll be finished with the Compassion Experiment by then. That’s good.”
“And we will have plenty of time to fly home and then make it to Islamorada.”
“Isla-where?” Isaac asked from the bedroom doorway. “Sounds tropical. Can I come?”
Dani gave him a quick rundown of everything we’d been discussing. When she got to the part about stealing the wedding dress back, Isaac whooped and hollered like a kid who’d just won a video game tournament. “A legit wedding dress heist. I am so coming with you to Florida. Please tell me you’ll let me put this on the air.”
“Absolutely not,” Dani and I said in tandem. Even the tone we used was identical.
Isaac rolled his eyes. “Come on. Not even highlights? After the fact? And only if everything works just as it should?”
“There’s too much at stake, Isaac,” Dani said. “My career. Alex’s relationship with his stepdad. You can come if you want, but cameras have to stay off.”
I wasn’t surerelationshipwas the right word for what I had with Alicio. But what Dani said was still true. Odds were against anyone in attendance at a LeFranc wedding also watching Isaac’s YouTube channel, but we couldn’t be too careful. If I found what I hoped to find, I’d be making some pretty hefty criminal accusations that would likely land Sasha in jail. This was about much more than a wedding dress.
“Fine,” Isaac said. “No cameras. But you have to at least let me drive the getaway car.”
This time, Dani rolledhereyes. “Oh my word. Are you seriously twelve years old?” Isaac moved behind us and put an arm around each of our necks, pulling us into an awkward three-way hug. “New Years in the Florida Keys,” he said with a grin. “This is going to be so much fun.”
Later, a text came in from Dani containing the password to access the cloud files I needed.This is awkward,the text read.But I’m afraid to change it in case I get locked out and we can’t get back in. The password is AL3XmyLuV.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dani
I stood at the back of Isaac’s studio watching him wrap up the last of his filming. Mom’s words echoed through my head. It was hard for me to believe that Isaac actually cared about my approval. But Alex had said he did, and so had Mom, two people I trusted.
So I stood in the back. I watched. And much to my surprise, I laugheda lot.
Isaac sat behind a large desk next to Steven, an array of vegan food spread out in front of them. The point of the episode was to taste test vegan foods against their traditional counterparts. Vegan hamburgers. Vegan bacon. Vegan milk. It wasn’t groundbreaking material; there were probably a hundred YouTube videos that attempted the very same thing. But his commentary was roll-on-the-floor funny. I’d always known he was a performer. He’d been showboating his way through life since we’d first learned how to talk. But seeing it translate into an actual job—a thing that people watched and liked and reacted to? It was pretty eye-opening.
Suddenly inspired by a new sense of appreciation, I pulled out my phone and texted Darius.Hey. Any word back from your uncle? We’re nearly out of time.
I slipped the phone back into my pocket but pulled it out again almost immediately to answer a call from Chase. I stepped outside to answer the call but made sure to make eye contact with Isaac before I did. I wanted him to see me standing there. To see me laughing. To see that I appreciated what he did. Mom had been right. I’d never given him enough credit.
“Hey, are you close?” I said to Chase, pulling the studio door closed behind me.
“I’m here,” Chase said. “At least, I think I am. Is there a driveway where you want me to put this trailer, or should I park in the street?”
“No, pull into the driveway. I had everyone else move so there was room for you.” I cut through the garden and down the narrow alleyway separating Isaac’s house from the neighbor’s, hitting the driveway right as Chase cut the ignition. He jumped out of his car and I barreled into him for a hug.
“You’re here!” I said. “How was the drive?”
“So long,” he said. “You better get me to the ocean by nightfall, so I feel like all that time in the car was worth it.”
“Did someone say ocean?” Darius stepped out from behind the trailer. “Sign me up for that.”
“Darius! You came, too?”
