Page 178 of The Bluffing Game

“Hey! Just wanted you to know that Dalton’s on the way. Not that you have to rush lunch or anything. We’re not super busy today. Ooh, and guess what!”

“What?” I ask her, my heart racing.

I can feel a buzz of excitement, but I’m not going to let it affect me. I don’t care if Dalton is coming or not.

“Izzy’s coming to work this evening as well, so it will be all four of us.” She grins. “I think it will be the first time that the whole group has worked at the same time.”

“Oh, yeah, that will be a lot of fun.” I nod and offer her some potato chips.

“No, thanks,” she says. “I just asked Gracie to make me some chicken tenders and French fries.” She grins. “So, I’m going to save my appetite for that super-healthy meal. You know she can always make you anything you want off the menu. We get to eat for free.”

“I know, but I feel bad taking free food from the restaurant, seeing as we’re not paying rent right now.”

“Don’t feel bad about it whatsoever. I understand though,” she says with a smile. “Anywho, I was talking with Izzy, and we were thinking we could all go through each other’s dating profiles and see what we would rate them out of ten.”

“Yay, that sounds like a lot of fun,” Rosie says. “I’m ready to get the dating started.”

“Me too.” I laugh. “That does sound fun. Though is Dalton going to be here all evening?”

“Oh, I doubt it. He generally doesn’t work here much.” She pauses. “Well, he kind of does other jobs to help pay for the rent here and stuff.” She looks down like she said too much.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just really expensive for him to rent this building and pay all of us. And I’m sure you’ve noticed the restaurant isn’t super busy. We haven’t been open very long, and, well, he does other jobs to keep the money coming in.” She smiles awkwardly. “Don’t tell him I told you that though. I don’t think he would want me spreading it around.”

“That’s okay. I suppose he has a lot of responsibilities. What with Toby and everything.”

“Yeah.” She nods slowly. “I never thought that he would ever be a dad and certainly not in this circumstance, but I guess you just don’t really know people until they step up.”

“Hmm, meaning?” I ask her curiously.

“Well, he didn’t …” She pauses again. Her hand flies to her mouth. “Sorry, it’s not my story to tell, and I don’t think my brother would be happy if I continued this conversation.” She wrinkles her nose. “And with that, I should go back to the front and make sure that no customers are waiting to be seated.” She smiles and then quickly heads back out of the room.

“What was that about?” Rosie asks me as she munches on some more potato chips.

“I don’t know. I guess maybe Dalton had a one-night stand or something and didn’t know the woman was pregnant.”

“So, I guess he was never married then, huh?”

“I guess.” I shrug. “I mean, I haven’t asked him.”

“I’m not going to ask him either,” Rosie says, laughing. “So, do you think he’s going to bring Brett with him?”

“Girl, get him out of your mind. I very much doubt he’s going to bring Brett.”

Though the truth is, I want him to bring Brett. I haven’t heard anything from him since I gave him the little bit of information I had about my dad, and I want to know if he’s found anything else.

“Do you want to maybe head to Kettle King tonight or tomorrow?” I ask her casually.

Because now that it’s in my mind, I feel like I should do some of my own investigating. Not that I’m going to tell Rosie that.

“Yeah, maybe all the girls will want to go. That’ll be fun.”

“True. Maybe it will be.” I look at my watch. “I should go back to the front and help Lucia, seeing as my break is about to be finished.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in about fifteen minutes. I’m going to call Mom. You want to talk to her?”

“No, maybe next time.”