Triple Dog Dare by Georgia Beers

Author:Georgia Beers [Beers, Georgia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781636793399
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2022-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

That feeling of being just slightly off stayed with me all morning as I watched how seamlessly Kennedy fit right into my family, like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle finally snapped in place.

My mother wasn’t kidding about liking her. It was clear in the way she looked at her when she spoke, touched Kennedy’s arm in the same maternal way she’d touch me or either of my sisters.

Melody woke up armed with a renewed list of quiz questions and started right in, asking about coffee, obviously wanting to see if Kennedy knew how I liked mine. She did. By the time she asked Kennedy if I had overheated her with my flannel pajama pants and shirt and socks, my fake girlfriend was apparently ready to use the weapon we’d discussed.

Kennedy looked at Melody for a moment, squinted as if studying her. With a slight tilt of her head, she said, “Sasha doesn’t wear pajamas.” I had worn some last night because, hello? In bed with somebody I didn’t know well. But she was right—I hated them. Melody tried to catch her own crestfallen expression, but Kennedy wasn’t done. “What’s going on with you?” she asked my sister. Her voice was gentle, not accusatory, but firm enough to catch the attention of both me and my mother. And Cat, who was approaching from the hallway.

“What do you mean?” Melody asked, doing that thing where the cornered person tries to busy herself, and got herself some coffee.

“I’m just wondering what’s with the endless litany of questions. It feels a little bit like I’m constantly taking a test I didn’t study for.”

Except she did study! Ha! I wanted to shout. I managed to keep my mouth shut, thank the good Lord above.

Melody at least had the good sense to blush, and her eyes flicked in my direction, then quickly away and back to her cup as she lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make you feel like I’m testing you.”

Liar.

“It’s okay.” Kennedy. She waited until Melody looked in her direction, opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again, leaving my sister waiting for words that didn’t come. Holy crap, she was good.

Cat came the rest of the way into the kitchen, kissed my mom on the cheek, and wished us all a Merry Christmas, and just like that, things went back to normal and the discomfort burned away like morning fog.

I looked at Kennedy, and with her back to the rest of the room’s occupants, she winked.

I was probably going to have to give her a bonus.

And then that thought made me feel weird and off-balance all over again.

“I’m going to grab a shower,” I said, because I suddenly needed to get away from all of them. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and my head was feeling more jumbled, and I didn’t know what to do with any of it.

So I fled.

Just to the bathroom, but still. Fled. I was totally fleeing.

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