The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(120)

“To tall and skinny atheist fugitives who can be somewhat cute when they’re not obnoxious.”

Zack retracted his glass. “Sorry. Can’t drink to that without correcting you.”

“You’re not cute?”

“I’m not an atheist. I have no idea if God exists or not.”

“Then why do you make fun of the people who do?”

“Because I’m obnoxious,” Zack replied. “That part of the toast was accurate.”

“I see. You’re an obnoxious agnostic. You’re agnoxious.”

“I’m antaganostic.”

Amanda roared with laughter. “How could you think you’re not cute?”

“I never said I wasn’t!”

Though Mia giggled at their goofy banter, the other three Silvers remained grim and humorless. Halfway through Amanda’s second drink, her fingers turned shiny and white. When Mia awkwardly told her that her weirdness was showing, Amanda laughed, shook her hands pink, and then raised a toast to tempis fugitives. The pun launched Zack into bellowing guffaws.

“I’m thinking those drinks are stronger than you realized,” David mused.

Zack waved him off. “We’re not hammered.”

“We’re just having fun,” Amanda insisted, with a pointed glare at Hannah.

It had taken only five minutes of her sister’s excruciating revelry to make Hannah swallow down the three spare mimosas. But instead of joining Zack and Amanda in tipsy exuberance, the actress felt worse than ever. Her skin burned. Her legs bounced uncontrollably. Angry notions exploded in her mind like popcorn.

Once Amanda propped her feet on Zack’s thighs, Hannah stood up fast enough to wobble.

Theo grabbed her. “Whoa. You okay?”

Hannah yanked her arm away. “I’m fine.”

She washed her face in the bathroom, gritting her teeth as a sneering inner voice taunted her. Hey, Hannah Banana, Always Needs-a-Man-a. Funny how you can’t keep them while your sister can’t keep them away. Shame Jury’s not here to balance things out. Oh well. That’s just the way it goes here in Evansville.

She returned to the balcony with forced poise, determined to ignore Theo’s patronizing look of concern and the escalating flirtations between her sister and Zack.

“It’s true!” Amanda insisted. “You have physical contact issues. You don’t like hugging.”

“That is bull-pucky of the highest order. I hug everyone. Even my enemies.”

“Remember that time we hugged in Ramona? You were awkward about it.”

“That’s because we were in an alley. I could feel the hobos judging us.”

“There were no hobos, Zachary. You have issues that need fixing. Stand up.”

“No.”

“Fine. We’ll do it sitting down.”

Amanda planted herself on Zack’s lap, fastening his arms around her slender waist.

“And what is this supposed to accomplish?” he asked.

“Immersion therapy. You need to get over your resistance.”

“Boy, the charity never stops with you.”

She leaned back against him and blew him a frisky whisper. “This isn’t charity, you clueless man. I want more hugs.”

Hannah jumped to her feet, rocking the table. As drinks spilled onto plates and laps, the actress threw an empty glass to the floor. It exploded all around her shoes.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Shocked into sobriety, Amanda climbed off Zack’s lap. She raised her taut fingers.

“Okay, take it easy . . .”

“Do you even see how pathetic you’re being right now? You’ve been a widow for eight weeks! Eight weeks, and this is how you act!”

David held Mia’s arm. “Let’s get the bags ready.”

Mia gave him a shaky nod. They disappeared inside. Amanda fought to stay calm.

“Look, I don’t know what’s really bothering you . . .”

“You think it isn’t upsetting enough to watch you disrespect Derek?”

“You barely even knew him!”

“I know he’d hate to see you give a lap dance to some other guy!”

Zack shook his head in seething pique. “Hannah, you’re way off base and way out of line.”

“Well then let me be the second one to call you clueless. I swear to God, there isn’t a single man in this group who knows a single thing about women.”

“Look, you’re angry at me,” Amanda said. “Don’t take it out on him.”

Hannah laughed bitterly. “Oh, you just love being noble. The great and noble Amanda Given. Oops. Sorry. I meant Amanda Ambridge. Hey, Zack, I hope you’re not intent on having her take your name. She’ll just drop it the minute you die. That’s how noble she is.”

Amanda gritted her teeth. Her eyes filled with tears. “You sad little child . . .”

“Yeah, the child. Your other favorite meme. You just love being better than me.”

“Well, you make it so easy!”

“Oh, go to hell!”

“You go to hell! We did this for you! We took this whole week so you could feel better! Of course you’d do everything in your power to stay miserable! That’s all you know how to do!”