Chapter 3
SAGE
“So, what’s the plan? How do we meet billionaires?” Rosie’s practically bouncing in her seat as we make our way to the Garden Grove apartment complex to get our keys.
I hope the photos I saw online were real and not artificially lightened or made prettier with Photoshop.
“Sorry, what?” I glance over at her, trying to ignore the doubts in my mind.
One thousand dollars a month for rent doesn’t seem like much in this town, and now that I am here and see just how beautiful Santa Capinari is, I can’t imagine that we were lucky enough to get an amazing place for that price, but I don’t want to tell Rosie that.
“Where are we going to meet our future husbands? This town seems big, and I don’t know if we’re going to fit in at many places.” She pauses, and I can tell she’s considering her words. “Not that we’re trashy, but we certainly don’t look like we have money. Not like the people in this town.”
“We fake it until we make it, sis.” I grin at her. “We’re the Meadows sisters. We are as good as everyone else.”
My heart sinks as I realize my words aren’t exactly true. I hope Rosie didn’t hear the hesitation in my voice. I don’t want her to know anything is wrong or amiss. Not until I figure it out.
“I can fake it. I faked having a real Coach handbag for years, and no one knew.”
She stretches her arms, and she moves them in small circles so she can release the knots in her back. The cheap motel we stayed in wasn’t comfortable, and we both woke up with a backache.
“I’m hungry.”
She gazes at me with hopeful eyes, and I know that means she wants pancakes and bacon.
Along with a mocha latte or something like that.
I run the numbers quickly in my head. A breakfast like that for both of us is forty bucks easy, and we don’t have much money.
I’m also not super hopeful we’ll snag billionaires right away. I’m not that delusional.
“Can you wait until we get the keys?” I ask her, keeping my tone light. “Then we can unpack and get some groceries, and I can make us pancakes. I’ll even add apples to the batter, just like you like.”
“How long is that going to take?”
She rubs her stomach and gives me the most pitiful look.
It reminds me of when we were kids, and she would beg our parents to get her candy at the store.
The pitiful look came before the fake tears, and I don’t want the fake tears.
Though, to be fair to her, she doesn’t try to pull that shit on me.
She knows I don’t fall for manufactured drama.
“Fine, maybe that’s a little long to wait, but everything is so expensive around here, sis.” I sigh and offer her a wry smile. “We moved here so we can meet super rich men, but our broke asses can’t afford the prices to live here.” I can’t help but laugh at the irony of the situation.
“How much do we have left?” She nods and sits back in the seat.
Disappointment crowds her face, but I can tell she’s trying not to show it. She’s good like that. Which makes me feel worse. I wasted our money on drinks last night, and now we don’t have money for breakfast. That was irresponsible of me.
“We have two thousand dollars in our checking account and fifty dollars in savings. One credit card has one thousand dollars available credit, and the other has seven hundred eighty-nine dollars.” I grimace.
“We have to pay rent again in a month, and we have to pay our cell phone bills and make the minimum payment on the credit card.”
My stomach drops again. It sucks, being poor. It sucks, robbing Peter to pay Paul. It sucks, carrying the stress of worrying if we can pay rent and eat.
“So, we’re rich then?”
“Not quite.” I grin at her so that she doesn’t feel the depths of the stress that I’m carrying.
Rosie still thinks our parents help pay the bills and that we’re comfortable. She’s been sheltered her entire life by all of us, and I want to keep it that way. I love my sister, and her well-being matters more to me than my own.
“Do you think we can get a dog?” she asks suddenly, and I look over at her in shock.
“What? Rosie, I just told you that we barely have any money. Why on earth would we get a dog?”
“I’ve just always wanted a dog.” Her voice is wistful, and she looks back out the window.
It’s then that I notice the blonde walking a chocolate Lab down the street.
She’s wearing a pair of short shorts and a sports bra, and she’s bobbing her head to whatever music is pumping through her earbuds.
The lady has zero cares in the world, and the dog looks like he’s living his best life as well.
“And one day, you shall have one, I promise.”
“I think we should get jobs.” She offers me an apologetic look, like she doesn’t want to remind me that the job offer I’d originally been offered had been rescinded just a few days previously.
I’m about to ask what brought this on when I realize we’re approaching the apartment complex where we’re staying.
My heart sinks as I notice the knocked-over trash cans, unkempt grass, and decaying building.
