Page 57 of Go Away, Darling

19

Let gravity, Newton’s first, second, and third laws, and fate take over

Chris

Ibent down to Linc who cupped his mouth and whispered in my ear. “I laid the groundwork. It’s all up to you now.”

I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing. It was the way he said it. All serious and spy-like. I schooled my features. “What exactly did you do?” I pictured him gushing about how awesome I was.

That was not what happened.

“I said I needed a brother or sister and that you should get married to make that happen.”

I blinked in surprise. “You have no subtlety in you.”

“What’s that mean?”

“You’re blunt. Straight to the point. Brutally honest.”

Linc frowned. “I’ve waited long enough. No more games. Ask mom to marry you already.”

I could only imagine Liv’s response if I walked across the yard and proposed marriage. She’d kick me out or die laughing. As much as I wanted Linc’s plan to work, I had serious doubts.

“How about we put your skills to good use helping me first.”

Linc shrugged. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”

I pressed my finger to my mouth in the universal sign of silence and then waved him into the kitchen behind me. Scott was in his room taking a nap like usual, so we needed to be quiet and quick before Ben got back. We crept over to the butler pantry and in the back of an unused cabinet stood the secret bag of sunflower seeds I’d been accumulating for the last two weeks.

I showed Linc what was inside and he nodded solemnly. This was not his first rodeo after all. He’d participated in multiple hijinx over the months. The traitor even helped punk me.

Then we crept upstairs to Big Ben’s room. It was dark but the bed was neatly made as usual. I pulled back the covers and we got to work covering the fitted sheet in seeds. Then we carefully replaced the pillows and top sheet (because of course Ben was a top sheet kind of guy) and then finally the duvet. We collected our trash and snuck downstairs just in time.

Even better? Ben had London with him. This was going to be awesome!

And I didn’t even need to coach Linc. He was a natural at pranks. “Hi Ben! Hi Aunt London!”

“Well hello Mr. Lincoln,” London said. “And how was school today, good sir?”

He shrugged. “Fine. On Friday we get pizza, so that’s cool.”

“Pizza’s always cool,” Ben agreed. “Any big plans this weekend?” He looked between us.

Other than win over the love of my life with the help of her sneaky son? Nope. Nothing comes to mind.“I want to get some fishing in.”

Linc nodded enthusiastically and fist bumped me. “Yes!”

“And you lovebirds?”

London blushed a little. “Nothing in particular.”

Sheba, Ben’s dog, finally decided to wake up from her afternoon nap and trotted over to Linc.

“How’s she been?”

“These last couple of days have been brutal,” Ben said. “Thanks for letting her stay here.”

I bent down and ruffled the hair on her back while Linc rubbed her belly. “She’s a good dog. No worries.”

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