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“Why?” she barks. “Because! I gave our mother my kidney, Levi Bailey, and this is all I’m asking for.”
“Are you going to use that against us for the rest of our lives?”
“It’s adate, Levi.” She punches me in the arm again. “It’s not like I’m asking you to raise my children or something. Come out with Jude and me. Let’s have fun.”
Ugh. I breathe out a growl. She did—she was the only match, and after only knowing us a few months, she donated her kidney to our mother. “Who is it I’m supposed to be dating?”
“Annie,” she says, crossing her arms.
“Owen’s Annie?” I can feel the cringe take over my face.
“Yeah. They aren’t dating,” she whines. “So, why not?”
“I don’t even like Annie. And she can’t stand me.” It’s true. And for some reason—that fact makes me feel a little better about the whole thing.
“So?”
“So? You don’t think I should like a girl when I go out with her? How does Owen feel about this?” He may not like to talk about it, but Owen’s had a crush on his high school friend for years.
“Why would Owen care?” she says, avoiding my first question.
“Fine!” I bark back at her. “I go out with Annie tonight and then we’re even. The kidney for the date.”
“Are you kidding me? You think that’s a fair trade?” She pulls up her shirt two inches, showing off her belly button, and to the right, the two-inch scar her surgery left. She taps it. “You think this is fair? I just want to go out and have some fun with my husband and my brother. Next timeyouwant to take me out, make sure you also throw in a major organ!”
She’s being dramatic. She doesn’t believe that I, or any of us, owe her anything. I know that. So why is she doing this? What does she want from me? Why is this so important to her? I can’t have Meredith, so she’s going to throw Annie at me? That’s not going to work, little sister.
“I said I’d go!”
“Kids?” Mom stands in the doorway, her hands hidden by dirty gardening gloves. “Alice and I can hear you outside.”
“Oh, hey, Mom.” Coco trots over and kisses our mother’s cheek like we weren’t just screaming at each other. “Is it still okay if I bring the girls by again? Probably around six-twenty, when we pick up Levi. We can’t be late for our big triple date.” She peers back at me, all smiles now. “Dinner and bowling.”
“Of course,” Mom says.
But I’m stuck ondate. “Dinner and—“ I growl, but stop short. “Triple?” I smirk. I can only imagine who she’s lined up for Miles. Good luck with that, Coco. He’s more difficult to get on a date than I am.
“I’ll just grab Alice.” She kisses our mother’s cheek and she’s off.
“You’re going out tonight?” Mom says, looking as surprised as I feel.
“Apparently. It looks like I’ll be doing Coco’s bidding for the rest of my life.”
Ihave no desire to dress up for Annie Archer. But if I go outside in sweats and my most comfortable T-shirt—the one with Tony the Tiger on the front—Coco is bound to pull the kidney card again and make me come back inside and change. We’re bowling though, we’re not going to the opera. So, I wear dark jeans and a button-up. She cannot complain about that.
I hop into the back of the van to see that Coco and Jude are pretty business casual too. Coco’s jeans are amazingly clear of holes and stains. I wasn’t sure she owned any.
“We’re meeting Annie there,” she says as greeting.
“Good. I’d rather not be stuck in a vehicle with that woman.”
Coco whips around to glare at me. “Are you going to be nice tonight?”
“Jude—” I growl.
“Hey,” my best friend says, “I told you two long ago that I’m not your middleman. If you want to argue, that’s fine, but don’t put me in the middle.”
“We’re not arguing,” Coco says, reaching around to slap my knee. “We’re going to have fun, right?”
