“Wait, what?” Bridget lifts her hand. “He gave you his jacket?”
“Yeah, but not like that,” I say quickly. “It wasn't romantic or anything. He's just… he's a McCarthy, isn't he? All polished up, raised to play the gentleman.”
Bridget arches a brow. “Go on.”
“Stop looking at me like that,” I say.
She’s supposed to be on my side. She’s supposed to hate him with me.
“I'm not making it anything,” she says, eyes wide with mock innocence. “Go on, then.”
So I do.
“Cavin takes me through the estate, every inch of it done up like some ancient royal family's private playground. And then… he makes a comment about adungeon. Wait. Actually, no.Imade the comment.”
I glance down, embarrassed. “I joked about it. And thenhesaid he likes the dungeon atThe Craicbetter.”
Bridget’s cheeks flush pink, and it’s the first color I’ve seen on her all day. She slaps her hand over her mouth.
“You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“That’s amazing.” She laughs, coughing mid-sentence.
And then the coughing takes over. It’s harsh and rattling, and her whole body trembles with it, and I just sit there, frozen and helpless.
I wait until it passes.
“Sorry,” she says, shaking her head and sipping water. But she doesn’t meet my eyes. She knows what it looks like. We both do.
“So you said dungeon, and he brought up The Craic,” she says.
“Yeah. Said he liked that one better.”
“Oh my god, no.” Bridget groans, grinning through her disbelief.
And somehow, in the middle of this twisted mess, I’m glad I went. Just for this… this sister-to-sistermomentwith her.
“So he showed me the garden and the library. Talked about kitchens and architecture like he was some bored realtor. But then…”
Tears prick behind my eyes. I try to swallow them down, but my voice betrays me.
Bridget’s brow furrows.
“What happened, Erin?” she whispers.
“He showed me the bedrooms,” I whisper. “He said—this one’s mine. Soon to be ours.”
Bridget’s eyes go wide. Her jaw drops. She actually looks stunned.
“He did not.”
“Hedid.” I lean closer, like if I get close enough, she’ll understand what I can’t say out loud.
She grabs my hand.
“But you told him that’s not happening, right? You told him?—”
