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Lucy cocks a brow at me and points her stick in my direction. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with my big brother, would it?”
“Which one?” I stab an empty cigarette pack hard. “You have so many to choose from.”
She stops and pins me with a hard gaze.
“Are we pretending that you don’t spend a lot of time with Cole?”
“Ah, yes. Mr. Doom and Gloom himself.” I glance at her with a smirk, then look up and down the beach. There are clusters of people in yellow vests, with trash bags and picker sticks, in both directions.
“Do you want to take a break for a few minutes? I’m about frozen though.”
“Ugh, I thought you would never ask.” She grins at me. “The volunteer tent has cocoa.”
“I would kill for a heated blanket right now.” I blow on my hands and cover my nose. “Let’s go get warm.”
Lucy grins and links arms with me. I laugh as we both try to wrangle our trash bags with our picker poles as we head up the beach.
“So? Are you going to dish?” she asks.
“About…?”
“Cole! What happened? He’s been an unbearable grump for the last few days since you left our house. And I never got the whole story about how he ended up with a black eye, either.”
“Do we have to talk about Cole?” I stick out my tongue and make a gagging sound.
In my head, though, I’m remembering exactly how it felt to kiss Cole in the den several days ago. A rush of heat shudders down my spine.
“You’re blushing!” Lucy giggles. “Tell me, or I will be forced to impale you with my interrogation stick.”
She wiggles her trash picker at me. I roll my eyes.
I’m so cold that I huddle closer to her as we walk. “There’s not that much to tell. Cole got that black eye from one of his clients.” I hesitate. “His client was being extremely rude to me, and Cole wasn’t interested in taking his crap anymore. Cole did stand up for me, but it was just because he felt like the client was disrespecting his whole company.”
Lucy bleats a bark of laughter.
“That’s not it! Cole is notorious for not caring how clients treat him. He gets screamed at for a living. Plus, his ex, Holly, was always getting in his face for every little thing. He’s weirdly immune to it. So, I’m calling BS on your theory.”
My eyes widen. The mention of Cole’s ex makes me deeply curious. But of course, I can’t ask Lucy. That would be prying.
“That’s pretty much the whole story.”
We climb the crest of grassy sand that leads us off of the beach. Lucy pouts.
“You’re being evasive. Something happened when you came to visit the house. You two disappeared for a long time. And when you came back, you couldn’t even look at each other.” She elbows me in the ribs, which honestly hurts.
“Ow!” I protest. “God, okay! Cole kissed me. Are you happy?”
“What?!” She stops, drops her trash bag and picker, and claps her gloved hands over her mouth. “How? When? Did you kiss him back?”
I flush and pick up her trash bag. “No comment.”
“Oh my god!” Lucy picks up the pole, and rushes to catch up to me.
The volunteer tent is within sight; I can see a plume of steam rising from its white plastic roof. If I can just get there, I can neatly avoid having this conversation with Lucy.
“I can’t believe you are dating my brother,” she says, sounding awestruck. “How are Rhett and Rex still single, and Cole’s now on his second serious relationship?”
“Whoa, whoa.” I stop, pinning Lucy with my gaze. “Cole and I aren’t dating. We are not in a relationship either. He’s my boss, Lucy. And….”
