“Brilliant.” Sarah pulls out her phone and searches for a moment, scrunching her nose adorably as she does. “Were the triangles like this?” she asks, shoving her phone under my nose.
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Hang on.” Sarah swipes at something on her phone. “How about this?”
“Yes!” I say, adrenaline flooding me in a torrent. “That’s it!”
“Holy crappola!” Sarah exclaims. “Oh my God.Look.” She holds up her arm to show me that her tiny hairs are standing on end. “Goose bumps!”
Kat chuckles. “You’re such a little badass, Sarah.”
“Great work, baby,” Jonas adds.
“Sarah Fucking Cruz,” Josh says.
Sarah’s eyes are on fire. “Kerzoinks, guys, I think this is gonna work.” She lets out an excited breath. “Okay, so here’s what we know so far: Samantha is a twenty-seven-year-old Virgo flight attendant who works for Delta Airlines out of L.A. That’s a shit-ton of breadcrumbs for Henn to follow, wouldn’t you say?”
“Enough breadcrumbs to lead him straight to Ryan’s doorstep, I’d imagine,” Jonas says.
“You’ll forever be my George Clooney, Sarah Cruz,” Josh says adoringly.
Kat begins to mumble something about us going “Ocean’s Eleven” on Samantha’s ass, but mid-sentence, she abruptly stops talking, clamps her hand over her mouth, leaps up from her chair, and careens out of the room.
Josh stands slowly, rubbing his face. “That’s my cue, guys. Poor Kat. I’m sure she’s gonna be down for the count tonight. Jonas, do me a favor and set the alarm on your way out, okay, bro?”
“Sure thing.”
“You’ve got Henn’s number?” Josh asks.
“Yup. We’ll call him in fifteen. Go tend to Kat.”
“Yeah, I gotta lie down with her. When Kat’s feeling really shitty like this, she likes me to rub her back and sing James Bay to her ’til she falls asleep.” He looks at me. “Will I see you at the grand opening party for Climb & Conquer next week?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I say, bro-hugging him. “Thanks for taking such good care of my little sister.” I lower my voice to a whisper. “And, hey, have fun ring-shopping with my mom tomorrow.”
“Oh, Momma Lou told you about that, did she?”
“She hasn’t stopped talking about it. She’s a wee bit excited.”
“So am I. God willing, Kat will say yes.”
We all reassure Josh that Kat will most definitely say yes—“duh” is how Sarah puts it—and Josh leaves to help Kat.
“Back to brainstorming,” Sarah says, settling back into her chair. “Did Samantha mention her ethnic background?”
“She said she was born and raised in L.A., but that her dad’s from Argentina.”
“Oooh,” Sarah says. “I bet Samantha’s really beautiful, then. Every single Argentinian woman I’ve ever met has been stunningly beautiful.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly the word for Samantha,” I say. “Stunning. She took my breath away the minute I saw her.”
Sarah nudges Jonas on the shoulder. “Hey, isn’t Theresa’s family from Argentina?”
“Yeah, she’s the one who recommended Josh take Kat to Buenos Aires, remember?”
“Well, there you go,” Sarah says. “Like I said, Argentinian women are all stunning.”
“Who’s Theresa?” I ask.
