“Dinner?” I echoed, blinking at my mother like she’d just told me I was being shipped to Antarctica. “With the Caldwells?”

Lorelei didn’t even look up from her compact mirror. “Yes, Evie. Alexander invited us. It’s this evening.”

I stared. “You’re joking.”

She snapped the mirror shut. “Do I look like I have time to joke?”

I let out a breath that was more of a groan and sank onto the edge of the bed. “I just dealt with Ryder this morning. Now I have to see him again? At a dinner table? Where I have to make sure I don't make a mistake with the forks and force politeness?”...