AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I clench my jaw and decide I’ll channel all my frustration about all of it into tonight’s game.
Chapter Three
Eloise
“So, do you want the job or not?”
I’m standing in the kitchen with Dallas Burke and my sister Poppy, while my mother and my other sister, Raya, bustle around us in preparation for Sunday dinner.
I mostly want to sit down with an entire pan of brownies and a carton of ice cream, but I guess we’re talking about adult things now.
Like being responsible and paying rent and getting jobs.
However, what Dallas has just proposed doesn’t sound like the kind of job I would submit a resume for. Or a punch the clock type of job, either.
Actually, it sounds a lot like the job I had and loved and totally screwed up just a month ago.
My eyes flick over to Poppy’s, then narrow. “Was this your idea?”
“Poppy, how long are the potatoes supposed to be in for?” Our mom insists on making Sunday dinner, even though Poppy is a chef. But today, she did allow her to make the potatoes.
Poppy walks over to the oven, opens it, shakes her head, and closes it. “They’re not ready.”
Mom’s face falls. “I need more oven space.”
Dad appears in the doorway of the kitchen, having just set the table. We all know he wants to go watch the Bears game, but he’s making himself look available because otherwise Mom might implode.
“What else can I do?” Dad signs as Poppy speaks his words aloud. Dallas is learning ASL, but he’s not fluent, so we sign and speak everything when he’s here.
Mom turns away from the kitchen and surveys all of us, standing there, in her way. She starts making shooing motions with her hands. “Out, out, out!” she says, then switching to actual sign language she adds, “It’s entirely too crowded.”
Dad looks wide mouthed at me and winks, then badly moonwalks out of the room.
Somehow, I feel like this was all part of his plan. Overcrowd the kitchen, drive Mom batty, get to watch the game.
It tracks.
We all make our way into the living room, waiting on Dallas’s grandma and whoever else my sisters invited today. I only invited Dex, but he’s been getting serious about his girlfriend, Belinda, and he spends most of his free time with her. I get it. I mean, I love Belinda too, but I do secretly hate that he chooses her over us.
Meredith went back to New York, but she and Seth are still going strong. It seems like everyone has someone. Except me.
And Raya. But I really don’t want to be lumped in the same single category with her. I’m single by choice. She’s single because her resting face looks like that.
“So, El?” Poppy is even less interested in the football game than I am. “The job?”
“I’m back at the animal shelter,” I say. “I’m good.” I’m not good. I know I’m not. But the attempts to “fix” my life make me uncomfortable.
“This is a good opportunity,” Poppy says. “And you’re perfect for it.”
“Recap it for me again?” I grab a chip from the bowl on the coffee table and dunk it in the salsa she made. Her salsa is to die for. Chunky but not overloaded, just the right amount of heat, and fresher than anything you’ll find in the grocery store.
“The Comets got a new guy—Grayson Hawke—and he’s . . .” Poppy trails off, looking for Dallas to finish her thought.
“A little intense,” Dallas says.
I frown. “Intense. I don’t do intense.” For some reason I think about the New Year’s kiss I shared with the mysterious stranger.
Maybe I do, in fact, do intense. Because that is exactly how I’d describe that kiss.
