Page 66 of The Bluffing Game

“Okay”—she nods—“I can do it.”

“Great. You are a lifesaver, Sage.”

“I don’t know about that, but I do believe it takes a village to help raise a child.” She pauses. “Is Toby’s mom not in the picture at all?”

I so badly want to tell her the truth about Toby and his mom and everything, but once I go down that road, I’ll have to tell her everything, and I’m just not ready for her to know exactly who I am, exactly who I’ve been, and exactly what my life has meant. I want her to get to know me without having any judgments in her mind, and I fear that once I tell her the truth, she’ll never look at me in a positive way.

“He—” I pause. “Look, I …”

“It’s okay,” she says. “I don’t mean to be nosy, and if you’re not ready to say anything, it’s not my business. I’m happy to look after Toby.”

Before we head into the dining hall, I grab her hand. “It means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to Toby as well. Thank you, Sage.”

“You’re welcome,” she says.

“And I just wanted to say that I hope your dating experience on the app is proving to be all that you hoped it would be.”

“It’s early days, so we’ll see.” She offers me a wry smile. “Maybe I’ll meet the man of my dreams, or maybe I won’t.”

“Just as long as he’s rich, huh?” I say the words jokingly, but I can hear a note of bitterness in my tone, which I don’t like. “I hope you meet the man of your dreams.” That’s not really true, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Or maybe I don’t really want to know.

“Thanks,” she says. “It’s the table over there.” She points toward the front of the restaurant, where Lucia is standing. “That’s the lady.”

“I’ll go and figure it out,” I say with a smile. “I’ll text you the information for this afternoon.”

“Sounds good,” she says.

When I head past the bar, Jimmy the Fish looks at me, his eyes narrowed, and then he looks back at Sage.

“We were just chatting about her babysitting Toby,” I tell him.

“Ah, okay.” He nods and then looks back at her. “She’s got a really, really unique smile, doesn’t she?” he says.

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

I wonder if he’s questioning me. I wonder if he can see that I’m attracted to her.

“She almost looks like a woman I knew once,” he says, laughing.

“You know plenty of women, Jimmy.” I grin. “She’s too young for you.”

“I know,” he says, shaking his head. “And you know I don’t date anymore. I’m plenty happy, just working here and going home.”

“What about those dinners you’ve been having with Gracie?” I ask him.

He blushes and looks away. “We’re just friends—you know that. We became close when she was dating your dad, and I worked for him. I would never cross that line.”

“You don’t work for him anymore, Jimmy.”

“I know, but there are some loyalties that you don’t ever betray.”

“Okay,” I say. “Let me go and deal with this issue.”

I head toward the table and plaster a smile on my face because even though the customer sounds ridiculous, the customer is always right. I stop at the table and look down at an elderly lady with thick glasses and a sour expression on her face.

“Good day. I’m Dalton, the owner here, and I understand you had an issue with the beef stew.”

“I thought it would be tofu.” She points to the menu and taps it. “It says vegetarian option.”