Page 67 of The Grump I Loathe

Grace gave me a curious smile. “You’ve still got a surprise for me, right? With the game?”

“I do,” I said, a little less guilty when I thought of all the work Eddie and the team and I had put into perfecting the Juni Protocol.

“Good,” Grace said, passing me her bag. “You think Grandma will let me stay up and watchSecret Lives of Mormon Wiveswith her?”

“I don’t know what that is,” I said as my phone started buzzing. Mom was calling. “But my answer is no.”

Grace wrinkled her nose. “Fine. Oh! I forgot my iPad.” She rushed off upstairs again.

“Hurry up,” I called, answering the phone. At this rate, I was going to be late getting to Eddie. “Hey, Mom. We’re leaving in five.”

“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry,” she said in a rush. “I can’t take Grace tonight.”

“What? Why?”

“They’ve grounded the plane. Apparently, the storm in San Francisco is too intense. Something about the wind and landing safely.”

Shit. I hadn’t even thought to check the flight. “Wait,” I frowned, “weren’t you supposed to be back hours ago?”

“X was dealing with some work things, and he really needed my support,” Mom said, “so we rearranged the flight plan so I could stick around for a few extra hours.”

I bit down on the frustration that surged through me and started problem solving. “That’s all right. You’ve got somewhere to stay?”

“Well, with X of course.” Mom laughed. “Tell Grace I’ll make it up to her.”

“I will. Talk to you later.”

“Love you, sweetheart.”

“Love you, bye.” I hung up, wondering which of Grace’s friends might be up for a sleepover before deciding it was too late notice to dump her on any of them. I ran a hand down my face. I was officiallylate to head to Eddie’s, and Grace was going to be disappointed that her Saturday night with Grandma was a bust.Shit.

I called Eddie.

“Hey,” she said when she answered. “How about this rain? You’re not stuck in traffic, are you?”

“Not exactly. I’m not standing you up, if that’s what you think. Or, at least I wasn’t.”

“Um…” She laughed awkwardly. “So you’re not coming?”

Damn. I didn’t like the sound of her disappointment. “My mom just canceled. I don’t have anything to do with Grace now.”

“You could bring her,” Eddie suggested immediately.

“That’s not a great idea.” I didn’t want to bring Grace on our not-a-date. I loved her, more than anything, but I wanted a few hours alone with Eddie without my every move being analyzed. “And I think it’s too late to try to set up something with one of her friends.”

“And Ali’s?—”

“—not an option,” I said with certainty. Not that I’d ever ask her. If she couldn’t be bothered to follow through on plans made weeks in advance, I highly doubted she’d be willing to rearrange her night at the last minute. And if Grace overheard me calling and realized her mom had said no…I couldn’t let that happen. Better not to call at all. “I think we might just have to cancel. I’m so sorry.”

“What about Alannah?” Eddie said instead. “She’s with Valentina this weekend at their new rental, but Valentina’s got a work deadline and has been staying late at the office. So I’m pretty sure Alannah’s been stuck with the nanny most of the weekend. I’m sure they’d all appreciate Alannah having someone her own age to hang with.”

I hesitated. The last thing I wanted was to dump Grace on anyone this last-minute, but the idea was enticing. “You don’t think Valentina would mind if Grace and Alannah?—”

“Alannah?” Grace said, coming up behind me. “What about Alannah?”

I spun around. “Grandma got stuck in LA because of the storm. What about a sleepover with Alannah instead?”

“Okay, yeah!” Grace said, sounding excited. “I’ll bring my newBubble Blastergame!”