Page 85 of Empty Net

“Ah, right.” My mother smiles victoriously over her shoulder, effectively ending the discussion.

Auden and I look at one another, rolling our eyes simultaneously as we trudge up a hill after the Wicked Witch. I have no idea where we’re going, but I’m guessing this was all planned as part of her outing today. When she called this morning and asked if I had looked at invitations yet, I asked her if she was completely insane because it was six AM, but I wasn’t at all expecting that to lead to us spending the day together. Yet here we are.

She’s wrong, though. I think if this were real, Foxwouldcare what kind of invitations we have. Well, maybe not exactly that, but he’d want to be involved. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who just sits back. He’d want to have a say in his own wedding.

Guilt climbs up my throat, and it’s not the first time that’s happened today. Doing anything wedding related feels so…wrong. Not just because this is fake but because I know howFox really feels. I know that, unlike me, he wants a relationship someday, a wedding—arealone, not whatever this has turned into.

Party, then break up, I remind myself. I’m not stealing anything from him. It’s just a party.

As we pass by a store, something sitting on the glass shelf in the window stops me in my tracks. It takes Auden a moment to realize I’ve stopped and my mother even longer.

“What are you doing, Lilah Jane? We have a reservation we need to make.”

“I just need a moment. I need to…”

I pull open the door to the shop, heading right to the display I saw from the street. I gently pick up the turtle figurine that looks like it’s made of glass, rock, wood, and I don’t even know what else. It’s so unique and so Fox that I have to have it. I carry it to the register at the back of the shop, Auden behind me the whole time while my mother stands in the doorway of the kitschy little shop looking like she’d rather be anywhere else in the world.

“What is that?” Auden asks, standing behind me as I hand it to the person behind the checkout counter.

“It’s a turtle made from materials found on Alki Beach. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Very,” I tell them, tapping my card to pay.

“Would you like it wrapped?”

“That’d be wonderful.”

“Since when are you into turtles?” Auden asks as they wrap the adorable figurine I know Fox is going to love.

“It’s not for me.”

Her brows pinch together. “Then who is it—” Her face lights up. “Oh.”

“What?” I say, not at all liking the look she’s giving me. It’s one of those obnoxiously knowing looks. I just wish I knew what she knew.

“Nothing,” she says with a shrug.

“Here you go,” the worker says, handing me the wrapped gift.

“Thank you,” I tell them before turning back to Auden. “What were you going to say?”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

I hold back my irritated groan. “Yes, you were. About the turtle.”

“It’s a lovely turtle. That’s all.”

I glare at her, but she doesn’t budge, refusing to tell me whatever it was she was going to say. No, she just smiles, and it’s the most annoying smile in the world.

“Whatever,” I mumble, exiting the shop with another thank-you to the worker and another dirty look from my mother.

She speeds ahead of Auden and me—seriously, how does she walk so fast in those heels with these hills?—as we continue on our way to the restaurant. We don’t talk, we just keep walking, my mother complaining about how late we are because I justhadto stop for a little trinket.

I ignore her, my mind thousands of miles away, all the way in Toronto. I wish I could say this is the first turtle I’ve bought since Fox has been gone, but it’s not. It’s just the first one Auden’s seen me buy. I can’t seem to stop myself, though. Every time I come across a turtle now, all I can think of is the sweet Southern boy who has made it his mission to save each and every one.

“It’s for Fox,” I tell Auden quietly as we stand inside the restaurant, my mother talking to the maître d’, explaining to them that we’re late because of her daughter. I’d be bothered by her throwing me under the bus if not for Auden, who isstillsporting that damn grin.

“I kind of figured.”

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