Chapter Twenty-Four

“Wow, that went so well!” Kashvi says on Monday when we get back into her car. I haven’t shaken off the disaster of this weekend, but I’m still glad to be hanging out with Kashvi again so soon. Today we’re taking our newly finished jewelry—including multiple pieces with the halfling dice—to a few different stores around town. To our surprise, the stores have been eager to stock more of our pieces on consignment. We celebrated by using our newly earned money to buy expensive iced coffees. Not exactly financially responsible, but very tasty.

“We’re going to need to get back to work if our stuff is moving this quickly,” Kashvi continues, and puts on her seat belt. “Unless you’d be willing to part with a few of those pieces?”

“Not a chance.” I play with my bracelets—spinning them around my wrist until my favorite stones and dice are on top. This particular combo pulls together all the earth tones from my skirt, and if I get rid of any bracelets, then it won’t tie together. I glance down at my phone and find a text from Logan.

Logan: Do you have time to come by my work? I can offer free ice cream as a bribe, but only mint chocolate chip. It’s time I win you over.

A zip of electricity runs through me. As if it’s possible for Logan to win me over more than he already has. But I can’t respond right now, so I turn my phone over and focus on Kashvi.

“Luckily we still have tons of dice from Logan, so that’ll help,” I say.

“I still can’t believe he gave us all of those. He’s always been such a great guy. It’s annoying, actually.”

“Annoying?”

“It’s not fair for him to be hot and kind. It’s always the unattainable guys who’re like that.”

My throat closes and I turn to her, hoping her expression will make it clear she’s joking. But she looks dead serious.

“You think Logan is hot?”

“Oh, come on.” She glances at me with an almost disgruntled expression. “It’s no secret. I mean, unless you’re not into beautiful boys.”

“I’m into them,” I say faintly, and take a sip of my coffee.

“I figured. Be honest, what was your first thought when you saw him in that costume at the comic fest?” She grins at me before looking in the rearview mirror and backing out of the space. “I practically had to wipe the drool off my chin.”

I swallow my coffee wrong and start hacking. “Whoa.” I cough a few more times. “Um, I didn’t know you thought about Logan like that.”

Kashvi pulls onto the road with a dreamy sigh. “I have lots of thoughts about Logan.”

“Have you…said anything to him about it?”

She bolts upright in her seat. “Oh god no!” She looks horrified at the very idea. “He better never know. It’s not like I’m planning on acting on any of it. Can you imagine?”

My stomach roils with nausea. “Right. Totally weird.”

“I know he’s just a friend—I gave up on all that long ago. And it’s not like I’m in love with him or something.” She turns and grins at me. “But I wouldn’t mind a few minutes alone in the dark with him.”

One look at my expression has her cackling. She turns down my street. “Calm down, Quinn, I’m just kidding!”

“I’m surprised, that’s all.” I take a slow breath and try to calm myself enough that my voice doesn’t quake. “I knew you really liked him as a friend, but I had no idea about this.”

“Good, that was the plan. Did I ever tell you that we tried to recruit another girl from my French class to the group before you transferred, and Sloane nixed her? It turned out Mark had had a crush on her for years and Sloane could see the writing on the wall.” She shrugs. “At least a girl can daydream.”

She pulls into my driveway, and I surge out of the car before she can say one more thing about Logan. I fight to keep my expression as normal as possible, but I need to get far away from this conversation ASAP. I thought things were already a mess with him, but that was nothing compared to Kashvi having feelings for him.

“I’ll text you to figure out a time to get together and work on more pieces, okay?” She leans over the passenger seat and gives me the brightest smile, like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “We’re gonna take over the world!”

She drives away and my vision goes hazy as I watch her car in the distance, feeling like I just got punched in the head. Kashvi likes Logan? Kashvi has secretly liked Logan this whole time? How could this situation get any worse? I reconsider all the times we’ve talked about Logan. She’s always been complimentary about him, saying how he’s a good guy or kind or a gentleman, but I never thought anything of it. And she said he was cute the evening after the comic fest, but I was so caught up in myself that I assumed she was only picking up on my emotions. I think I might be sick.

It’s happening all over again, just like it happened with Paige. Kashvi’s going to hate me if she finds out about Logan and me. It will affect not only the game but also our friendship. No more jewelry-making, no more sleepovers. Maybe no more friendship at all. Something has to give. I can’t lose any more friends.

I walk into the house to find it in chaos. Andrew is racing down the stairs, Dad is putting two different shoes on his feet, and Mom is glaring down at her phone.

“Uh, hi?” I say.

Mom glances up and sighs with relief. “Thank god, I was calling you right now. Your grandma fell again—we’re heading to the hospital.”

