“I think they’re exploring each other’s bathing suit areas,” Alana giggles. “And I feel like a creep saying it like that.”
“Yousoundlike a creep saying it like that! You all sound like freaks.” I reach across the table and snatch the coffee Raquel made. “I’m having this.”
“Joke’s on you, comrade. I made it for you.” She settles on the couch opposite mine, crossing one leg over the other and picking up her original cup of coffee. “Are you going to break my brother’s heart?”
“You’re doing the nasty?” Eliza rushes across the otherwise empty shop and plops onto the couch beside her sister. “Since when?”
“It’s new,” Raquel hums happily. “Do you see her blush? And the…” Snickering, she reaches up and taps the side of her neck.
Horrified, I swing my hand up and clap it over my neck. “He didn’t!?”
“She’s so freakin’ easy,” she cackles. “Jesus. Don’t rob a bank and expect her to provide you with a bullshit alibi. She has absolutely no chill under pressure.”
I whimper. “Are you always this involved in your brother’s love life? This is too much.”
“This is too much,” Alana giggles. “Is that what you said when he took your clothes off and took a bite out of you?”
“Ew.” Eliza scowls. “That’s my brother! But also, yes.” Abruptly switching her sour expression for a salacious smile, she swings her gaze back my way. “We’ve always been this involved, especially when he asks us not to be. However, this is new.” She gestures toward me, waving her hand up and down. “Dara’s been his go-to not-so-secret bang for a while now. It’s easy, it’s convenient, it’s safe.”
“Dara?”
“Hooooo! See the fire in her eyes?” Raquel barks out a laugh. “Yikes.”
“You’re so loud,” Alana grunts. “Jesus. I always forget while you’re gone howmuchyou are. Then you come back andBAM!”
“Do you mean the paramedic?” I question. “Is that Dara?”
“Mmhm.” Raquel smirks. “Easy peasy. No commitment. No strings. No drama.”
“But then he goes and cancels a Valentine’s Day date,” Eliza whistles. “Valentine’s Day! That’s not casual. That’s not no strings.”
“That’s a woman who was biding her time and putting in the hard work, knowing she was dealing with a wild horse. One wrong move and he was bound to bolt.” Raquel clicks her tongue, rotating the cup in her hands. “She was so close to bagging the whole farm, then you came along and had the audacity to step in front of her grandma’s car.”
“Her grandma?” My stomach heaves. My vision turns dark.Oh God.“Barbara is Dara’s grandmother?”
“Yeah, but don’t look too deep into it. Everyone’s related to someone around here,” Eliza counters. “Ollie was never gonna commit to that filly, because even if she was perfect in every single way, he was not taking Barbara as his grandma-in-law. Not in a million years.”
“I would’ve killed him if he tried,” Raquel declares. “Because then she becomesmygrandma-in-law—ish—and officially a part of my family tree. I wasn’t having it.”
“What are you even telling me?Whyare you telling me?” I push off the couch and take my coffee with me, pacing toward the shop door. “Ollie’s a guy who won’t commit, but will maintain a long-term fuck-fest with a colleague because it’s convenient? And maybe that colleague likes him more than casual, and she finally secured a Valentine’s Day date, which I unknowingly ruined because I was hit by a car and lost my memories… and the driver of the car was that chick’s grandmother?”
“If I were a less mature person, I’d consider it a conspiracy,” Raquel giggles. “The universe was bringing you toward Plainview, and Dara wasn’t having it. So she hired her ratchety old grandma to take you out. Except her plan backfired, and, in the end, you fell into Doctor Douchebag’s loving arms anyway.”
“You’re giving me a headache.” I lean onto the shop window and press my forehead to the cold glass. “I’m confused and sad and cranky and creeped out and… and…”
“Sulking, because the guy you claim—but don’t claim—to bejustyour friend, has a history with some other bitch none of us ever liked anyway.” Eliza releases a long, breathy sigh. “Would’ve been cool if Dara was the one who got hit by a car.”
“That’s some inception BS right there,” Raquel insists. Loudly. “Can you imagine?”
“He’snotan uncatchable man-whore afraid of commitment, nor is he incapable of being good to a woman who matters.” Alana pushes awayfrom the counter and wanders across the shop to stop on my right. Unlike the Darling sisters, she takes pity on me. “He’s one of the kindest, sweetest, most selfless men I know, and that’s a tall order, since I know a few of them. He and Dara have always and only ever been casual, so calm down before you pop the lid straight off that coffee cup and make a mess.”
Breathing heavily, I look down at my hand and the white-knuckle grip I have on the cup.
“He’s an extremely decent guy who hasneverled Dara, or any woman, on. He’s upfront and honest, courteous and bursting with integrity. He brought you home when you left the hospital, which was all any of us needed to know about you. If Ollie wanted you in his life, it’s because he saw something special in you.”
“It’s why we hounded him to be honest,” Eliza adds. “Withhimself. Because from the moment you arrived in Plainview, he was all in, crossing boundaries, fighting his friends, losing sleep, and neglecting literally every other facet of his life, all so he could be near you.”
My chin quivers, emotion washing through my veins like water lapping at the beach. I turn and plaster my back to the glass. “Really?”
