That last part is directed next to her, to Fred, who blushes all the way down to his eyelashes when she turns to him. They had their first in-person date after Vera’s expo this weekend and apparently things have been going well because they both look so thrilled just to be sitting next to one another that I could almost puke. Fred, however, is still the Fred I know and love and having the full attention of my pretty sister is definitely raising his heart rate.

He winces a little bit at her question. “I, um, actually already knew.”

“What?” Vera and I intone at the same time, sounding exactly like the twinsies we definitely are not.

“How did you know?” I demand.

He’s glancing between us, looking a little sheepish. “When you left the company to start your own business, I helped wipe all the design equipment they’d issued to you.”

I groan and face-palm. “All my initial mock-ups were on there. I totally forgot to delete them.”

He clears his throat. “Yeah. But you never directly mentioned it to me so I figured it was none of my business.”

“Have you been following it?”

He blushes again and scratches the back of his head. “Um. Yeah?”

“And . . .” I prompt him, rolling my hand through the air.

“And . . . Rowan’s out of the picture, right? Shaker’s definitely gonna end up with Hertzog?”

I groan and toss my hands in the air. “I’m surrounded by Shaker and Hertzog shippers.”

“Oh, my God.” Vera leans in, her eyes lit with mischief. “There’s a love triangle in your webcomic? Now I have to read it.”

“Yeah. But now that I introduced Jessie’s character I might have to rethink—mmmph!”

I gape at Fred who—typically a fairly nonconfrontational person—has just lunged across the table and jammed a bite of pie into my mouth.

“No spoilers,” he says. “I haven’t read the update yet.”

He blushes a little more and sits back in his seat, glancing between Vera and me and scratching at the back of his head again.

“Hey, got any more secrets about my brother?” Vera asks him, prodding at his side.

He dips his head and glances up at her, trying to contain his shy smile and failing miserably. “Probably?”

“Hey,” I tell him, swallowing the bite as fast as I can. “Don’t tell her. Bros before—” I cut off abruptly at the look on Vera’s face. “Never mind. Tell her everything, Fred. Save yourself.”

He leans in and says something quietly to her and the look on her face morphs from mutinous humor to soft affection.

I can no longer justify my presence as the thirdest of wheels. It’s time for me to give the lovebirds some unchaperoned time.