The rest of the evening only gets worse, and that’s really saying something. It turns out Grandma fell in the bathroom and didn’t have the strength to get back up. Luckily her phone was close enough for her to call Dad in the hopes he’d come over to help. Much to her annoyance, he called the ambulance instead.

Trips to the ER are never fun, but add in a feisty old woman who doesn’t want to be there and things get much rougher. I was scared Dad would need to be admitted by the end, he was so frazzled and exhausted. Luckily, Grandma didn’t break any bones. I thought the drama was finished by the time my parents dropped Andrew and me off at the house that evening, but I guess they had “a talk” with her when they got her home. I woke up Tuesday to the news that she’d officially agreed to move out of her house but was not happy about it.

So now we’re all here Tuesday evening to check on her and start packing. Describing the mood as uncomfortable doesn’t do it justice. I know my parents could use the moral support, but honestly, I can’t keep my thoughts focused solely on family. As soon as I found out Grandma needed to go to the hospital, I texted Logan. It wasn’t even a conscious decision. I got the news, climbed in the back of the car, and texted him like it was the most natural thing in the world. But should it be? I should’ve texted the whole group, but I didn’t want to hear from all of them. I only wanted to hear from him.

Of course it’s easy to rationalize it—Logan is the only one who has spent time with Grandma, so he deserved to hear it from me. But I know it’s more than that. It’s much more, and with the knowledge that Kashvi also has a long-simmering crush on him, my thoughts are spinning like pinwheels as I try to decide how to handle everything.

“This is entirely too much fussing,” Grandma says from her armchair. “You don’t all need to be here checking onme.”

“Barbara, why don’t you just rest?” Mom says in her softest voice. “I’ll make you a cup of tea and we can put some music on.”

Grandma glares at her. “Oh please, you just want me to be quiet.”

Andrew raises his eyebrows at me as if to say no argument there. I muffle a smile. This evening it’s “all hands on deck,” as Dad likes to call it, so both Andrew and I were required to come to Grandma’s right after school. I figured Andrew would be his usual brooding self, but he hasn’t complained at all. And it’s nice to have another person here to lighten up the bickering.

“Eric, put down that vase,” Grandma snaps. “I got it in Barcelona and it’s one of a kind.”

Dad heaves a sigh and presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “Mom, it’s okay. We’ll be sure to carefully pack everything you want to take with you to your new place.”

She huffs. “I’ve fallen once. I’m sure you’ve fallen too. Everyone slips once in a while!”

“But when we slip, we don’t break a hip,” Andrew says super helpfully.

“You shut it with your rhyming, young man.”

“Andrew’s not wrong, though,” Dad continues. “And you know this isn’t the first time. You don’t have the balance you once did. Quinn told us how you fell and dropped plates while she was here—”

“Quinn!” Grandma turns to me, her mouth agape. “You didn’t! I thought that was our secret.”

“We didn’t agree to that,” I mumble.

“I can’t trust the lot of you,” she says, and throws up her hands.

“We only want you to have the best life you can,” Mom says. “Eric’s done a lot of research on this. You saw how exceptional the retirement community is.”

“You mean the old folks’ home where people go to die.”

“Mom, if you’d just listen, then I think you’d see how great this can be. We’re not sending you there to die—we’re sending you there to live. ”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Dad sounds like a paid spokesman.

“They have maintenance on staff so if something is broken, you can get it fixed right away—imagine how much time that’ll save. And they have a common building with all kinds of activities for the residents. Game nights and movie nights and art classes. They even have a pickleball court!” Dad gestures at me. “You can still play pickleball with Quinn.”

“You can show everyone how you kick my butt.”

“Well, that part would be fun.” She sniffs. “You all deserve to be kicked in the butt.”

Mom chuckles and Grandma seems temporarily mollified, but I’m sure it won’t last. Dad has been working toward this for a while, but Grandma is going to fight us every inch of the way. Which is why he wanted both Andrew and I over here to start putting things in boxes and sorting things for donations as soon as possible. He’s lucky she’s supposed to stay off her feet for now, or she’d probably come after him with a broom.

Grandma takes a sip of her water. “You know, I texted somebody else to come by—someone who I’m sure will take my side. He’ll be here soon.”

Dad blows out a breath. “Please tell me you didn’t call your lawyer.”

But I think I know who she’s talking about. Sure enough, there’s a gleam in her eye when she gestures at me. Oh no.

“It’s Quinn’s friend. Logan.”

My mouth drops open as the others turn to stare at me. Grandma texted him and he didn’t tell me? I pull out my phone just in case, but there are no new messages. That little double-crosser. Choosing my sherbet-loving grandmother over me.

“Are you talking about the boy who helped clean out the attic?” Dad asks.

“Yes. He always does what I ask of him, unlike some of you.” She nods confidently.

Oh dear Lord, Logan is coming here. Now. With my parents and brother here. Grandma really knows how to get back at me for tattling.