Page 38 of This Could be Love

“Yeah, I’m pretty beat.”

“As soon as your father’s back, we’ll make another call, the three of us.”

I nodded. “That’d be nice.”

We said goodbye, and I shut my MacBook and slid off the bed. After putting on my pajamas, I brushed my teeth and put a healthy amount of moisturizer on my face. Like every evening, my skin was taut from all the sun. I crawled under the blanket and scrolled through TikTok and Instagram for a bit. Helena ran my accounts because I didn’t have time. She’d been working for my family for over ten years already and took care of press requests, advertising offers, and our social-media presence.

Right then, I received a message from Laurie.

Chip invited us to his party.

Saturday. Wanna go?

I hadn’t finished reading it when another arrived.

I’m supposed to tell you he would have liked to invite you himself.

But no number no invite??

I reacted with a laughing emoji. Nevertheless, I added:

Sadly, I can’t.

Not even five seconds passed before my phone rang and Laurie greeted me with, “But youhaveto come!”

“I don’t go to parties while in training,” I explained.

“But you came to our barbecue.”

“I knew I’d be back home in time for bed.”

“We don’t have to staythatlong.”

“It definitely won’t get going before nine.”

There was a rustling in the connection. “I’ll ask him.”

She put me on speaker.

“He’s with you?!”

“Sadly not.” She sighed over-dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, smiling. At the barbecue already I’d noticed that Laurie had a small crush on Chip. Which is why she probably just had to go to his party.

“Isn’t your brother going?”

“No, don’t worry. That’s not really his thing.”

Suddenly my ear was hit by a buzzing noise.

“Oookay. Chip says we can come whenever we want.”

“Whenever we want?”

“It’s getting started in the late afternoon.”

“Just what kind of party is it?”