I took in the room.“Wow, this really is gorgeous.”It was large, with high ceilings and decorated in light and airy creams and blues and pale greens.
“Did you notice the wood?”Oliver joked.
That made me snicker as I crossed over to the valet stand where my mother’s suitcase was open.She kept a tidy suitcase.Everything was in individual bags.I found a lightweight sweater and a pair of beige linen pants.
“How is your room?”I asked Oliver.He was living in the inn so he would be available around the clock.
“It’s darker.Plaid.I feel like I’m in an English hunting lodge.Which, as you know, is so me.”He rolled his eyes.“When Henry stays with me, I feel like we’re a secret couple hiding from theton.”
“That sounds…romantic?”In an unfortunate sort of way.
I dropped my phone down on the coffee table in front of the fireplace.
“Maybe.Henry is in my room right now.”He lowered his voice.“Honestly, Soph, sometimes I feel like I’m playing the part of his boyfriend too.”
“What do you mean?”I sat on the bed and yanked off my elf shoes.“Don’t you like Henry?”
“I do, a lot, but it feels like I can’t be completely myself with him, do you know what I mean?Like, it’s good on paper, but is it really a good fit?”
I knew exactly what he meant.I made a face.“Sometimes I feel that way about me and Cameron.”Then paranoia instantly set in that I was admitting something out loud about a man who had been very kind to me.What did I actually have to complain about?I glanced around the room.“Is this a smart inn?Is there any way they can hear what we’re saying in here?”
“No, of course not.That’s a privacy violation.”
Yet I noticed he did glance around too, and picked up a small gold tabletop clock and flipped it over to study the bottom.
I stripped down my tights and pulled the linen pants on under my dress, making sure I kept it PG.Oliver had seen me in all manner of embarrassing situations, including hungover and on set during a wardrobe malfunction, but we were almost thirty now and this was a classy inn.We had to pretend to be sophisticated.
Or did we?That was a legitimate question we both needed to ask ourselves, apparently.
I stepped into the en suite to take the dress off and slip on the sweater and when I returned Oliver shook my phone at me.“Well, well, well, look at who texted you.”
“Who?If it’s Brandy trying to crash our dinner, she might as well.I could use a buffer tonight.”
“It’s Dean.”
I walked faster across the room than I should have given that Dean Jordan was my ex-pub manager and brief boyfriend last winter.“What did he say?”
Oliver cleared his throat and tried to imitate Dean’s deep baritone.“Heard about Peanut.You okay?”
Well, that wasn’t exciting at all.
But my heart still beat unnaturally fast.I hadn’t heard from Dean in months.I took my phone and typed out a quick reply.
It was a shock but I’m okay.
“Do you think he’s subtly asking me if I’m sticking my nose into this incident?”That was part of the reason Dean and I had broken up.He didn’t like my penchant for investigating local crimes.The other part of why we’d broken up was a mystery to me.I couldn’t sleuth out what was in Dean’s head and that was a problem.
“Probably.But are you sticking your nose into this?”
“I might be,” I admitted, putting my elf shoes back on.My mother had smaller feet than me.
“That’s a look,” Oliver said.“Coastal grandma meets Macy’s elf.”
I winced.“I know.But seriously, what did you think about that Brad guy?He was pretty upset that Peanut’s fight with Victorian Santa ruined his booth.And do you think he and Ashley are a couple?”
“Who’s Ashley?”
“The other Opulent Occasions booth person.”
