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We sit in silence until he finally says, “Goddammit.”
“It’ll be okay,” I say, this time with a little more confidence behind the words. “Dax was never going to hold Kara’s attention for long anyway. She’ll get past it. Rebound.”
Dalton shakes his head sadly. “You don’t know her like I do, man,” he says.
I can’t argue with that.
Then he says, “I’m sorry I pointed the finger at you guys in there. I’m guessing there’s a little more to the story?”
I snort. “Yeah, I’m a bit offended. You really fucked us over.”
“But how did you know?”
“I saw him walking out of another room this morning. I didn’t realize it was Cheryl. I definitely have no idea what she was going on about Evie telling her to cheat. I may not know Kara, but I know Evie. And she would never have said that shit to Cheryl.”
“You should have told Kara about Dax immediately.”
“When? Right before her opening show? Or surrounded by all her friends while she was trying to celebrate? I was going to tell her. I just thought I had more time.”
Dalton chews his lip and ultimately realizes he has nothing to be mad at me about. He sighs heavily. “I’m sorry, Nick. I wasn’t thinking. Don’t worry about Kara. I’ll fix things up with her for you.”
As tempting as the offer is, I shake my head. “No, let me.”
“Are you sure?”
“You, my friend, need to keep a bit of distance. Anything you say is going to be tainted by your very obvious feelings for her.”
He scowls. “They aren’t that obvious.”
I just raise an eyebrow.
“Man,” he says, “can’t you let me pretend?”
“Not my style, kid,” I say. I stand up. “Where do you think she went?”
Dalton looks up, surprised. “You’re going now?”
“No time like the present,” I say bitterly. It’s better than sitting around thinking about Evie crying in the other room. “So any ideas?”
He frowns. “She was talking earlier about a rooftop deck the girls went up to last night. That seems like it’d be pretty private.”
“How do I get there?”
“I guess you just follow the east stairwell up to the top.”
The sun is sinking low and I can’t imagine Kara would find much privacy up there right now, but it’s a start.
After orienting myself toward the east, I head down the hall, find the staircase, and climb four stories until it stops. Then I realize why Dalton thought it would be private. It’s not a deck that’s open to the public. There’s just a service ladder bolted into the side of the wall and leading up to a hatch.
A hatch that’s partially open.
I climb the ladder and push it aside. Warm air ruffles my hair accompanied by the salty smell of the sea.
Sure enough, Kara is on the rooftop, standing by a railing and looking over the edge at the sun setting in another gorgeous display of reds and purples.
She turns quickly, hurriedly wiping tears. She scowls at the sight of me and turns away. I’m probably the last person she wants to see right now. Thankfully I’m used to that.
I slip my hands into the pockets of my suit pants and approach casually, slowly, the way one might edge up on a tiger they’re trying to pet on the nose. See? I’m harmless.
