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Cooper said from behind them, “Afford? You’re not paying for anything.” He leaned over and swept Garland up in his arms. “You look way too hot in that bathing suit. You need to cool off.”
“What are you doing?” Garland squealed, kicking her legs. She dropped her Bloody Mary and the glass smashed on the concrete. “Don’t you dare! Oliver, save me!”
Cooper ran to the pool and jumped in with her, causing a great arc of water to splash on both Oliver and Roy.
Oliver immediately stood, checking to see if his phone had gotten wet.
Roy sat up on his elbows to watch Garland and Cooper. Garland screamed as Cooper splashed her. She retaliated by jumping on his back. Just minutes ago, she’d been too hungover to talk. But she obviously wanted to put on a good show.
“You know what’s really going on, don’t you?” Roy asked him.
“Yes,” Oliver said.
Roy pushed his water-beaded sunglasses down his nose to look at Oliver. “You seem like a nice guy.”
Oliver gave him a wry smile. “Don’t let the accent fool you.”
“You’ve made no secret how much that job at the Rondo means to you. She’s using you to get to Cooper, but don’t be fooled into thinking she’s going to help you in return. That’s not how she operates. You should cut your losses now before it all hits the fan.”
There was a sound of someone yelling Garland’s name from inside the house. Oliver turned and his first thought wasToo late.
Heather Two had just come running out to the pool in her pink robe. Her hair was up in one of those sky-high buns she favored, the ones that looked like she was trying to get Wi-Fi from them. “Garland!” she yelled. “Your dad is home!”
“What?” Garland stilled in the water. “Stop it!” she said to Cooper, pushing him away when he lunged at her playfully because he hadn’t yet noticed Heather Two.
“I was smoking some of Roy’s weed on the front porch,” Heather Two was saying quickly. “I think he saw me as he drove up. He looked angry.”
“That’s what you get for going into my room and stealing my stuff,” Roy said as he stood and gave a catlike stretch.
“Hide it better if you don’t want me to steal it,” Heather Two said.
“Shut up!” Garland said, using the nearest ladder to climb out of the pool. “He said they weren’t coming home until tomorrow evening. You guys were supposed to be gone by then!”
“Wait,” Oliver said, his ears twitching with this news. “Then youhavetalked to him?”
“The stepmonster isn’t with him,” Heather Two said. “He’salone.” Oliver was beginning to see that what he had initially thought was Heather Two’s panic was actually a sort of thinly veiled glee. She was enjoying this unexpected turn of events.
Garland wrapped a nearby towel around her. Cooper got out and stood behind her, his hand on her shoulder. “Showtime,” he whispered to her, and she nodded as Harry Howell strode through the open French doors.
“What in the hell is going on?” Harry asked. He looked tan but tired, his white suit rumpled. Using a combination of his blue-collar work ethic and his Stanford-scholarship smarts, Harry Howell had taken his late wife’s family’s last struggling hotel in the Rondo chain and turned it into a world-class destination resort. He was a legend in the California hotel world.
“Hi, Daddy,” Garland said. Her hand holding her towel together was clenching and unclenching nervously. “How was your vacation?”
“Don’t ‘Hi, Daddy’ me. I told you to get a job while I was gone, and instead you invite your friends over to stay in my house and eat my food and drink my booze? What happened there?” he demanded, pointing to the red splash and smashed glass on the concrete where Garland had dropped her drink.
“Just my Bloody Mary. It slipped.”
“And of course you left it there to be picked up by someone else.” Harry turned to go back inside, nearly mowing over Heather Two, who had been lurking behind him.
“It only happened a minute ago.” Garland hurried after him. Everyone else followed, helplessly drawn.
Harry stopped at the brunch table, looking it over, shaking his head.
“Where is Jade?” Garland asked as they all gathered around him like a Greek chorus.
Harry grabbed a cup and poured himself some coffee. “Don’t ever mention her name again.”
“Did something happen between you andJade?”
