Page 62 of Tasty Cherry

“Did you leave some poor broken-hearted cowboy back home?”

“No. Definitely not.”

“Someone recent?” Now she’s sitting up, as if she’s about to get at something.

I shouldn’t have been so emphatic that it wasn’t from home. I could have embellished some old boyfriend.

Except there aren’t any.

“It’s Sebastian, isn’t it?” She lowers her voice. “Everyone thinks you two are doing it. Did you do it in the haunted wing when he came and got you? Everybody thinks you two were doing it.”

Oh my God. How? “They do?”

A woman passes with her cart, staring down at us like maybe she wants to call the manager.

Brooklyn grabs the base of her cart and pulls it in front of us so we’re less noticeable. “You can tell me. Did you know Sebastian before?”

I weight the inequity of our confessions. I know all about her and Maverick. But she knows nothing about me. And if one day Sebastian and I become open with our relationship, this one new friend I’ve made at my job might feel betrayed by my secret.

And yet, this secret could get me fired, or at the very least, on the bad side of Raya and probably HR, and maybe Havannah wouldn’t be as understanding as Sebastian thinks.

But Brooklyn’s already judged my hesitation. “You did! Did he get you hired on? Are you guys a couple on the sly?”

“No,” I say quickly. “I only met him a week ago, the night before we moved in.”

Brooklyn’s face lights up. “Where? How?”

“At a bar.”

“Did you have sex with him? Are you a thing?” She’s excited.

“Please don’t tell anyone. He didn’t know I was an intern. I had just gotten into town.”

“So you did have sex with him?”

I don’t know if I should straight-up admit it. “Our contract says we can’t date anyone who is more than one rung higher in the chain of command.”

“That’s like everyone for us.”

“Exactly.”

Brooklyn sighs. “I guess we can date the kitchen and housekeeping staff.”

“And the other interns.” I shouldn’t have said that, because Brooklyn’s face immediately collapses into upset.

“I’m sorry,” I add. “I don’t know what Maverick is thinking.”

Brooklyn tugs at her hair. “He’ll probably get fired anyway. Raya is not going to put up with him.”

“That’s true.”

We sit for a minute, peering through the silver bars of our carts to watch people walk by.

Then the ridiculousness of where we are hits us both, and we start laughing again.

“Are we hiding behind carts at a grocery store over men?” Brooklyn asks.

I can barely get the words out over my giggles. “We are.”

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