Picture-Perfect Boyfriend by Becky Dean

Author:Becky Dean [Dean, Becky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2023-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

My brother was—where else?—in his shared bedroom on his laptop.

I marched up and yanked out his earbuds. “Let’s go, Ty.”

He squawked. “What? Where? Did I miss something on the schedule?”

“Yep. It says talk to sister.” I grabbed the disgusting baseball hat from his bed and parked it on his head. “This is not optional.”

In case he tried to argue, I took his arm, dragged him up and into the living room, and announced, “We’re going in search of SPAM. Be back soon.”

The one thing guaranteed to make no one else interested. Alana and Neal glanced over from the lanai but didn’t move. Dad blinked at me drowsily from the sofa. We were out the door before they could reply.

“Really?” Tyler asked when we were in the corridor. “Are we finding SPAM?”

“If SPAM stands for Speaking Plainly to Avoid Murder, then yes.”

He slowed, and I shoved him.

“Let’s go, Sneaky Person about to Answer Me.”

“Answer what?”

“I think you know.”

“I don’t know what you mean. Where’s Jake? Jacob.”

“At the pool.”

I needed somewhere public where Tyler and I could talk but where he couldn’t escape. I led him to the small miniature golf course on the resort grounds and picked up two clubs and balls. This was the kind of golfing I preferred, short and easy, with fun things to look at.

“You hate golf,” he said.

“So do you,” I said. “I don’t think this counts.”

We went to the first hole, where a large plastic hula dancer stood guard over a box the ball had to go through to reach the hole.

I waited until he was lined up and about to putt before I said, “Jake told me everything.”

Tyler jerked. His ball sailed high and bounced off the hula dancer’s face.

“What…what did he tell you?” He caught the ball with his club before it rolled past us, and lined it up again.

I let him hit, then followed, sending my ball through the box. “That you already knew him. That you set this up.” I waved my club. “That you knew I made up a boyfriend.”

He refused to meet my gaze, trudging toward the hole.

“Jake told me his side. I want yours.”

“He wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

“Gran figured out we were lying, so he had to. How did you know I made up a boyfriend?”

Tyler sighed and we finished our turns, grabbing our balls and moving on. “Fine. One evening when you said you’d been video chatting with Jacob, I had found your phone in the kitchen, which meant you would have had to be on your laptop to chat, which meant you’d have to use the Wi-Fi. But the internet was out that night. I got kicked off my game partway through. Plus, since I wasn’t playing, I had my headphones off, and I didn’t hear you talking at all that night.”

Wow. He was a full-fledged detective. I couldn’t find words. My brother’s addiction to the internet had been my downfall.

I hit my ball down a lane, this one lined with turtle statues.

“After that, I was suspicious, so I listened more closely.

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