Page 109 of Bargain With the Boss

“Whose side are you on?”

She laughed. “Hers. Well, the hyper independent part. I handled my own business and certainly wouldn’t ask a guy I just slept with to fix a mistake. It was probably knee-jerk to say she was cool.”

“It took two to make the mistake, why wouldn’t I help?”

Luna threw her head back with a harsh laugh. “Yeah, okay. Have you met the average man? They just like to put it in the hole, they don’t care much what happens after that.”

“Jesus, Lu.”

“What? Most men are that way. She doesn’tknowyou. Not really. Her hormones understood you were a good time, but that’s a far cry from linking a future up with you. And if her life is in shambles—which it sounds like it is—panic is a real thing.”

“Why are you still pulling cards?”

“I’m pulling cards because it is how I process. I don’t know Sydney, but I can tell you that your thing with Sarah might be the same on paper, but it’s not in reality. You don’t know what her headspace was. Because, duh, you guys need to have a conversation. Not just go off raging like a jerk.”

My chest tightened. I had reacted. Seeing that Plan B box had been like a kick to the face.

There wasn’t even time enough to find out if there was a baby.

“There’s still what she did to Jude.”

“Now that one is between her and Jude.” She rattled the ice cubes in her glass. “If you can say you haven’t made a mistake in your life—which hello you can’t—then maybe you might want to give her some grace.”

“That’s a fuck ton of grace, Lu.”

She laughed. “And yet, did she sabotage anything?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe you want to figure that out first.” She opened her already huge blue eyes wider. “Talk to her. So says the cards. And your brilliant sister.”

Milo came over and handed me a donkey.

Luna laughed. “So says Milo, too.”

I laughed. “A bit on the nose isn’t it?”

“The universe is funny that way.” She stood and took my glass from me. “I’ll finish dinner while you fix my husband’s handiwork.”

“On it.”

The anger dissipated some after talking to Luna. She had a way about looking at things. And while I didn’t take a lot of stock in tarot cards, I did in my sister.

Maybe I was wrong all along.

Chapter 25

Sydney

Seattle was a dreary, rainy day when I landed.

Summertime was usually more on the sunny side, but the weather fit my mood. I called a rideshare to bring me home and immediately missed my Mini Cooper when a battered SUV rolled up. I climbed in the back, struggling with my bag.

Because why would the driver want to help me?

I rattled off my address and stared out the rain-splattered window. My phone buzzed in my carry-on, dragging me out of my thoughts. Three texts from my mother waited for me from when I was on the flight, but the new text was Jude.

Jude: