Page 94 of The Bluffing Game

“Yeah,” I say. “If he’s around, if I can find him. In fact, Dalton is helping me find him. Well, Brett is, but Dalton asked him to.”

“So, Dalton and Brett know about this?” Rosie looks hurt. “You told them before me.” She looks away from me, and her lip trembles. “You didn’t trust me.”

“It’s not that. Rosie, you know that more than anything. It’s just, you know, Dad has always favored you, whether or not you want to admit it. And you’re my best friend, you’re my sister, and I didn’t want you to think any differently about me.”

“Oh my gosh, Sage.” Her head whips around. “I would never think differently about you. You’re my sister. And we still have the same mom, unless she’s lying about that as well. Hell, I don’t care if we don’t have any of the same parents. You are my sister, Sage. You’re the closest person to me in the world. You know everything about me, and up until five minutes ago, I thought I knew everything about you.”

“Can you forgive me?” I ask her softly. “I know this is a lot, and I should have told you. It’s been really painful, and I don’t want you to think differently about Dad. It just answers a lot of questions for me as to why I didn’t feel like he loved me as much.”

My breath catches, and she rises from her chair and heads over to me. She kneels in front of me and wraps her arms around me.

“I love you, Sage, and I understand, and I’m sorry that Dad made you feel that way. I’m here for you, and I really hope that Brett can find your dad and that he’s amazing. Maybe he’s a billionaire, and he’ll shower you with love and affection, and I’ll be your poor sister⁠—”

“Shut up, Rosie,” I cut her off, and she starts giggling.

“Has Brett made any headway?”

“I’m not sure. I spoke to Dalton about it recently and haven’t had any updates. I’ll ask him tonight when I see him. Thank you, Rosie, for being so understanding.”

“You know I’ve always got you. Shit, do I need to become an investigator myself to find him for you so he can see what he’s been missing out on? Oh my gosh, what if your dad is Bill Gates?”

“My dad is not Bill Gates.” I start laughing. “I look nothing like Bill Gates.”

“I know, but isn’t he, like, one of the richest men in the world? Wouldn’t that be so cool if your dad was a billionaire?”

“That would be cool. Come on,” I say as I stand up. “Let’s get going.”

We walk out of the break room and pass the bar. Jimmy the Fish is working.

“Hey, girls,” he says, gracing us with a small smile.

“Hey, Jimmy,” Rosie says as she goes ahead of me.

“Hey, Sage. I was meaning to ask you something.” He leans forward on the bar, his eyes taking in my face.

“If it’s about Dalton, I’m not going to talk about it,” I say.

His expression changes. “Sorry, what?”

“If you’re asking if anything is going on between Dalton and me, I don’t know if people are talking or …”

“No, no, that’s not it. Not at all. You just⁠—”

He looks like he’s tongue-tied and shakes his head. His eyes stare into mine as if he’s searching for something, and for a few moments, I’m nervous that he’s going to ask me out, but then I know I’m being ridiculous because Jimmy has never shown any interest in me or ever looked at me in a way that would make me think he was interested in dating me.

“Is everything okay, Jimmy?” I step toward the bar. “You look like you are a little flustered.”

“I just heard some things. I spoke to Brett recently.”

“Oh, okay. About my birth dad? I didn’t realize he’d told you.”

“Yeah, I guess, seeing as I’ve lived in town most of my life and know a lot of the guys, and, well, it seems like he thinks I might possibly know your dad.” He shrugs. “I was just curious what you know about him.”

“Nothing much,” I say, smiling. “Just what my mom said, and she didn’t really know him. She wanted to keep things on the down-low, I suppose.”

“Whoever this man was, he wasn’t really looking for anything but a couple of nights, or maybe he was a dangerous man, and he just wanted to keep your mom safe, you know?” he says.

“Yeah, I guess, perhaps. I don’t know. I guess maybe I’ll find out. It would be cool if you knew him though. If it turns out that you do know him, I’m going to come to you for all the details, okay?”