Page 68 of Sweet Escape

But I don’t take it back.

Murph furrows her brow, a bemused look on her face. “In what world does it make itbetterif you’re not serious?”

“In a world where you would have to listen to sordid details about how big his penis is or how good the orgasms are. If it’s just a few bangs on vacation, I mean ... you don’t have to deal with any long-term repercussions.”

Quinn laughs, and I can’t help but join her, especially at the mortification on Murphy’s face.

“Did you really have to say all of that? Really?”

I shrug. “Just trying to paint a picture.”

“Please don’t. I don’t ever want a picture like that hanging anywhere in the house of my mind. Please.” She takes a long sip of her boba before she points the straw at me. “But also what you said surprisingly makes sense.”

I smile and adjust the button on the chair, closing my eyes and letting the massage against my lower back really work out those tense muscles.

“If you need to get under my brother to get over Theo, consider this my blessing.”

I burst into laughter. “I cannot believe you said that.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Me, either. It’s seriously so gross.”

“Theo’s the ex?” Quinn asks.

“He is. Thecheatingex. So I can very much confirm that I’m not trying toget over Theo. I am already all the way over him.”

“Thanks to Memphis’s penis.”

Quinn and I laugh again, giving each other air high-fives as Murphy covers her face with both hands.

I instantly liked Quinn when I met her. She’s a lot quieter than I am, but she is such an optimist and loves to laugh. I’ve always considered that to be a great quality in a friend.

“Speaking of penises, Quinn ... Have you thought any more about finding your own postrelationship sexcapade?”

I gasp and lean forward, excited for the change in conversation and a huge fan of sexplorations.

But Quinn’s looking at Murphy with narrowed eyes. “I’m not ready yet.”

Murphy turns to look at me. “I’ve been trying to talk Quinn into meeting single men because she’s ...”

“She’s right here,” Quinn interjects, pointing to herself. “And she’s not ready.”

My eyes flick back and forth between the two of them, knowing there’s plenty more to be said that Quinn doesn’t want to talk about.

As much as I would love nothing more than to hear about Quinn’s dating mishaps, I also can tell when someone doesn’t want the attention on them.

So, after the woman painting my toes finishes and tells me to sit for a few minutes to let them dry, I reluctantly redirect the conversation back to Memphis.

“Hey, Murphy, how did you find out? About Memphis and me. I mean, he didn’t, like ... tell you, did he?”

“Oh no. Thank god, no.” Murphy shakes her head almost violently, her attention returning to me. “I don’t want toevertalk with Memphis about anything sex-related. We very briefly edged around the topic when I was first hooking up with Wes, and it was so awkward.”

I nod, thankful. Not because I want Memphis to keep secrets from his sister, but because telling her feels like something we should have decided on together.

“The night of the Harvest-Eve dinner, you said bye, but then I saw you walking out to your car, like, two hours later.”

I roll my eyes at my own stupidity.

“And Memphis walked in, like, five minutes after that, so ...” She shrugs. “I’m not a sleuth, I promise you. You guys are ... really not good at hiding it.”

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