“Mom would you mind switching with me so I can help Eden pick out what she is going to eat so the rest of us can order already,” Drew said with a smirk.
Sara laughed like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. “Yeah, buddy—not on your life! I know the real reason you want to switch is so you can have a hand on her bare leg under the table. You must think I was born yesterday!”
Dad almost choked on his beer when he glanced at Drew and saw the horrified expression on his face over his mother’s crass comment. Sara and I burst out laughing when dad sat there bug-eyed, his hand cupped just under his chin to catch the beer he hadn’t been able to keep in his mouth when he’d started laughing. I chanced a glance at Drew, his complexion had grown pale. I was starting to see why Drew accused his mom of having absolutely no filter. Sara had a knack for embarrassing the crap out of her son.
A devious smirk played at the edges of Drew’s lips as his complexion leveled out, and he regarded my dad. “That’s what I call instant karma, Mr. Garrows.”
“You know I don’t think that’s quite what he had in mind, Sara,” Dad laughed, ignoring Drew’s jab at him. “Switch with me, Eden, so Drew can help you pick something and so I can help Sara to refrain from making any more inappropriate outbursts.”
After we switched, Drew was able to help me settle on seafood gumbo. Being a fan of soup, it was the closest I was gonna get besides clam chowder, which I knew I didn’t like. After the menus were cleared and our drinks brought out, I felt Drew’s hand creeping up my leg just like his mother had thought it would and my gaze shot to his. I was debating whether or not to slap him when I felt his elbow bump my arm, and his hand immediately change direction toward my stomach, where my hand was resting. I realized he probably assumed my hands would be resting on my thighs or perhaps in my lap. He grasped my left hand and interlaced his fingers with mine.
“Too bad the party poopers are playing escort, or this would be the perfect moment for a steamy dinner date kiss.”
I felt my skin grow warmer due to the emotions that envisioning Echo’s suggestion had brought on. Every nerve in my body responded because now it wasn’t just me imagining what it would be like to kiss Drew. I already knew, and the knowledge made my body ache in ways I didn’t know it could. My palms became clammy and Drew looked at me, his expression telling me he’d noted the high color in my face.
“You look mad, is it Echo,” he asked in a barely audible whisper.
His voice had been so incredibly low that it surprised me when Dad suddenly snapped his attention to us. His face was serious and worried. “What did you just say, Drew?”
Apparently, his ears had picked up just enough that the mention of my mother’s name had caught his attention. One look at Drew made it clear that he was at a loss for words, so for the first time in a while, I told a bald-faced lie.
“Oh…Drew was just telling me how he read somewhere that if you stand on the bank of the Mississippi and shout as a riverboat is passing, the sound will bounce off it and come back to you like an echo.”
I said it with so much false, excited innocence that Dad bought it hook, line, and sinker. Any suspicion he might have held of me talking about my mother seemed to have vanished. I could feel Drew’s death grip on my hand loosen as Sara captured my dad’s attention again by continuing with what she’d been saying. Drew pulled out his phone with his free hand, and a few seconds later my phone buzzed. I pulled it from my pocket casually, letting go of Drew’s hand as I did. He may be able to text one-handed, but I was fairly new to the concept of a smartphone and wasn’t that talented yet.
Drew: Holy shit, that was close!
Me: I know…I hate lying to my dad!
Drew: So he doesn’t know…about Echo I mean.
Me: He knows that when I was younger, I told him a girl named Echo was in my head talking to me, and he freaked the hell out. That’s when I started seeing my Children’s Psychiatrist, Janet.
It took me forever to text him the last message because usually I would just hit the microphone button and talk to my phone, and then magically, what I said would appear on the screen, and I’d push send. My best friend Jennifer had shown me that particular little trick. If she could’ve seen me at that moment, she’d have laughed her butt off. Lucky for me she wouldn’t be back from her family vacation in the Florida Keys until a week before school started. I thanked my lucky stars that Dad had not known she was on vacation when Drew and I had gone on our first date.
Drew: Oh, so he doesn’t know Echo actually lives in you then, so I assumed right. Thanks for the save when he asked what I’d said. I wasn’t sure what to do.
Me: No problem, I just feel bad now because I lied to him.
Drew: Let me make it up to you, how about a walk by the river bank after dinner?
Me: Ask me that with
