The Other Fish in the Sea by Jenn Cooksey Read Free Book Online Page A

let him.
    He chuckled at me, gave me a delightfully appropriate kiss for being in the midst of about three-dozen kids and then mumbled against my lips, “We’ll see.”
    And there’s my advanced notice, which unsurprisingly, I chose to ignore later that night.

3.

    Sister Sledge Goes To The Desert

    The next few days couldn’t have dragged on any slower. No one was having any parties that weekend, Tristan hadn’t been around much because he was doing some maintenance on his dirt bike in preparation for the desert, and I would’ve hung out at his place and watched, but then he wouldn’t have gotten anything done. Kate was packing and getting ready for her trip to New Jersey, Jeff was, of course, moping with her, and Melissa was getting ready for her family’s ski trip to Vail.
    Pete showed up and watched some bad daytime TV with Jillian and me on Monday and my mom had been cooking various parts of Thanksgiving dinner that could be made ahead of time, the smell of which made us all perpetually hungry, but our house still seemed oddly depressed. Therefore, I was thrilled when the gang gathered together once more on Tuesday afternoon.
    Tristan, Jeff, Pete, and Jillian were playing the board game Rummikub on the coffee table while my mom and I were watching Buffy on DVD, thus giving Tristan, Jillian, and me the much amusing opportunity to bug the crap out of Jeff by quoting all the lines before the characters said them, when as per usual, Kate came in without having knocked, plopped down on Jeff’s lap and then dropped her news on us.
    “Well, if it’s okay, I’m going to the desert with you guys…my mom got pissed at my dad and not only cancelled our trip, but decided not to celebrate Thanksgiving at all.”
      “Oh honey, I’m sorry to hear that, but of course you’re more than welcome to join us,” my mom said sympathetically.
    “Sweet! I’m comin’ too then,” Jeff stated as a matter of fact.
    “What about dinner with your father?” My mom asked.
    “Screw that! If he has a problem with it, then too bad…I’m comin’.” My mom hid a grin at Jeff’s insistence that included giving Kate a defiant kiss on the cheek that could have said, “Just try to stop me.”
    Over the last week or so, Jillian had been complaining that she didn’t have a friend coming and that I did (friend, boyfriend…whatever) and I could tell by the look on her face that she was about to pour forth another lengthy complaint about her sucky friends not being able to go, but she clamped her mouth shut in irritation and threw Pete something like a scandalized look when he spoke up before her.  
    “Well if everyone else is goin’, I wanna go too! Mrs. R, if my mom says it’s okay, can I come?”  
    “It’s fine with me, but your mother needs to give her permission.”
      Pete was already dialing his phone when he said, “No problem. My parents just became grandparents and they won’t care if I’m there or not. Right now they’re only interested in spoiling my sister’s new baby.”
    By the way and not that it really matters, but Pete is the youngest of three children and he actually only turned sixteen in September. He’s a junior because with his September birthday, he was able to start school when he was four instead of five. He also comes from a very wealthy family, but you would never know because he and his family don’t flaunt it even a little bit.
    “Well, girls, one of you should probably call Melissa and extend an invitation…she’ll be upset if you leave her out,” my mom said and grinned at Pete when he gave her the thumbs up saying he could go.
    “She’s going skiing,” I told my mom.
    Pete started shaking his head “no” and then hung up with his mom. “No, she isn’t. Didn’t you guys hear? Her little brother just got chicken pox so they had to cancel.” I giggled at Jeff when he shuddered at the mention of chicken pox.
    So I called Melissa. Sure enough, Pete’s intelligence was correct