“Whew.” Tasha flashed Rio a look of genuine relief. She apparently liked him much better now that she was married to one of his best friends, which was nice. There’d been quite a few years during which she hadn’t liked him very much, so it could’ve gone the other way and that would’ve sucked. “I was afraid we were back to pining for Jon.” She made a face.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t call it pining for Luc,” Dave said. “Just wistfully wishing that... a lot of things were different.”
“Such as...?” Tasha prompted.
“That he was still living in San Diego and I really was still dating him.”
Tasha laughed. “And that’s not pining how...?”
Dave shook his head. “I don’t know. We didn’t go out long enough to know if it was real or... I mean, maybe it’s not so much about missing Luc as it is about missing being with someone. Anyone. As in anyone who’s not Jon. God help me.” He glanced at Rio before telling Tasha and Thomas, “He just got out of rehab.”
“Oh, no.” Tasha said. “I mean, yay, good for Jon, that’s hard to do, I hope it sticks, but nooo, no, no, no, that’s very un-good for you, because let me guess. He’s started calling you again.”
“He hasn’t,” Dave told them. “But Casey—his sister—has.”
“So Dave told Casey that he’s still seeing Luc,” Rio chimed in, since Dave was clearly going to tell them anyway. He was curious though if Dave was going to elucidate and tell them exactly who Jon’s famous sister was by adding an Esparza to that Casey. “To get her to back off.”
“Only she didn’t back off,” Dave said. “Instead, she paid Rio a little visit.”
“Yeah,” Rio told them. “That was weird and confusing because it wasn’t until she left that I realized she thought I was Luc.”
“What?” Tasha said, delighted with that twist.
“Cousins,” Thomas sang. “Identical cousins!”
“Yeah,” Rio had to admit. “You know, when we were younger, we didn’t really look that much alike. But this past year or so—ever since he stopped getting creative with his hair—it’s like I have a clone.”
“All right,” Tasha said. “That’s it. I need to see a picture of Luc right now. I thought you were kidding or exaggerating or—”
“Nope,” Dave said, getting out his phone. “They really do look alike. I mean, I can tell them apart easily, but... Ah, shit.” He glanced at Rio. “Casey texted me again. She says she’s sorry, and... she hopes I’ll still come to the wedding on Saturday and... Oh, no.”
“Don’t go, man,” Rio said.
“I have to,” Dave told him as he handed his phone to Tasha, showing her what looked—from Rio’s upside-down perspective—to be a selfie that Dave had taken with Luc, probably during one of their dates.
“No, you don’t,” Rio said. “If you’re giving Luc a fake family emergency, then you can make it terrible enough so that you need to be with him, to support him throughout it. See? Easy.”
Dave shook his head. “That’s... no. I’m not gonna...”
“Wow,” Tasha said.
Rio leaned closer to get a better look at the photo.
In it, Dave was smiling—he looked really happy. And Luc... looked like Luc, laughing his ass off at something as usual, except he was also looking directly at Dave with total, undeniable, unmistakable heart-eyes.
And with that, Rio no longer had any doubt about it. Luc had fallen in love at first sight with Dave, who was still not quite over his asshole of an ex. So Luc had run—far and fast. Damnit.
Tasha used her fingers to enlarge the photo. Her eyes widened as she looked from the picture to Rio and back. “I mean, I know this isn’t you. I see his pretty red shirt and I know that cannot be your pretty red shirt because you have never, in your entire life, owned a pretty red shirt. I accept as a fact that this is your cousin Luc, but... are we absolutely sure it isn’t you?”
“Very,” Rio said.
“You look exactly like him. Except for the shirt.”
“Nah, he looks like me,” Rio informed her. “He’s a year younger.”
Tash handed Dave back his phone as she asked Rio, “So Jon’s sister came to see Luc, except it was really you?” She laughed again. “That’s... pretty crazy—for her to track Luc down like that—and it’s possibly a little dangerous. I mean, what exactly was she trying to do?”
“I don’t know,” Rio said. “She’s definitely not dangerous. Just rich and entitled.” He glanced at Dave, shooting him a look that clearly said You gonna, or am I?
