Page 39 of The Bluffing Game

While we never stayed in one place for too long, and we never lived in the best neighborhoods or in fancy houses, we were always in places better than this. I feel like a failure. I feel like maybe I made the wrong decision. Maybe I am being too stubborn. Maybe I am putting myself and Rosie in danger. Because not only is the apartment dingy and small, there are roaches and unsavory characters at the front of the building. And we don’t even live in Santa Capinari.

“So, have we decided on a plan?” Brett asks while looking at his watch like he wants to be anywhere but here.

I want to tell him to leave, but I realize he arrived with Roman. And so, unless he gets an Uber or a cab, it’s unlikely that he can go.

“Maybe we can split up,” I say. “I can give a list to Rosie and then …” And that’s when I see a rat stalking near the front door, peeking in and then hurrying toward the back of the apartment. I scream louder than I’ve ever screamed in my life and run like my life is in danger.

I run outside of the apartment, and Rosie follows me until I stop. I’m close to crying, and I think she senses that because she grabs my shoulders and looks me in the eyes.

“Hey, you okay?” Her voice is soft. And even though I know more than anything that she doesn’t want to be here, she’s still being strong for me. “It’ll be okay, Sage.” The way her voice softens makes me feel even worse because I can sense that she doesn’t want to live here, and I love her and hate it at the same time that she’s sucking it up to comfort me. I know her almost better than I know myself. Her every feeling, even when she doesn’t say it.

“I’m sorry I let you down. We should have stayed in Coconut Beach. We could have stayed with Juniper, and we could have found jobs and⁠—”

“No, this is an adventure. This is fun.” She touches the side of my face and brushes my hair back. “It’ll be fine. We never would have experienced any of this if we’d stayed in Coconut Beach.” She looks back to the apartment, and her face lights up slightly.

I have a feeling what’s got her so excited is Brett, and not just being here, but I’m not going to say anything.

“This place is a dump,” I whisper to her.

She pulls me into her, and I rest my head on her shoulder and breathe, trying my darndest not to cry. When I finally look back up, I see that Dalton, Izzy, Lucia, and Roman are all standing there, watching us. It doesn’t surprise me that Brett is not there. In fact, I’m glad he’s not. I don’t know what it is about the man that annoys me. Maybe it’s because of the spark I see between Rosie and him. It’s invisible to others, but I see it. The others are nice enough to give us space. Nice enough to understand that, right now, we need each other. There’s concern on all their faces, and I feel embarrassed.

“I don’t know what to do. Should we leave?” I chew on my lower lip. My head is pounding, and I know a stress headache is not far away.

“We just got here.” She grins. “And we spent most of our money getting here and on this dumpy place. Where would we go?”

“We could go back to Coconut Beach.”

“We could, but I don’t want to go back to Coconut Beach. Plus, I just met Brett.”

“Really, Rosie?” I shake my head. “He is not the one for you.”

“What?” She pouts. “He’s so cute and⁠—”

“He has no personality. The man doesn’t even smile.”

“That’s because he was in the military and he’s probably not used to smiling and⁠—”

“Girl, please. I know we all have bad taste in men at some point in our lives, but I was really hoping you would not have even worse taste than me.”

“What are you saying?”

“If ever there were red flags surrounding a man, they surround him.”

“You don’t even know him, Sage. We don’t have to talk about him. It’s unlikely I’ll see him again after tonight anyway. He’s just cute, and I like flirting with him. I don’t care if he doesn’t respond.”

“You don’t?”

“I mean, it would be nice if he responded. It would be nice if he were like, Let me take you on a date, Rosie, but, hey, whatever. He’s still cute.” She crosses her arms and looks back at the four of them standing a few feet away. “So, what are we going to do? This is kind of awkward.”

“I know, especially with Dalton here. He really should be at home with his son, not helping us with random-ass cleaning tasks.” I wrinkle my nose, starting to feel guilty again.

“His son’s really cute, isn’t he?” She looks at me in a certain way, but I keep my expression blank.

“He’s fine. He’s a kid. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I just thought … you know, that you⁠—”

“Why are we talking about him?”