Page 143 of Shortcake
“You’re right. Come on. We need to get back to shore and come up with our plan…”
“Our plan?” Harper asked, eyes wide. “Our apology plan?”
I dipped the oar into the water and with a heavy stroke, got the boat moving back toward our house. “Our plan to win Addy back. But I can’t do it alone. You in?”
“Oh, I’m in!” Harper threw her hands in the air with a squeal.
Splunk!
There went the other fishing rod.
Through her cringe, she offered me a smile. “At least there’s no more truth sticks for today, right?”
I laughed as I propelled the boat faster toward shore. “Something tells me we’re not going to need a fishing rod to be truthful with each other anymore.”
Harper propped her foot onto the bow of the fishing boat and pointed to shore like some sort of modern day Anne Bonny. “Hurry! We’ve got ahappily ever afterto catch.”
We did. We sure did.
ChapterThirty
Addy
“Come on, tell her what youreallydo for a living. Not just what you tell strangers you do!” Finn said, laughing.
“I thought you said you were a matchmaker? Like Finny here.” I launched over his head and gave my little brother a noogie.
Hope’s face on the screen froze on her playful eye roll for a second and then came right back. Internet had been blipping out a little here and there with the September rainstorm. It’d been raining for two days straight. With the perfect cool chill in the air and patter of rain slapping the lake, I had read all day and finished Pride and Prejudice finally on my ereader after leaving Harper’s copy in her room for her.
“It’s a lot easier to say matchmaker than tell you all what Ireallydo for a living,” Hope said, bringing my attention back to the Zoom call.
I dropped my jaw in a mock gasp. “Are you holding out onme? Your very own sister!”
My brothers sat around me on the couch, literally right by my side to support me through this first phone call with Hope.
And thank God for them. It wasn’t that it was a bad call… actually, it was going great. But because they had all already spoken with her, it took a lot of the pressure off me. And having all of us here chiming in with stories and questions made it so there wasn’t a single second of awkward silence.
“Okay fine,” Hope said. “I’m a professionalwingwoman.”
I blinked, staring at the screen in total, utter confusion. “A what?”
“A professional wingwoman,” she repeated. “You know, a cooter recruiter.”
Beside me, Neil snorted his glass of water, nearly spewing it through his nose.
“That’s athing?” Incredulous, I looked at my brothers to see if they’d ever heard of this.
They all shook their heads in various different ways.
“How the hell would I know?” Neil said, wiping the water from his mouth.
“Same here. I’m spoken for.” Liam winked across the room at Chloe where she, Elaina, and Haylee were all helping my mom cook dinner.
When Finn didn’t answer, we all turned to him. “What’re you looking at me for?” Finn asked.
I shrugged. “You’re in an adjacent industry. Maybe you’ve heard of it.”
“I haven’t, but it makes sense. It’s like your own cool spin on the matchmaking industry.”
