The drive to the library is blessedly silent, and both Emily and Sophie, despite her protests, get immediately sucked into scanning the shelves in their respective favorite sections of the library.
Ellery bumps into me on her way to return a book to the teen section that was misplaced.
She takes one look at me, and her ever-present smile falls. “Oh, no. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I say, but I’m not even convincing myself. “Can you recommend a good YA romance for Sophie?” That usually works to redirect Ellery’s attention.
Ellery, never one to mince words, shakes her head. “Nope. We’re talking about whatever this is.” She draws a circle in the air around my face with one long finger. “Come on. I can take my break now, and you’re going to tell me everything.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Levi
“Levi,” Deacon bursts into my room, and I slam my laptop shut.
Of course, he clocks that and slows his mad dash. “What were you doing? I won’t judge. I’ve been looking for something new and spicy to watch.” He waggles his eyebrows. “If you know what I mean.”
“Unfortunately, I do. What do you want? I’m in the middle of something.”
He presses a hand to his chest. “Is that the way you greet your favorite brother after not seeing him for weeks?”
“You’re not my favorite brother.”
His phone vibrates, and he immediately swipes it open and reads. He frowns and shakes his head. “Poor thing,” he mutters.
“Got a new girlfriend?” I ask.
His head jerks up. “What? No.” He frowns and stuffs his phone in his back pocket. “She’s Sebastian’s match. I have to respond every time she messages so she doesn’t lose interest.”
“Uh-huh. No chance of her running into Sebastian around town and asking him an awkward question, is there?”
“His picture on the site is just of his giant beard and his abs. Unless he walks around town with his shirt off, there’s no way DogPerson will recognize him.”
“DogPerson? You don’t know her real name?”
He shakes his head. “She doesn’t want to share personal information.”
“A local?”
“Yeah. She works with animals, and she has a four-year-old little girl. She won’t say more than that because she doesn’t want me, I mean, Sebastian, to figure out who she is.”
“Dude.” It suddenly hits me why her username sounds so familiar. I scroll through my phone to find an email I got a few weeks ago. “That’s got to be Asher’s sister, Amelia. She’s an animal control officer.” I hold up my phone to show him the email sent from Amelia, with the address DogPerson158@gmail. She had an electricity question about her house. I’ve never met Amelia in person, but I’ve heard a lot about her from our cousin, Clover, and Clover’s husband, Asher.
His eyes go wide. “Asher’s sister? He’s never mentioned a sister. What’s his last name?”
I roll my eyes. “Aldridge, man. Which you’d know if you had a conversation with him. All you ever do is challenge him to a race or an arm-wrestling competition when you see him.”
He relaxes. “So his sister’s name is Amelia Aldridge. That’s weird, but at least they aren’t the same person.”
I stare at him. What the hell is he talking about? “Her last name is Burns. She’s divorced.”
He goes pale and lists to the left like he’s on the verge of passing out. “No fucking way. That can’t be right.”
I get up and grab his shoulders, holding him upright. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m really not.” His gaze goes distant. “Wait. Was this Amelia at Asher and Clover’s big race last year?”
I shrug. “Probably. Do you remember her?”
