“Sounds like a kind gesture,” Silvie agrees with me.
“It’s classic flirting,” Summer says. “You seem like you’re in a good mood.”
“Which isn’t illegal.”
“Just suspicious,” Fallon adds with a laugh.
“How’s married life?” I ask Silvie because redirecting this conversation off of me is important.
She shrugs, but the corner of her mouth gives her away. “It’s okay. It’s fake.” She sips her coffee. “Everyone knows that.”
“Just an arrangement,” Summer repeats. “Oh, have you talked to Josie this week?”
I’ve never been so grateful for a subject change.
Fallon nods. “The fundraiser is going to be huge. Cal’s got a whole bar setup donated, and Mia was chatting about backdrops for photos. With three weeks out, she’s already got the local businesses signed on. I saw a flyer on the bulletin board outside Oceanside Market.”
All I can do is proudly smile. “She’s incredible at this. I’ve asked several times how I can help, and she just told me to be present the day of the event to chat with people.”
A little over a week ago, my little sister walked into the lobby with a color-coded notebook, stickers on every tab, and a pitch I almost brushed off. But this is different. She’s organized and driven and doing it for the love of the bed-and-breakfast. That means so damn much, and she deserves tons of credit for this.
“You should enter the surf competition,” Fallon says when the conversation moves into a lull.
“No.”
“You looked incredible out there with Carter. Everyone on the beach stopped to watch. Even I did.”
“That was nothing, and you know it.”
She shrugs. “Was it?”
I laugh. “You enter, and I will.”
“Really?” Her brows pop up. “Fine, deal.”
“I, uh?—”
“Nope. I’m going to register us both.”
“Shit,” I whisper. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
“Mmhmm.” Fallon nods. “I thought you’d have learned that by now.”
“Shit, I gotta go,” Summer says, jumping down from the counter, rolling her eyes. “Dayton is getting on my damn nerves.”
Dayton is her stepbrother, who’s been a major pain in her ass. The two of them have hated each other for as long as I can remember.
“Good luck,” I offer.
“He needs it,” she says. “Not me.”
“I should probably get going too,” Silvie says.
The two of them head toward the beach together.
When they’re out of earshot, Fallon turns to me. “Well? How are things with Carter?”
I tuck my lips into my mouth, and she squeals.
