Page 22 of Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder

“Oh, you’re completely darling!” she says as she approaches.

More muttering from Aiden at this, and more temple rubbing. “Caroline—”

“Are you getting settled in okay?” she says, ignoring her brother completely. “I wanted to come and check on you. Make sure everything was to your liking.”

Wow. That’s really nice of her. Are landladies usually that thoughtful?

“Uh, yeah,” I say, because this is such an unexpected question that I don’t have an answer ready. “It’s great. It’s a nice place, my room is great, the price is fair.”

“Wonderful,” Caroline says, looking pleased. Then she jerks her thumb at Aiden. “And how’s the roommate?”

“A bit on the negative side,” I say immediately. Aiden glares at me; I smile sweetly back.

She nods sympathetically. “I know,” she says. Then, lowering her voice to a conspicuous whisper, she says, “He’s always been like that. It’s why no one will date him.”

I think she’s probably exaggerating there; I’m sure there are plenty of women who would put up with all the frowning for a chance to see this man on a regular basis. But I just nod, because I don’t think his sister needs to hear my opinion on that particular matter.

Except…

“He doesn’t even have a date to the dance tonight?” I say. I’m not a superb actress; my voice is a little too innocent to be believable, and the way Aiden’s eyes narrow tells me he sees what I’m up to.

“Of course he doesn’t,” Caroline says with a snort. She waves one airy hand, a little charm bracelet jingling as she says, “I don’t remember the last time he took a date to a school event.”

“That’s too bad,” I say with an over-the-top sigh. “Because I was just asking him ifIcould be his date—”

“Don’t you dare—” Aiden begins, looking mutinous, but Caroline jumps in.

“Oh, yes, you should!” she says, clapping her hands. “Absolutely!”

“I thought it was a good idea, but he said no.” I do my best to pull a sad face.

And look—if Aiden himself were my real interest, I wouldn’t do this. I’m not going to manipulate my way into a date with a guy I like, especially if I know he isn’t interested. That feels icky to me, too much like forcing my presence on him when he doesn’t want it. But if I can justgetto the dance with Aiden, I can make myself scarce. He won’t have to put up with me until the very end, when we swing by the potato statue together.

“Aiden,” Caroline says, rounding on him and looking exasperated. “If a beautiful woman asks you to be her date—”

“She doesn’t want to be my date!” Aiden says, throwing his hands up in the air. “She just wants to go meet some weirdo by the Solomon statue.”

Caroline freezes in place, looking confused. Then she turns to me, raising one eyebrow.

“It’s true,” I say, shrugging apologetically. “Sorry. But I’m supposed to meet someone I’ve never met, and I want Aiden to come as backup. Safety in numbers and all that.”

If anything, this new information seems to get Caroline even more fired up. “Aiden,” she says. She wags her finger at him as she speaks, something that makes her seem much older than him. “Are you just going to let your roommate go by herself? What if something happened to her? How guilty would you feel?” Then, turning to me, she adds kindly, “I’m sure nothing will happen, of course. Still, though.” She gives Aiden a disapproving frown. “I’m going to have a word with Mom about how she raised you—”

“Don’t you dare,” Aiden says for the second time in the last ten minutes. This time, though, his face pales. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Well, she should know that she raised a coward.”

I bite my lip. “That’s not it,” I say. It’s stupid to pretend I know Aiden better than his own sister, but whatever. “I’m sure he just doesn’t want to mess with it—”

“Fine,” Aiden cuts me off. He’s rubbing his temples again; is he getting a headache? “Fine. Look. Here’s the deal.” He turns to me. “I will go with you to the statue after the dance. We will stay for ten minutes.Ten minutes. That’s it. Got it? After that, I’m leaving. You can stay if you want—”

“No,” I say quickly. “Ten minutes is perfect. It’s just fine. We can leave after that. In return—” I cast around, thinking of a way I can repay him. “In return, I will provide seasonal decor for the house. I will also cook meals for both of us for the next week. Does that sound fair?”

“That’s fair,” he says stiffly, and he does look a little more placated now that I’ve made this offer. “I don’t care about decorations, though.”

“I figured,” I say, smiling slightly. “That’s why I added the meals part.” I love cooking; it won’t be a problem for me to make a little extra.

“Well, that worked out wonderfully,” Caroline says. Then she smiles at me. “Do you have a dress?”

---