Page 61 of A Quick Stop in Paradise

Stella’s shoulders fell in disappointment. “Oh, boring. Who’s the celebrity crush? This place is kind of luxe, I bet celebrities come around here sometimes.”

Allison froze for a beat before she blurted, “Uh… Ariana Grande.”

Yeah, that tracked. Stella looked a little like her. Stella laughed. “Sothat’syour type,” she said, swatting Allison on the shoulder. “Ariana Grande would be lucky to have you.”

“Okay, let’s not exaggerate,” Allison said, looking pointedly away. I changed the subject, the only way to stop myself from laughing myself to tears.

“How’s it going, Stella,” I said. “Everything went well last night? Nobody gave you a hard time?”

She shrugged. “Mom and Dad are worried about Ryan. That’s about it. I told them she’s got a really good, reliable friend here and she’s having a good time. I think overall they’re just glad I’m still talking to them, even if I ditched the shopping trip in the town with everyone.”

“Along with…?”

“Oh, that guy.” She nodded over her shoulder at the man with her, dressed for the pool in swim trunks and a towel slung over his shoulders in lieu of a shirt. “This is my snarky brother Oscar.”

“Oscar—” I did a double take, looking him over, and he raised his eyebrows, quirking a smile at me. “You? You’re Ryan’s twin?”

“I know,” he said brightly. “She’s the one who got swapped at birth, by the way. Little changeling.”

“I know twins don’t necessarily look anything like each other, but I feel like you should have… some… trait in common.”

“We get that a lot, yeah,” he said, dropping onto a stool. “So you’re her friend? Brooklyn?”

“The one, the only. Didn’t feel like attending the festivities with everybody else?”

He shrugged. “Stella ran off to make a point, so I felt like it was fair if I came along and made sure she didn’t drown.”

Stella elbowed him. “I’m a grown woman! I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Besides,” I said, “Stella and my friend Allison here are very close now, so she’s got other people around who keep her well-being a high priority.”

Allison shot me a pursed-lip look that could have cut a hole through glass. Oscar raised his eyebrows, looking between them. “I didn’t realize the trip was to make friends. I think I might have missed a memo.”

Stella slung an arm over Allison’s shoulders, making the poor girl turn rigid. “We’re getting Allison a girlfriend,” she said. “You could join us if you weren’t so boring all the time.”

“Can I get you two some drinks?” I said, figuring Allison could use an emergency change of subject before she passed out, looking at Stella’s hand lying on her shoulder.

Oscar ordered an IPA while Stella got a cosmopolitan, and Stella dragged Allison away, Allison sitting at the edge of the pool while Stella slipped in and hung out in the water sipping her drink, and once we were settled into the quiet between me and Oscar, I leaned over the bar and spoke in a lower voice.

“So, the actual reason you didn’t go along with the family?”

He raised his eyebrows, quirking a smile at me. “Ryan’s gotten you digging into the family dynamics, huh?”

“Maybe the journalistic instinct is rubbing off on me a little.”

He shrugged, picking up his drink, holding it up to his lips, looking out over the resort grounds. “Honestly, I just wasn’t feeling like it. Everyone’s been nonstop fighting since Ryan and Shane broke up, and it’s not exactly the best company to hang out with.”

“Making sure to stay neutral, huh?”

He frowned, sitting up taller. “I know Ryan is in the right. I just don’t like to get into the family drama.”

I picked at a spot on the bar surface, taking a rag and wiping idly. “One might argue that labeling somebody being ostracized by her family asfamily dramalike it’s some petty thing not to get into is kind of like siding against her already.”

He narrowed his eyes, studying me for a while before he smiled slightly. “Yeah,” he said, finally, “maybe. You two are good friends, huh?”

“Luckily for me. I’m quite partial.”

Oscar didn’t say anything, clearly uncomfortable, and I let the silence sit—letting the moment dig into him just a little more—but just before I was about to break it and let up, someone else did the trick, a shape coming around the corner from the other side and starting down the path towards us, a lift in her step, and I guess I was awfully corny these days, because I got a jump in my heart when I saw Ryan. She raised a hand in a big, bright greeting, and I think I was obvious in staring at her, because Oscar followed my gaze and relaxed at the sight of her, leaning against the bar and raising his glass in greeting.

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