The building is a gray eyesore, and I’m stunned that the inhabitants of Santa Capinari are okay with this building sharing the same soil as their zip code.
“Oh, shit,” I mutter under my breath. Rosie leans forward, an awed expression on her face as I pull into the parking lot.
“Please tell me this isn’t our new home?
” Her voice rises as her brown eyes blink rapidly.
“We’re poor, poor, huh?” she says in such a teasing tone that my eyes snap to her face.
There’s a half-smile on her face as she winks at me.
“I’m not dumb, Sage. I know you think I’m still your baby sister, but I can read the room.
We don’t have much money …” She wrinkles her nose.
“I guess there’s one positive thing about living here. ”
“And what’s that?”
“We’ll be forced into meeting as many men as possible because who wants to stay here for a long amount of time?”
“Well, we do have a year lease.”
“Oh, shit, you think it will take us a year.” It’s her turn to sigh as I park the car. “We can always go back to Coconut Beach and stay with Juniper. She’d love to have us.”
“Yes, but our dear cousin has a boyfriend now,” I remind her. “She won’t want to entertain us for months.”
“She wouldn’t have to. Plus, Coconut Beach is lush. I wouldn’t mind living there. It would be fun. And Mia is there. And maybe Luke could give us jobs, and then we could …” Her voice trails off. “It was just an idea.”
“We have a year lease here. We thought it would be cool to meet billionaires …” It’s my turn to let my voice trail off.
I don’t want to be manipulative, but I don’t want to tell her the other reason why I want to be here. The more important reason. I will tell her eventually. I just need time. It always comes down to time.
“I know. I was just saying we have a backup, in case it doesn’t work out. It will work out though,” she says quickly, and she reaches out to squeeze my hand. “I have faith in us.”
I turn off the ignition and twist to face her. There’s a nervous expression on her face, and her eyebrows are scrunched. Her fingers play with a hairband on her wrist, and I know she’s just as worried as I am.
“It will.” I nod. “But, yeah, you’re right; we’re broke, and I think we need to find jobs. Let’s get the keys, check out our new home, then grab breakfast and look for jobs.”
“Sounds like a plan.” She offers me a smile that radiates in her eyes, and I can feel the warmth of her love deep inside of me.
I’m so lucky to have a sister who is also my best friend. And even though we often get on each other’s nerves, it’s moments like this that make everything worth it. It’s times like this that remind me that even if we weren’t blood-related, she’d still be my chosen family.
“You know what I just realized?” she asks as we both exit the car and make our way to the front of the building.
“That you don’t want pancakes after all?”
“Never.” She laughs. “I just realized we’re never going to be on that TV show about cool cribs while we live here.”
“What made you even think of that?”
“I don’t know.” She giggles as we head toward the rusted bright yellow door, marked Office. “I just hope they don’t have rats or cockroaches here.” She mock-shudders. “And I hope there are no thin walls either. Or loud stompers. Or people with babies who cry a lot.”
“I have a feeling you just doomed us to all of the above.”
I throw my hands up in the air and wail like a banshee. Rosie joins me, and after a few moments, we bend at the knees to catch our breath.
“We’re certainly on an adventure now,” I say as we make our way to the office.
The door swings open with force, and a tall man stands in the doorway.
“Oh shit,” I can’t stop myself from muttering as my heart races at the sight of him. “Is that the guy from last night?” I whisper to Rosie. “Makes sense he would work in a dump like this,” I continue.
But then the man steps forward, and I realize that it is not the handsome man from the night before. Of course he wouldn’t be here. I’m totally losing my mind.
“What did you say?” Rosie moves toward the entrance like a princess would move through a muddy field.
Her expression shows she’s not impressed with our new home. Not only does it not look good, but it smells as well.
Squaring my shoulders, I step in front of her and nod at the man as he passes us.
On closer inspection, this man has zero facial characteristics to match the delicious specimen I met the night before.
He nods back with a disinterested expression, and I walk into the office, hopeful that I can get the keys as quickly as possible and go on my way.
“We could have looked around a little longer.” Rosie licks her lips as she finishes her stack of pancakes.
There’s a small trace of maple syrup on the side of her mouth, and I’m about to tell her when our perky waitress drops back by the table.
“How’d you like the food, girls?” She seems genuinely interested to know.