Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher Read Online Free PDF Page A

Because you know what? I’m tired of you and her having secrets from me. I’m tired of you protecting her and saying you’re just protecting
me
. You’re always telling me to be honest with you, but you know what? You and stupid ol’ Lady Lana
always
keep secrets from me. If you expect me not to hide stuff from you, you better quit hiding stuff from me!” Ipunch my hands onto my hips. “Did you know that Warren Acosta got a part on
The Lords of Willow Heights
?”
    “No!”
    Right off, I know that she’s telling the truth, but her answer throws me because it’s not the one I was expecting. My fists come down. “You didn’t?”
    She shakes her head. “Are you sure? When did all this happen?”
    I snarl, “Who knows?” and plop into a kitchen chair.
    Now I’m acting mad at the world, but I actually feel a lot better than I did when I came through the door. At least for once Grams isn’t in cahoots with Lady Lana. At least for once I’m not the only one trying to piece things together in the dark.
    At least for once I don’t feel so
alone
.
    “He’s moving in with her?” Grams gasps, and sort of dissolves into the chair across from me.
    I snort again. “He denied it, but I could tell he was lying.”
    Grams puts both her hands flat on the table. Like she’s steadying it. Or herself. Or maybe the situation. “Samantha, please. From the beginning. And don’t embellish.”
    So I give her just-the-facts-ma’am, and when I’m all done, she takes a long, deep breath and says, “Your mother and I need to have a conversation.”
    “Good luck there,” I grumble, but then Grams gives me the sweetest, most sympathetic look ever and says, “I feel so sorry for you and Casey.”
    Suddenly my eyes are welling with tears, and my chin is quivering. It’s like she totally understands how horribleand complicated this has made everything. As much as my mother’s tried to hide it, she’s obviously been seeing Casey’s dad, and if they’re an item, what does that make Casey and me?
    Almost siblings?
    In-law—no, wait—
outlaw
siblings?
    How awkward is that?
    And, yeah, at least there was a
reason
Casey hadn’t returned my calls, but his dad being with my mom made Casey and me feel so … impossible.
    I mean, having Heather as a psycho “sister” would be bad enough, but Casey as a stepbrother? My brain can’t figure out what to do with that. And, yeah, maybe there’s no blood involved, but even before this—even when my mom and his dad had just gone on one date—the thought of them being together totally weirded both Casey and me out. And now that it looked like it was becoming a reality, I just didn’t know what to
do
.
    Grams holds my hand across the table and forces a little smile. “We’ll get through this together, all right?”
    I nod and choke out, “Thanks.” And even though I know how lucky I am to have her in my life, even though she’s the most wonderful, loving person, she’s my grandmother.
    The person I wish I could get through this with is Casey.

FIVE
    Casey didn’t call.
    Not that night.
    Not the next day.
    I tried his cell phone a couple of times, but it rolled over to voice mail again, so I just hung up.
    Our phone did ring, but it was always Marissa, in a tizzy about her parents. “She’s
throwing
stuff at him!” she said the first time. “Can you
hear
that?”
    I could.
    “Uh-oh, gotta go!” she whispered, and hung up.
    The second time it was, “He gambled the house!”
    “What do you mean, he gambled the house? How do you gamble a house?”
    “I don’t know!”
    “Were you eavesdropping? Maybe you heard wrong.”
    “Maybe … but I don’t think so. Mom is freaking out.”
    Something crashed in the background.
    “Uh-oh, gotta go!” she whispered, and left me hanging again.
    The third time it was, “Mikey and I ran away to Hudson’s. Can you come over?”
    “You ran away?”
    “Well, my mom knows where we are.”
    I rolled my eyes, because until recently