Margot gives me herdon’t bullshit meCEO face. “You made a face.”
“I know you’re not judging him for being disowned and broke,” Daphne says.
I set my laptop on the table and straighten. “Of course not, but since when are you on his side?”
“I’m not on his side, but Iamdisowned and relatively broke most of the time, so I want to make sure that’s off the table for things we judge him for.”
“I’m not judging him for being broke.”
“Then what’s with the face?”
“Just tell them why you made a face so I can go back to sleep,” Hudson calls.
“He just—he mentioned last night that he doesn’t like his parents, and that’s so foreign to me that I’m still processing it,” I lie.
Daphne stares at me.
She knows I’m lying. We’ve regularly discussed how awful her parents are when she starts to feel guilty for going no-contact with them. I’m well aware bad parents are a thing.
Margot doesn’t know I’m lying though. “Understandable. I’ve actually met his parents. Not because of him. Because of other things. They didn’t pass the vibe check.”
“Our parents don’t pass the vibe check,” Daphne says.
Margot ignores her, but she undoubtedly is still getting points from Daphne for what she asks next. “Are you seeing him again, Bea?”
“Oh, I don’t think so.”
Hudson ambles into the room with his curly brown hair sticking up all over. “You’re all fucking loud.”
I smile at him. “Buy you breakfast if you come to work with me today.”
“Real breakfast? Bacon and eggs and sausage and biscuits and potatoes?”
“I was going to offer tea and scones.”
“It’s too early for you to be funny,” he grumbles.
“Have I ever told you how much you remind me of Ryker in the mornings?”
He flips me off just like Margot flipped Daphne off a minute ago.
Daph and I share a high five.
We’re killing it this morning.
“So, back to Simon,” Daph says with a mouthful of pizza as the coffee maker starts to sputter and whine at the end of its cycle. “Why don’t you want to see him again?”
“Because I don’t want to date anyone right now.”
Daphne pauses with her pizza halfway back to her mouth. “That is so not a reason.”
Margot grabs the teakettle and pours hot water into her mug. “Agreed. You can’t plan timing on love.”
“It’s not love,” I say.
Hudson eyes the coffeepot. “I wouldn’t mind him being my stepdad-slash-brother-in-law.”
“Stop. We arenotseeing each other again. While he’s funny and charming and weirdly handsome when he’s not playing a total doucheweed on TV—oh my god, you should see him in his reading glasses—he’s leaving in a few months, and I’m just not interested in falling for him.”
