Chapter 25
SAGE
“Oh my gosh, I’m so tired,” Rosie says as she yawns and stretches her arms. She pulls a stack of cash from her pocket, puts it on the table, and grins at me. “I think I made almost two hundred dollars today. That is absolutely amazing.”
I pull out my own wad of cash and count out one hundred twenty dollars. “You made even more than me.”
“Maybe it’s because I’ve just got a brighter smile,” Rosie says and shows off her pearly whites.
“Who knows? Maybe it’s because I’m always the favorite—parents included,” she teases me, but I don’t quite laugh the same way that I normally do.
“I’m just joking,” she says quickly, noticing the expression on my face. “We are both the favorite.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Hey, girls.” Lucia pops her head into the break room. “You guys are off tonight, right?”
“Yeah, we were just counting our tips,” Rosie says with a smile. “I think Sage and I are going to grab a drink and then go home. Maybe I’ll spend some time on the app or something.”
“Do you have a date tonight, Sage?”
“I do.” I lick my lips slowly. “Not technically, but …” Well, I don’t know what to say, and I can tell I’m mumbling my words.
“What’s going on?” Lucia slides all the way into the room and closes the door. “Are you seeing my brother tonight or something?”
“Why would you ask that?” I choke on my words and feel myself blushing.
“Because he asked me if I could look after Toby tonight, and he doesn’t normally say he’s going to be gone the entire evening.”
I immediately look down at my hands balling in my lap.
“What is going on?” Lucia asks. “Please tell me you and my brother are not … you know.”
“Oh my gosh, are you and Dalton doing the dirty?” Rosie says loudly.
“Guys, I don’t want people to hear you.”
“So, that’s a yeah.” Rosie looks over at Lucia, and Lucia squeals.
Lucia opens the door. “Izzy, get in here,” she shouts.
“Lucia, what are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have secrets from each other, and this is too big of news to not share.”
“What is it?” Izzy comes running into the room. “I’m just serving a three-top. Is everything okay?”
“Sage and Dalton did the deed.”
“No way,” Izzy screams and starts jumping up and down. “Was it amazing? I bet it was amazing, but I guess she can’t say it was amazing because Lucia is his sister and she—”
“I’m not going to say anything. This is really weird and really awkward.” I grin. But it was kind of super-duper amazing.
“Oh my God.” Lucia rubs her eyes. “I don’t want to even think about this. I’m going back to work, but also, I don’t even know what to say. We need to talk later.”
“Okay.”
Lucia and Izzy walk out of the break room, and then I turn my attention to Rosie. “So, there’s one secret out, you know?”
“What, that you and Dalton had sex?” She laughs. “I could tell.”
“What do you mean, you could tell?”
“Because you’ve been smiling and he’s been smiling. I keep seeing you texting, and every time I look at your phone, you’re trying to shield the screen, but I saw his name several times. I was just wondering when you were going to tell me.”
“Oh, Rosie, why didn’t you say you knew something was going on?”
“Because I don’t really know what’s going on, and I don’t know if you know either, because I do still see you swiping on the app, even though I see you texting more. What is going on between you and him?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t really discussed anything. He knows I’m looking for a husband, and I know he’s looking for nothing, and so right now, it’s just fun.”
“And you’re going to see him tonight?”
“Yeah, we’re going to go dancing, and then he is going to take me to a hotel.”
“A hotel? Why?”
“Because Lucia’s going to be babysitting Toby at his house, and obviously, I can’t bring him back to our place, and so …” I shrug.
“Oh my, so are you no longer looking for a billionaire then? What’s the deal?” Rosie asks me suspiciously. “Because you told me that I should not be interested in Brett.”
“Because, again, Brett? We haven’t even seen him. We don’t even know what’s going on with him, and it’s not like he was interested.”
“I know, but maybe he would’ve been interested if I’d flirted a bit more.”
“You don’t want a man you have to flirt with.”
“Maybe he’s just …” She sighs. “Anyway, this isn’t about Brett and me. So, you are going to see Dalton tonight? What, after we get drinks?”
“Yeah.” I sit down at the table. “Rosie, there’s something else I need to tell you.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“Have a seat. I don’t really want to tell you here, but I don’t know if I can even make another move without getting this off my chest. It’s really been overwhelming me, and I feel really bad and …”
“Oh my gosh, are you pregnant?” She shakes her head. “I cannot tell you what to do or what to say, but I will say, as your sister, I’ll always be here for you. I’ll help you raise the baby and …”
“Rosie, no.” I burst out laughing. “What are you thinking?”
