Kitty didn’t look impressed. “Are you serious?”
“He knows I’m an influencer who’s trying to build my impressions on TikTok and said he’d write it off as a business expense.”
“I thought you said he worked in insurance,” Jane said, her brow furrowed.
Lydia shrugged one shoulder. “He does. He’s like an adjuster or investigator or something.”
“With an unlimited credit line, apparently,” Kitty murmured, looking back down at her glowing screen.
Lydia ignored her, taking a careful sip of her drink through a small pink straw, keeping her red lipstick intact. “It’s all about building my brand. And if my brand position is luxury, I need content that speaks to my target audience. Not fried food and guys I’ve known since kindergarten.”
“So… no to the Tater Tots, then,” Piper said.
Lydia threw her a glare, then popped one from the basket into her mouth.
Lizzy smiled as she turned to do her own audit of the room. She would never admit it, but she understood Lydia’s frustration. Lizzy recognized almost everyone there. The bar was full of regulars, the same familiar faces who had populated their social circle since birth.
But just as soon as the thought entered her head, Lydia’s unmistakable squeal cut through the air.
“Oh my God, they’rehere,” she whispered, though the volume was anything but low.
Lizzy followed her sister’s gaze to the door, where four people now stood, surveying the room.
She knew those cidiots. Well, the men at least. She immediately recognized Charlie Pierce with his mess of brown curls and wide smile. And next to him was the palm tree hater. He stood a bit taller than Charlie, with thick blond hair and a white shirt unbuttoned just enough to give the impression that he was relaxed. His posture told a different story, though. His broad shoulders were tense and his back was straight, while his blue eyes scanned the bar with a distinct look of disapproval.
The two women at their sides had to be sisters—they looked almost identical with their glossy brown hair falling at their shoulders, and coordinating linen dresses, long and perfectly pressed. The only difference was that the slightly shorter woman was wearing sunglasses and looked absolutely miserable.
“That’s her!” Kitty gasped, barely managing to keep her voice at a whisper.
Jane’s eyebrows were knit together as she craned to look. “Who’s her?”
“Annabelle Pierce! Remember, Mom was talking about her? She took over her mom’s boutique in Denver five years ago and grew it to over two hundred international locations. She’s incredible,” Kitty said, narrowing her eyes on the group. “That must be her sister in the sunglasses. And her brother there with the curly dark hair.”
“Okay, but who’s the blond guy?” Lydia murmured, nodding to the palm tree hater, who was still giving the room a contemptuous look. His veneer wasn’t as polished as the others’, but it somehow signaled even more refinement, if that were possible. The sharp line of his jaw was camouflaged by stubble, and his hair was long, as if he’d missed his last five or six haircuts. Lizzy couldn’t help but notice that it was also that distinct shade of blond that would probably lighten after just a few days in the sun, the way it probably had every summer since he was young. She could almost imagine it, with his skin bronzed just enough to make those blue eyes glow—
She stopped herself, turning back to her beer and taking a deep sip. She had never allowed herself to become collateral damage in some wealthy tourist’s pursuit of summer distraction, and she wasn’t about to start with someone like that.
“Who is he?” Kitty asked no one in particular as she watched the foursome approach the other end of the bar.
“The ‘not-boyfriend’ friend,” Lizzy replied, popping another Tater Tot in her mouth.
Jane laughed softly, while Piper went over to take their order.
“Well, we’re obviously going to fall in love and run awaytogether, so I should probably introduce myself,” Lydia said, readjusting her crop top. “How do I look?”
Lizzy cocked her head to the side. “Like an influencer with at least… two dozen followers.”
Lydia stuck her tongue out at her, then flipped her long hair over her shoulder and started toward the group.
Even before Lydia reached them, Lizzy could see that both men had captured the attention of everyone within a twenty-foot radius. And while the two Pierce sisters surveyed the room with bored expressions, Charlie Pierce leaned against the bar, smiling brightly as he chatted with Piper, completely oblivious to the attention from the room. The other man, however, seemed desperate to escape it—an underwear model pissed off to be stuck in a J.Crew catalog. Either that, or he was silently plotting murder.
The bar was too loud to hear the conversation when Lydia finally reached them, but Lizzy still watched like it was a pantomime: how her sister tossed her hair from one shoulder to another as she started talking to the tall blond, how he glanced down blankly when she touched his arm and appeared to say something that she found amusing, because she closed her eyes and laughed. Then how her coy expression turned to a sneer when she opened her eyes again and found he had turned away from her completely. Lizzy bit back her smile. If Lydia had been in love with the palm tree hater for the past five minutes, it only took her another five minutes to fall decidedly out.
“What a prick,” Lydia hissed as she returned and collapsed on the stool next to Lizzy.
Jane looked toward the other end of the bar again. “The one talking to Piper seems nice.”
“Oh, Charlie?” Lydia replied like they were already friends.“He’s fine. I’m talking about the tall, hot one. Like, he sent back hisbeer. Who does that?”
