On the outside, it seemed perfect. I wasn't so sure.
Macy went to the fridge and dug through a week's worth of leftover fast-food containers. I grabbed her by the shoulder.
“If we do this, nobody else can know. Not dad or mom. No one else in the family. Not even your friends. If the truth gets out to anyone, there's a chance it'll get back to him.”
She sighed dramatically and pushed me away. “Of course, dummy. I know how to keep a secret.”
“Like the time in eighth grade when I changed the grades on my report card, and you tattled on me?” Boy, did dad beat my ass for that one. “Or when you told Aunt Stephanie I thought her baby was ugly.”
“I did not say that,” she shrieked. “I told her you thought it looked like an alien and its crying was so annoying, you wanted to cut off your ears.”
“Ah. Much better. So that's why she stopped talking to me for an entire year.”
She pulled a wilted salad from the crisper and dug in. My stomach churned as she devoured grilled chicken that, knowing her, had probably been aging in there for two or three weeks.
“Point is, you know I won't tell,” she said with a sickly sweet smile. “What are sisters for, you know?”
“A nice sister wouldn't tell, but I'm not so sure about you. I think you secretly enjoy it when dad yells at me. Means he's not hounding you about your life for once.”
“Whatever. You want my help or not? Because this probably the best shot you'll ever have. Maybe the only shot.”
I didn't like the plan, even if the marriage was fake as could be. But it didn't really matter whether I liked it or not. Only thing that mattered was it got the job done.
“All right. There's an event being held at Club Neon tonight. Local businesses are gonna be there donating things for a kid's charity Christmas fund. Have her meet me there sometime after eight and we'll discuss details.”
She beamed. “This is going to be great. Feels like I'm a secret agent on a mission.”
“Just remember what I said. Say nothing to no one about this,” I warned her, reaching for my keys. “Once she and I announce to the family we're getting 'married,' they'll all be naturally suspicious. I'll need you to help me keep up the act.”
“What do you plan on telling them?”
“She's Mexican, right? I'll just say I met her on some dating website and we've been doing the long-distance thing all this time. But, with the rush to marry so quickly, I proposed and she happily said yes.”
“It's a sweet story,” she agreed. “Don't worry. I'm not going to screw this up for you.”
“That remains to be seen.”
It was getting pretty late. Better head to Slicker Image before my assistant manager, Ken, gave himself a brain aneurysm from worrying so much.
Just as I turned onto Peony Road, my phone rang. I hoped for it to be Sarah, though I was sure she wouldn't call me.
“Ken,” I answered, trying to hide my mild disappointment. “I'm almost there, man. About ten minutes out, but the traffic –”
“Asher, you need to get here, like, now.” His voice shook; he sounded panicked.
“What's the matter?”
There was a lot of loud, muffled noise in the background, followed by a woman's scream.
“I'm hiding under the desk. Hurry,” he hissed. “Oh God. It's attacking people!”
“Ken, calm down. What's attacking people?”
He breathed heavily into the receiver. Not far away, there was a horrible shriek.
And then the phone went dead.
Chapter 5 - Sarah
It was just another cold, dreary Thursday morning.
Outside, ominous gray clouds gathered and the icy wind howled, threatening the coming of another storm. Just past Thanksgiving, and already, we had a foot of snow on the ground.
Inside, at least, I'd been blessed with a small handful of customers.
“But dad, this place is so boring!” A boy tugged on his father's coat. “It smells like old people, and all these toys suck.”
The father hushed his son and continued perusing our model airplane collection. He was a regular of ours named Jared who came every week or so to buy a new kit for himself.
On the other side, a couple of senior citizens browsed the vintage jewelry we kept locked in cases. They were regulars too, only they rarely bought anything, just came to gawk at the sparkly gems for a while before moving on.
“That's the problem,” I said to Lana, who was busy painting a snowman on the front window. “We rarely get anyone new in here. The store would do so much better if we could just attract fresh customers.”
“Which requires an expensive marketing campaign, no doubt.” She yelped as a blob of white paint squirted on her shirt.
Even if Heath didn't snatch the shop away from me, things weren't looking all that bright for Hazel's Curiosities. With every passing year, people became more interested in the fancy new tech Slicker Image offered, and less so in the outdated crap lining our shelves.
“This is all Asher's fault,” I muttered, glaring at his bustling store across the street.
“You can say that again. God, I can't believe he actually hit on you. He must be crazy. Like you'd ever give a player like him the time of day.”
I squirmed and wondered if I might be the crazy one for considering his offer.
Who was I kidding? I had made it far past the consideration stage at this point. Next time he whispered in my ear, I would be unable to
