Page 10 of The Bad Girl List

“If you don’t come up to the house for dinner, I’ll bring everyone here. We'll invade the bungalow and eat dinner in your place.”

Shit. He’ll do it, too. Dad doesn’t bluff.

“Fine. I’ll invite her.” Now I just have to find someone to bring. Shit. “Will you please manage Mom’s expectations? Like I said, we just met.”

“Of course, son.” But dad’s grin betrays the truth. For an instant, the salesman I grew up with completely disappears, and all I see is a father desperate for his son to be happy.

He’s not going to manage anything. He’s going to call my mother on the way back to the house, and within the next thirty minutes, the entire family is going to think I have a new girlfriend.

I almost come clean.

Then I think about something Thomas said to me back in high school as he was preparing to sneak out of the house with his friends.

“Lies aren’t all bad, Trevor,” he’d said. “I’m doing Mom and Dad a favor. They don’t want to know their youngest son is going to sneak into a private golf course to go ice blocking with his friends and smoke weed. It would just stress them out.”

My parents are stressed. They’ve been worried about me for the last two years. Maybe Thomas is right. Maybe one little lie really will do them a favor.

Maybe it will work out for me, too. I just need to find someone to invite to dinner, someone who’s willing to play along with my white lie and won’t bother me later. If I can find someone to do that, it just might buy me a few months of peace from my parents.

Tequila has stopped barking. Dad is still standing there with that broad smile on his face. I can’t take it anymore.

“I gotta go, Dad. I need to harvest the valerian while it’s still in bloom.”

“Okay. See you Sunday, Trevor.”

“See you Sunday.” I turn away and hurry back inside to get Tequila, trying not to feel anxious about the lie I’ve just released into the wilds of the Moretti family.

Tonight is the two-year anniversary of the accident. I have an all-nighter scheduled with my wine fridge. I should be getting shit-faced, not worrying about a date for Sunday dinner.

I need to text Thomas. Maybe my brother can help me. He must have a friend who will agree to pretend to be my date for one night, if only to get my family off my back.

CHAPTER 4

Anniversary

TREVOR

A whine from Tequila warns me someone is outside. She growls as a heavy hand pounds on my door.

“Trev? It’s me. You there?”

It’s my younger brother, Thomas.

I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone. I’m on the couch with the curtains pulled. Tequila is draped across my lap while I stare at the bottle of Zinfandel in my hand, the first of many for tonight’s anniversary.

I’m still in my dirty work clothes. Showering and changing just feels like too much effort.

“Trevor? I know you’re in there. Let me in.”

“Unless you found me a no-strings-attached date for Sunday, go away.”

“Sorry, man. I asked around, but it’s Passport this weekend. All my friends are working.”

Passport is one of the biggest wine events in our area. A group of wineries opens up their cellars to offer tastes of older vintages paired with food. I’d forgotten it was this weekend.

All the more reason for me to stay home. Healdsburg will be crawling with tourists. But what the hell am I supposed to do about Sunday dinner?

Thomas pounds again on the door. “Open up, bro.”

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