Page 64 of Devil in Disguise

“About you as well,” Avery’s mother said. “He says you’re an excellent student. Let’s hope Avery starts following your example.”

Avery sighed. “Mom …”

“Well,” Dyma said, “I can’t let my mom down, right?” She’d suck up a little if it helped Avery. He really had been extremely sweet since the whole boyfriend-misunderstanding thing. “She sacrificed a lot for me to be here.”

“You see?” Avery’s mother told him. “I like this girl. This is the kind of girl you should know. But Chinese,” she added, and Dyma laughed.

“Never mind,” she said. “I have a boyfriend. Avery’s totally awesome, but he’s safe from me.”

“Excuse me,” she heard next, and looked around to see Sydney and Cassandra. Well,thiswas going to help Avery a ton, if they started in on one of their passive-aggressive mean-girl rants, like, “I know you’re sooo busy, Dyma, with your food-service job and all, but could youpleaseremember to sign and date the food you put into the fridge? Because that milk wasn’t mine, and it wasn’t Cassandra’s, because she’s lactose-intolerant. Hello? A little consideration?”

It wasn’t that, though, not this time. “Hey, Dyma!” Sydney said instead, as if she were about to invite her to decorate cupcakes or possibly attend a candle party. “I wanted to ask if you wanted to watch the rest of the Devils game with us. Hollis Brandeis has a big screen upstairs. Oh, excuse me,” she said to Avery and his parents. “I didn’t notice you there.Hi.You must be, uh … the parents! I’m Sydney Merck, and this is Cassandra Chang. We’re Dyma’s roommates!”

What?Also … hello? Football game? Time ticking away?

“Avery,” Avery said, with only a little twitch at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were unusually lively behind the glasses, though.

“I knowthat,silly,” Sydney said with a tinkly little laugh. “You live nextdoor.”

“Oh, my god,waita minute!” Cassandra said, with more animation than she’d ever shown for something that wasn’t a hair product. “I think my dad knows your dad! Aren’t you Foster Lieu? And Mrs. Lieu?”

What? Dyma would swear the surprise was fake. Was that the whole reason for this Parade of Bubbliness?

“Yes,” Avery’s father said. He hadn’t said anything so far, but he had the same look in his eyes as Avery.

“Oh, mygod,”Cassandra said. “My dad’s always quoting you at home. About how brilliant you are. He calls you ‘visionary.’ Thomas Chang? He’s in your department.”

“Ah,” Avery’s father said. “Yes.”

“Dyma,” Avery’s mother said, “how have you—"

Dyma’s phone rang. She glanced at it, since it was right there, and frowned. “Sorry,” she said. “I need to take this. It’s my mom. She’s really pregnant, and my, uh, stepfather isn’t home right now.” She turned away and said, “Hey, maternal unit. You watching Harlan? How about that last catch? How does he jump that high?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer said on the other end of the line. “It’s great.” She was breathing funny, Dyma realized with a sort of cold squeezing around her heart. “But … could you listen on the radio, do you think? In the car, on the way here?”

“Oh. Wow. Is it happening?” Her heart was starting to pound now. Her mom had said she didn’t need her to come. If she’d changed her mind … what was going on? Something wasn’t right.

“Yes,” Jennifer said. “And I know you want to watch Owen and I said you didn’t need to come anyway, but Harlan won’t be home for four hours at the very earliest, and you can get here in three. It won’t happen any faster than that, because you took fourteen hours, but I th—”

“Mom,” Dyma said. “Stop talking. I’m on my way.”

She’d forgotten about the others. When she looked up, Avery’s parents were making let’s-go faces, but he said, “Something wrong?”

She passed a hand through her hair. “I, uh—I have to go. Figure out a car thing. Car service. Wait. Can you get a car service to take you all the way to Portland? Or one of those car shares?”

“No,” Avery’s father—Foster—said. “You’d have to get a rental, and you need to be twenty-one for that. Is there a problem?”

“Oh, geez,” Dyma said. “OK, I’m trying to think here. My mom’s having a baby, and her fiancé’s playing right now. In the Devils game,” she tried to explain. “And she sounded …” She swallowed. “Kind of desperate.”

“NFL,” Avery said. “Harlan Kristiansen.”

“Really,” Foster said. “How interesting.”

“She doesn’t have anybody else there,” Dyma said. “Except Harlan’s sister, and she’s eighteen, and my mom needs support, not to be the support person, you know?” None of this mattered. Why was she even saying it. “OK. How do I get there? Like, really fast?”

“No grandmother?” Avery’s mother asked.

“No. My mom’s mother died last year, and Harlan’s mother, uh …”