Psy (Alien Castaways #3) - Cara Bristol Page 0,55
will take care of it before too long. She’s been first in everything else.” My mother would deny it with her dying breath, but my sister was her favorite child.
“Well, she’s only twenty-five, and she’s focused on her career right now. Plus, Phillip does have three children from previous relationships.”
Ohh… “And he doesn’t want any more?”
“I didn’t say that! Gossip is so unbecoming, Alexandra. All I’m saying is you need to think about your future.”
Business was booming at Your Just Desserts, my shop had gotten a chamber of commerce award for Best New Business and received high ratings in customer reviews on the ’Net, I had a great group of friends, and I owned my own home. I was doing pretty darn well, if I did say so myself. Why couldn’t she give me credit for what I had accomplished?
My temper rose. Never a good thing. “Maybe I have thought about my future. Maybe I applied to the Terra Dakon Goodwill Exchange Program.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Who says I’m joking?”
Desperate for men, many women signed up to become the mail-order brides of an alien race on planet Dakon. The planet was rich in illuvian ore, which could power just about anything, so Earth’s government had worked out a deal to trade females for rocks.
My mother clutched her throat, her lined neck the only feature that betrayed her age. “Please, tell me you didn’t.” Her fingers tangled in the multi-strand pearl necklace she wore to cover the wrinkles. She looked so horrified and concerned, I didn’t have the nerve to continue.
“No, I didn’t,” I admitted.
“Don’t scare me like that,” she said. “Despite our differences, you’re my daughter, I love you, and I couldn’t stand the idea of you leaving Earth and flying halfway across the galaxy. I might never see you again.”
Leaving Earth didn’t appeal to me, either, truthfully. I had a great life here, even if the social part sucked like an overly tart torte.
“It’s bad enough the aliens have come here,” she said.
“What?”
“At the Habitat for Unwed Mothers fashion show, I heard Kennedy Truman’s daughter is dating one.”
Gossip is so unbecoming. I wanted to toss her own words back at her, but then she might clam up, and this news was too juicy to let pass. “Here? On Earth? A real alien? How did that happen?”
“She met him through the Intergalactic Dating Agency, which matches Earth girls with extraterrestrials.”
“You’re kidding.” While my mother didn’t think much of Your Just Desserts, it consumed my life. I’d been so busy baking and managing the business, I hadn’t been paying attention to much else. My preoccupation might have contributed to my lack of a dating life, I conceded wryly. “How long has this been going on?”
“A while. I’m so grateful Antoinette is marrying a successful human man. You’re not married, but at least you’re not with a huge purple alien.”
Apparently, my mother wasn’t as desperate for grandchildren as I’d assumed. “Speaking of marriages, I assume Toni will be contacting me about the wedding cake.”
“What do you mean?”
“Doesn’t she want me to do the cake for her?”
My mother tittered. “Oh no, dear. Your little homemade cakes are good, but for the wedding, we’ll need one that’s professionally done. Anyway, I’m pleased you’ll be there. I have to run, now. I have a Friends of the Homeless tea. I’ll be in touch.”
The screen blanked out.
Your little homemade cakes are good, but for the wedding, we’ll need one that’s professionally done. I doubted she even realized she’d insulted me. I might have forgiven the slight if her opinion had been based on true and honest experience, but to my knowledge, my mother had never tried my cakes. Our history colored her assessment of everything I did.
I handled the wedding invitation. Miss Alexandra Katherine Gates Sutterman and guest. My siblings and I carried my mother’s maiden name as well as our father’s surname because while he had been quite successful, my socialite mother was a Gates of the Sinclair Gates, old money dating back to the California Gold Rush. Her name could open doors—or shut them, depending on her whim.
Miss Alexandra Katherine Gates Sutterman and guest. I could bring a plus-one.
Intergalactic Dating Agency, huh?
* * * *
What rock had I been hiding under not to have known about this? The Intergalactic Dating Agency was plastered all over the ’Net—reviews, interviews, YouTube vids of the program as well as of the dates women had gone on, and even wedding ceremonies with the aliens. I stared at one woman’s purple