“You want me to pretend to be Justin, but you brushed my hand away when you thought I was touching you too much. How did you think the whole physical relationship was going to work?”
I nervously glance at Juliet sitting next to us, but she’s leaning close to Rick as they try to get Bailey to look at the parade. “I hadn’t gotten that far.” I lift my chin, zeroing back in on the floats. “But it doesn’t matter because you didn’t agree to do it.”
“Yet, I’m here tonight.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“I know. It’s fine. I’m actually enjoying myself.”
I peek back at him. “Good.”
It is good, right? If Caleb is enjoying himself, maybe he’ll be more willing to stand in for Justin if Ireallyneed him to—if it’s, like, Christmas Day or something. On second thought, Justin better not be working on Christmas Day—that’s a worldwide non-negotiable holiday.
A few floats down, the famous Mariah Carey song plays, and my mom jumps to her feet.
“It’s Donna!” She points down the street.
“How do we know Donna?” Caleb whispers in my ear, causing chills to crawl over me again.
“She’s my mom’s best friend. They work at the high school together. They are both the secretaries.”
“Gotcha.”
My entire family stands, clapping along as Donna’s float pulls in front of us. The car slows to a snail pace, letting Donna have her moment in front of friends. She sings the entire bridge of the song and then finishes with the last chorus.
Caleb claps as she hits her last note, then looks back at my mom. “What a cover!”
“Isn’t she good?” My mom cheers with him.
He whistles as the music ends, then to my surprise, he starts chanting, “Donna! Donna! Donna!”
In a matter of seconds, the entire crowd around us joins in on Caleb’s chant. Donna kisses her fingers and throws them at Caleb before her float moves on. The chant fades, but that doesn’t mean Caleb has. He high-fives my brother-in-law and then turns around, high-fiving my parents.
Thenhe sits down.
He waves his fingers, signaling for me tocome here,and I’m not even going to comment on how sexy his bossiness is combined with his glimmering eyes.
I sink down to my seat in his lap, staring at him the entire time.
“What?” His eyes bounce from me to the parade.
“You high-fived my mom.”
“So?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m just a Donna O’Day groupie. Has she recorded anything? Can I find her on Spotify?”
My lips drift into a smile. “No. She’s a high school secretary from Telluride.”
“Too bad. I’m a fan of Double D.”
“Double D?”
“Yeah, Donna O’Day.”
“Technically, wouldn’t that be DO?”
