“Wow?”
“World of Warcraft.” I must have had a very confused expression, because she continued. “It’s a massively multiplayer online role-playing game?”
Still nothing.
“It’s a computer game.” That I understood. “I miss it, like in an it’s-my-crack kind of way.”
Too bad she didn’t know she was trying for the wrong twin. Rafe played video games the way other people drank water. He went to MIT and earned a software engineering degree and spent a lot of time in the MIT Game Lab in order to learn how to design video games. But I couldn’t tell her about Rafe because I wasn’t supposed to know Dante already.
More lying. I was becoming an evil person.
Taylor came over and asked to speak with me in private. When we were alone, she said, “Now would be a good time to make your phone calls. All of the other producers are focused on the party. Follow me.”
She took me into the downstairs bathroom and handed me my phone. She sat on top of the closed toilet seat, texting.
I called Kat first, needing the support. It was very early morning in Monterra, as they were nine hours ahead of us, and there was every possibility that she would sleep through the phone ringing. Thankfully, she picked up on the first ring. “Hey! Do you have any idea what time it is?” She mumbled the words groggily.
“Hey, darlin’. I’m sorry for calling you so early. Dante sort of forced me to stay on the show.” Kat knew that he had promised to send me home the first night.
“Oh frak.” She sounded panicked and wide awake. “Did you murder him? Do you need me to be your alibi? Because I totally will be.”
I so missed my friend. “I haven’t killed him yet, but I make no promises.”
“Totally understandable. What’s up?”
I explained that everything she needed to know had been put into her calendar, and both her and Nico’s event secretaries had a complete copy of their schedules as well. I told her about the no phone or device rule. I gave her Taylor’s number and told her to use it if she had an emergency and absolutely had to get a hold of me.
“Don’t worry—you know everything here is like a well-oiled machine. We’ll be fine. You should just, you know, enjoy yourself. Maybe give Dante a chance.”
Kat did not like Sterling. She knew all about our past and thought he was a slimeball. Nothing I said or did would change her mind. She really wanted me to marry Dante so that we would always be sisters and part of the same family.
But that wasn’t going to happen. Dante wasn’t serious about me, and I was very serious about not ending up with a guy who would break my heart.
I hung up with her and called my parents. It was about 11:00 p.m. in Atlanta. After I apologized profusely for calling so late, I told my mother that it would be more than one episode; that I had agreed to stay for a little while. My mother fretted about what to tell my grandmother, and then she asked if they’d get to meet him. “Only if I’m one of the last people left on the show, and I’ll be off long before that.”
“Well, that’s a disappointment. Think of everyone’s face at the country club if we walked in with a real-life prince!”
“This is all just pretend, Momma.”
“I know that. But it would still be worth it just for the bragging rights alone.”
I asked about the wedding preparations, and there was a pause. Her voice sounded fakely cheery and bright. She said it was well under control, and not to worry. Everything would be just the way I wanted it to be. My right temple started to throb. She pretended like everything was fine, but I could tell she was worried. Worried that I would let her and Daddy down again and embarrass them somehow. I sent my love and pressed the “End” button.
I was dreading the next phone call the most.
I had to call Sterling’s cell twice before he answered. “Brown.”
“Hi! It’s me!”
“Me who?” I thought he was teasing, but realized after some dead air that he was not.
“Your fiancée? Lemon?” Who else would be calling him this late? It made me uneasy.
“Oh! Lemon! Sorry. I’m so swamped right now. Is this important?”