Page 139 of Sing For Me

She jumped, like I surprised her. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

I took in her pale face and narrowed my eyes. “What’s wrong?”

She let out a shaky breath. “I got some news this morning. You know Giselle Lee?”

I rolled my eyes. “You have a freaking shrine to her in your bedroom, Vega. Of course I know who she is.”

Giselle Lee had a cooking show on the Food Network and Vega wasobsessed. Giselle was her hero—I wasn’t kidding about the shrine.

Vega looked like she both wanted to puke and jump for joy. “She’s hosting a cupcake competition on the Food Network this summer. For young chefs. They asked me to be a contestant.”

“Holy shit,” I muttered, staring at her.

She laughed a little shakily. “I know, right? Mom and Dad aren’t totally on board. You know how they get about us being in the spotlight. And this would be like, major spotlight.”

My stomach clenched at the thought of my little cousin getting so much attention. But then I thought about Uncle Reed and Aunt Paige and how they would never in a million years let something bad happen to one of their kids, and my nerves settled a little. “True,” I said. “But man, Vega. This could be huge for you.”

“Can you imagine how much traffic it would send to my channel?” She shook her head. “It’scrazy.”

“So if your parents agree, you think you’re going to do it?”

“Yeah. I think I am.” She took a deep breath. “Honestly—it scares the crap out of me.”

That surprised me. “Vega, you love being on camera.” The girl was a total ham, if we’re being honest.

“But this is a whole different level than my YouTube channel, Will. Besides, I’m not the most competitive person in the world, you know? Sometimes these shows can be really cutthroat! I’m worried the pressure of competing will throw me off my game.” She held up her hands. “I get sweaty palms just thinking about it!”

I frowned. “You know this isn’t mandatory, right? Your channel is doing great even without any extra publicity. You don’t have to do this, Vega.”

She straightened her shoulders, looking suddenly much more mature. “I think I do have to do it, Will. Even if it scares me.”

“Why?”

“Because having a real cooking show someday is my dream. And sometimes you have to do scary stuff to make your dreams come true.”

Well, damn. Schooled by a thirteen-year-old.

Vega’s words kept ringing in my head for the next several days. Which led me to this moment, crowded with my family in the entryway at my parents’ house, trying to get the hell out of here so I can go and see Eva already. If I could just get my family to back off.

“Oh, I have a great idea!” CeCe exclaims. “You should play her a song.”

“This isn’t a sappy chick-flick, CeCe. I’m not playing her a song.”

She pouts. “But that would be romantic. Girls like romantic.”

Silas is tapping on his phone. “Wyatt says you should definitely bring flowers,” he reports.

“You texted Wyatt?”

He shrugs. “Figured he’d want to be involved.”

“You guys are something else,” I mutter, but I’m trying hard not to smile. And when I meet my dad’s eyes, I know he can tell.

“All right, everybody out,” he says, grabbing my younger siblings by the shoulders and herding them out of the hallway. “Say good luck to your brother and get lost.”

“Good luck, Will!”

“Bring her over after you convince her to give you a second chance,” CeCe says. “She told me she would teach me how she does that fishtail braid in her hair and she never did.”