Page 7 of The Parent Trap

Right.

I shoot a quick text:Dell, buddy. I need you to call me in five minutes and invite me out. I got a stage-three clinger to brush off.

Dell answers within seconds.Got you covered. I want to get a drink for real anyway. Where are you?

Me:I’m in SF. Where are you?

Dell:River Gulch actually.

Me:Mom said you were doing some sort of work for the company?

Dell, with an eye roll emoji:Yeah it’s a deal I made with Delia. I needed to borrow a house for the weekend and this was the only way that tightfisted slave driver would loan me one.

Me:Why would you need a house in RIVER GULCH?

Dell:Long story but it involves Amber Jane.

Me:The model and cam girl? That Amber Jane?

Dell:One and the same. And the short version is yes my friend she’s as hot in person as she is in the magazines. Hotter maybe.

Me:You still nailing her?

Dell:why u gonna claim sloppy seconds?A crying laughing emoji follows this.

Me:I mean, would it be worth it?

Dell:Youll have to keep wondering. I actually LIKE this chick. We even have actual conversations LOL.

Me:ha, right.

Dell:It’s true. Don’t laugh but I might even go exclusive with her. see what happens.

Me:By exclusive, you mean cut down to only one other side piece.

Dell:I know I know. but fr I like her and I mean exclusive like actually.

Me:Well good luck with that, then. I mean it. Call me in five.

Dell:Why wait five minutes? Why not tell her your friend texted you and invited you out for a boy’s night?

Me:Trust me. This is the way.

Dell:Whatever u say man. Five minutes, then.

I putz around noisily, and Destiny pretends to sleep. Once, I even catch her, out of the corner of my eye, peek at me through slitted lids, and adjust her position subtly. Convincing acting, actually. She flops her torso over, so her ass and legs are sideways with her heels tucked up against her butt, but her upper body is facing upward. Doesn’t look comfortable, but it does do very interesting things to the lovely balloons on her chest.

My phone rings five minutes later on the dot, and I have a conspicuously loud conversation with Dell, and then hang up.

By then, Destiny has abandoned the sleeping act. “You have to leave?”

Good god, the pout is comical. Pursed lips in a moue, eyebrow lifted.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen my buddy Dell in a few weeks, so we’re gonna hang.” I tug on jeans commando, and she watches me button them with regret and longing; I’ve been known to have that effect on women. “It’s been fun, though.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Wait, hold on. Let me guess…don’t call you, you’ll call me.”

Not far off from where I was going, actually. “You said it, not me.”