Stirring Up Trouble by Juli Alexander Read Free Book Online

she the only woman you’ve picked up in the produce section?” I asked.
    “Um. Well, one other, but that one didn’t last past the first date.”
    I groaned. I could see my dad loitering in Kroger and making suggestive comments about a woman’s melons.
    “Listen, Zoe.” He sounded serious. “I know it might be hard for me to date the mother of one of your friends. I remember what it’s like to be a teenager.”
    He was still a teenager if you asked me. A balding teenager with a paunchy belly and wrinkles around his eyes. “It’s fine, Dad. Date whoever you want.” My life would suck anyway.
    “Well, Sheree seems to think you guys got into some kind of argument.” The way he said her name really creeped me out.
    “We didn’t,” I said. “We’re fine. Everything’s fine.”
    “Zoe,” he said. “I think I might end up marrying this woman.”
    “What?” I rolled my eyes. He couldn’t see but it made me feel better. “Dad, you just met her. You’ve known her for like two weeks.”
    “Four,” he corrected.
    “And she just ended an eight-year relationship,” I went on. “And you’ve only been divorced for a year. You can’t marry her yet.”
    “I’m not saying we’re getting married this week. I wanted to give you some warning that this is more than a fling.”
    My stomach rolled. Not only should my father never have a fling, but he should never say the word “fling.” Gross.
     
     
    Later, I asked my mom, “Did Dad ever do the grocery shopping when you were married?”
    She looked at me funny. “No, why?”
    “No reason,” I said. At least he hadn’t turned into a total freak until after the separation.
    I distracted her by telling what happened with Anya. She sided with me, of course. She is my mother. She has to side with me.
    Since the Anya outburst had already happened, I went ahead and turned my cell back on in hopes that Jake had tried to call me. He hadn’t.
    Camille called but I didn’t feel like I could tell her anything. I mean Jake had totally planned to hook up with her, not me. Camille and I had been friends since fifth grade when the totally cute, witty, Asian-American girl had sat next to me in Mrs. Hudson’s class.
    Then she crushed my heart to bits.
    “What’s the deal with Anya and Jake anyway?” she asked. “Because he called me today.”
    Pain. Sharp pain right in the heart. “He did?”
    “Yeah,” she said. “I think he’s going to ask me out.”
    Be cool. The only thing worse than a broken heart would be if everyone knew my heart was broken. “You do?”
    “Would Anya be mad?”
    “Yeah,” I said. I knew that for a fact. “But does it matter?”
    “I don’t know yet,” Camille said. “I like someone else, too.”
    “Well, I guess you better figure it out.”
    When she finally hung up, I went upstairs to bed.
     
     
    “Zoe,” Mom said, walking towards my bed at two thirty Sunday afternoon. “Are you going to stay there all day?”
    “Yeah,” I said, glancing down at my ratty t-shirt and shorts. Seeing her all perky and fully dressed only made me feel like more of a loser.
    “Do you feel any better than you did when you went to bed last night?” she asked through freshly applied lipstick.
    “No,” I admitted.
    “Will you feel any better if you stay there until tomorrow morning?”
    “No.” I pulled the pillow over my head. The truth was that my Modest Mouse CD had been on continuous play for so long that I almost couldn’t stand it anymore.
    “We could go see a movie,” she suggested. “How about that Zac Efron movie again?”
    I just groaned.
    “What?”
    “That’s where Jake kissed me,” I muttered. “In the movie.” Now, I had about as much chance with Jake as Zac, and in case you don’t know, that’s zip, zero, nada.
    “Okay,” she said, trying to sound cheerful, despite her faltering smile. “No movie then. How about shopping? I need a new outfit for this week’s taping.”
    “No. I’m not going anywhere. I’m