Page 172 of The Bluffing Game

I have a feeling what’s got her so excited is Brett, and not just being here, but I’m not going to say anything.

“This place is a dump,” I whisper to her.

She pulls me into her, and I rest my head on her shoulder and breathe, trying my darndest not to cry. When I finally look back up, I see that Dalton, Izzy, Lucia, and Roman are all standing there, watching us. It doesn’t surprise me that Brett is not there. In fact, I’m glad he’s not. I don’t know what it is about the man that annoys me. Maybe it’s because of the spark I see between Rosie and him. It’s invisible to others, but I see it. The others are nice enough to give us space. Nice enough to understand that, right now, we need each other. There’s concern on all their faces, and I feel embarrassed.

“I don’t know what to do. Should we leave?” I chew on my lower lip. My head is pounding, and I know a stress headache is not far away.

“We just got here.” She grins. “And we spent most of our money getting here and on this dumpy place. Where would we go?”

“We could go back to Coconut Beach.”

“We could, but I don’t want to go back to Coconut Beach. Plus, I just met Brett.”

“Really, Rosie?” I shake my head. “He is not the one for you.”

“What?” She pouts. “He’s so cute and⁠—”

“He has no personality. The man doesn’t even smile.”

“That’s because he was in the military and he’s probably not used to smiling and⁠—”

“Girl, please. I know we all have bad taste in men at some point in our lives, but I was really hoping you would not have even worse taste than me.”

“What are you saying?”

“If ever there were red flags surrounding a man, they surround him.”

“You don’t even know him, Sage. We don’t have to talk about him. It’s unlikely I’ll see him again after tonight anyway. He’s just cute, and I like flirting with him. I don’t care if he doesn’t respond.”

“You don’t?”

“I mean, it would be nice if he responded. It would be nice if he were like, Let me take you on a date, Rosie, but, hey, whatever. He’s still cute.” She crosses her arms and looks back at the four of them standing a few feet away. “So, what are we going to do? This is kind of awkward.”

“I know, especially with Dalton here. He really should be at home with his son, not helping us with random-ass cleaning tasks.” I wrinkle my nose, starting to feel guilty again.

“His son’s really cute, isn’t he?” She looks at me in a certain way, but I keep my expression blank.

“He’s fine. He’s a kid. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I just thought … you know, that you⁠—”

“Why are we talking about him?”

“I was just checking to see if you were interested because you guys seem to banter back and forth a lot. And I haven’t seen sparks fly between you and someone in a long time.”

“Stop right there,” I cut her off. “There are no sparks flying between us. And he’s nothing to me. He’s just our new boss. And he is Lucia’s older brother. And obviously, he’s helping Lucia’s friends.”

“Uh-huh.” She grins. “Sure thing, sis. Look, I don’t want to stay here,” she admits, changing the subject. “I said it. I’m sorry. I feel really, really bad because I know how much we put into this, but I really don’t want to stay here. Sage, do we really have to?”

“But you just said you don’t want to go to Coconut Beach.”

“Why can’t we just stay at Lucia’s for a little bit until we can save up money?”

“I don’t know.” I look back over at the group, and I’m not sure if Lucia is psychic or what.

“Hey, girls.” Lucia walks over to us, and Izzy follows behind. “Izzy and I would like to propose something.”

Rosie and I look at her, and she’s got her arms crossed.