Page 70 of A Quick Stop in Paradise

Oscar checked his phone idly. “It’s been kind of obvious for a long time now.”

Stella shot him another look, and this time I joined her. “If you knew,” I said, “you could have said so earlier and savedmea lot of trouble wondering if I was supposed to say it.”

Oscar arched an eyebrow at me. “I thought that was how we were all just acknowledging it. Figured you weren’t really looking to talk about it.”

Stella looked frantically between us. “Wait, so did everyone know about this but me?”

“I honestly think it was just Oscar,” I said stiffly. “Given some of the things Grandpa has on his Facebook, I don’t think he suspects the… the horrors of a single non-straight person in his family.”

Stella laughed incredulously, still staring at me like I’d turned purple and sprouted a second head. “Oh my god, so you’re hooking up with Brooklyn.”

“We’ve covered that part, yeah,” I mumbled.

She laughed louder this time. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you,” she said. “You’ve been introducing me to your hookup and you didn’t even tell me.”

“You… didn’t ask.”

“Shut up. Oh my god, I love it. She’sreallyhot.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I’m not looking to share, sorry.”

“Ew. I’m not sharing a hookup with my sister. That’s disgusting.” Stella laughed. “I can’t believe you’ve been doing this right under my nose and you never said.”

“Like I said,” Oscar said, “it’s been obvious to anyone looking. They’ve been flirting nonstop.”

“I thought you two were just, like, really good friends.” Stella shook her head. “This is my favorite thing ever. Your ex tried to cheat on you with this girl soyouwent and slept with her instead.”

I cleared my throat, my face burning. The modicum of cool I’d managed to achieve about my sexuality had completely vanished at this point. “It’s not like I was doing it to make a point,” I said awkwardly. “She was just… well, she was really supportive and gave me a place to crash—”

“Oh, I’ll bet she did,” Stella said. I felt like shrinking into myself until I vanished.

“And she’s very nice to be around,” I said politely. Stella laughed.

“I’ll say. Oh my god. Okay, so I was underestimating you. You beat me to the hooking-up game and now I’m pissed off.”

“I’m… sorry for that, then?”

“So? She’s better in bed than he was, right?”

Oscar sighed, standing up. “I think I don’t feel like being part of this conversation. I’ll go climb some more.”

Stella rolled her eyes, waving him off as he headed back for the wall. “Yeah, yeah. Answer the question.”

I cleared my throat. “Ah… yes. A lot.”

She laughed so loudly I thought they’d hear it back at the resort. “Oh my god, I love that. I would be rubbing it in Shane’s face if it were me.”

“I… have.”

“Stop,” she half-screamed into her hand, practically laughing herself to tears now. “Are you serious?”

“He did not like it.”

“What did yousay?”

“That’s between me and Shane. And between me and Brooklyn.”

“Literally tell me right now.”

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