“I don’t know, but you look so serious, and whenever you look serious like that, I know it has to be something big.”
“There’s something I need to tell you, and I just don’t want you to hate me.”
“I could never hate you. What is it, Sage?”
“So, you know how, when I was doing research, I said the reason I wanted us to move to Santa Capinari was that they had the most billionaires in town?”
“Yeah, I remember. That was so cool and ingenious.”
“And there was another reason,” I say.
“Oh, well, what was it? Don’t tell me that you looked Dalton up and you came to find him.”
“No, of course not. I’d never heard of Dalton before in my life, but there was another reason why I chose this town.”
“What is it?” She sits next to me, looking confused.
“A couple of months ago, Mom came to me with a secret.”
“She did?” Rosie tilts her head to the side. “What was it?”
“She told me something that had been weighing on her mind for a long time, and she thought I deserved to know.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?” Rosie looks hurt.
“Because it didn’t have to do with you,” I say. “Dad isn’t my dad.”
“What do you mean, Dad isn’t your dad? Of course he’s your dad. He’s been our dad for our entire lives.”
“He’s your dad, he’s your birth father, but he’s not mine.”
“What?” Rosie wrinkles her nose. “I don’t understand.”
“I guess Mom met a guy in New York, had a fling, and that was that. She wound up pregnant, met Dad while she was pregnant, and they got together, but he was never my biological dad.” I take a deep breath.
“Is that why my hair’s so much curlier than yours? I always wondered.” She smiles and then stops. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be jokey at a time like this.” She leans forward and grabs my hand. “But I still don’t understand. What does that have to do with Santa Capinari?”
“She told me all she could remember about the guy she’d met.
He was some good-looking young guy with a bunch of friends; he talked about a bar they always used to frequent called the Kettle King, and that he was from this really rich town, and that he wanted to keep it at first names.
Both of them knew it was just sort of a fling.
Well, guess which town has a Kettle King. ”
“Is that why we stopped there that day?” She looks at me thoughtfully. “You had a napkin in your hand, and you looked at it when we were in the car before we went inside. It had the name Kettle King, right?”
“You saw that?”
“Yeah.” She nods slowly. “I didn’t know what to think of it at the time, but I thought maybe you’d just heard of it and wanted to check it out because a lot of billionaires went there or something. So, you’re looking for your dad, your birth dad?”
“Yeah,” I say. “If he’s around, if I can find him. In fact, Dalton is helping me find him. Well, Brett is, but Dalton asked him to.”
“So, Dalton and Brett know about this?” Rosie looks hurt. “You told them before me.” She looks away from me, and her lip trembles. “You didn’t trust me.”
“It’s not that. Rosie, you know that more than anything. It’s just, you know, Dad has always favored you, whether or not you want to admit it. And you’re my best friend, you’re my sister, and I didn’t want you to think any differently about me.”
“Oh my gosh, Sage.” Her head whips around.
“I would never think differently about you. You’re my sister.
And we still have the same mom, unless she’s lying about that as well.
Hell, I don’t care if we don’t have any of the same parents.
You are my sister, Sage. You’re the closest person to me in the world.
You know everything about me, and up until five minutes ago, I thought I knew everything about you. ”
“Can you forgive me?” I ask her softly. “I know this is a lot, and I should have told you. It’s been really painful, and I don’t want you to think differently about Dad. It just answers a lot of questions for me as to why I didn’t feel like he loved me as much.”
My breath catches, and she rises from her chair and heads over to me. She kneels in front of me and wraps her arms around me.
“I love you, Sage, and I understand, and I’m sorry that Dad made you feel that way. I’m here for you, and I really hope that Brett can find your dad and that he’s amazing. Maybe he’s a billionaire, and he’ll shower you with love and affection, and I’ll be your poor sister—”
“Shut up, Rosie,” I cut her off, and she starts giggling.
“Has Brett made any headway?”
“I’m not sure. I spoke to Dalton about it recently and haven’t had any updates. I’ll ask him tonight when I see him. Thank you, Rosie, for being so understanding.”
“You know I’ve always got you. Shit, do I need to become an investigator myself to find him for you so he can see what he’s been missing out on? Oh my gosh, what if your dad is Bill Gates?”
“My dad is not Bill Gates.” I start laughing. “I look nothing like Bill Gates.”
“I know, but isn’t he, like, one of the richest men in the world? Wouldn’t that be so cool if your dad was a billionaire?”
“That would be cool. Come on,” I say as I stand up. “Let’s get going.”
We walk out of the break room and pass the bar. Jimmy the Fish is working.