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“Sort of sad?You’re going to have to do a lot better than that if we’re going to get to the bottom of this mess.”
“Okay… she was sad, like, disappointed in me or something. And I think she cried, but not in front of me. Her eyes were puffy and red when she came out onto the deck to say she needed some time to herself. She already had her suitcase packed.”
“Not good.Notgood.” I swipe my bangs from my eyes and try to use those two barely helpful pieces of information to see things from Maggie’s point of view. It’s two weeks before her wedding. She’s disappointed enough to cry… about what?
“Man,” Cole says, “Did you use the new gas grill or that old charcoal one?”
Really? I peer his way long enough to shoot a glare that I hope reaches him under the brim of his camo hat.
He holds a hand up. “Sorry! I was curious.”
“Yeah, but you’re nothelping.”
“Okay—how’s this.” He takes a swig of beer. The fur-lined canvas bar coat opens up enough to show the black t-shirt pulled taut across his chest and the silver chain necklace with some sort of saint medallion that rests on his strong pecs. “Trent, how about that time back around Christmas, when she was talkin’ about the yoga thing?”
Trent speaks past me again, like I’m not even sitting right here.
“What yoga thing?”
“You know… the yoga thing.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose.
I’m too tired for this.
Too jet-lagged.
Too smart, with too much estrogen simmering in my body.
“If you two meat-heads could try using your words, that’d be wonderful. I’d like to make some progress before the bar closes.”
Trent ignores me. “You mean that woo-woo couples camping thing in the desert she wanted to go to?” he asks Cole.
“Yeah… yeah, that.” Cole does another one of those slow nods. “Glamping. Some hippy lady...”
I throw a hand up.
“Am I invisible? Someone talk to me!”
Chapter 2
Cole
I’m feeling thankful that I have all brothers as I slug down a gulp of cold Coors. Olivia’s latest outburst has half the bar looking at her.
To be fair, the guys might be paying her so much attention because she’s looking veryOlivia. Thick, curvy. Long lashes, lush red lips. All that tumbling, curly chestnut hair with auburn highlights. But the fact that she’s demanding attention at a loud volume doesn’t hurt, either.
Man, I lucked out in the sibling department. My three brothers are quiet. When they talk, it’s about ranch stuff. What’s wrong with the tractor, where the fence lines are down, whether the cows have been fed for the morning. Not emotions.
Trent here didn’t get so lucky. With half the bar now listening in, Olivia goes on. “Whatever this couples camping yoga thing is, it’s probably important. Trent, I need you to think back and try to explain to me what this is all about.”
“Okay…” Stress lines snake across his forehead. His frown tugs his lips. “It was a retreat, with some lady who was supposed to fix problems for people or something.”
I feel for Trent.
He’s not his usual self right now. He’s a mess, and I know for a fact he’s barely eaten since Maggie left town. I bought him a sandwich today for lunch and I found it a couple of hours later, still wrapped, sitting in the trash bin at our Adventure Bro’s Helicopter Ski Tours office.
But even though he’s clearly feeling beat up and run-down, Olivia isn’t going easy on him.
