Page 69 of The Love Bus

ALL JUST AN ILLUSION…

M om had commented on a picture posted by Babs? The back of my neck was tingling.

Beautiful shot, Babs!

Like she knew her.

I clicked over to Babs’ profile. Scrolled. And then…there it was. A photo posted five years ago.

Babs, an older man wearing Morty’s hat, and?—

My parents. Laughing. Glasses raised. Family friends.

For a moment, my breath caught. My dad’s smile. His arm slung around my mom’s shoulder.

It wasn’t a picture I’d ever seen before.

God, I missed him.

But then I remembered. In the elevator the night before.

I thought Babs had started to say something about… Evelyn.

A shadow fell over me, and I looked up.

Babs, smoothie in hand, had that same helpful expression that now made me want to scream.

And she must have seen something in my face, because her smile faltered.

“Luna, sweetheart, are you okay?”

“You know my mom?” I asked. The words cracked.

I’d thought she was my friend. Mine. Not someone sent by my mother to report back on my every move.

Her face changed. Just a flicker. “Oh. Honey. Let me explain. We were going to take the trip together, but then she hurt her hip. It’s not…I wasn’t going to keep it from you, but Evelyn?—”

“Why would you lie to me?”

Babs’ expression splintered even more as she sat down beside me. When she put her hand on my arm, I shrugged it off.

With my entire world in pieces around me, I’d thought I was done living in an illusion. I thought I’d been safe on this trip.

“Your mom knew you wouldn’t come if you knew about me. And she was so worried.”

Oh. God.

“So, you were watching me? And, what? Reporting back?”

Babs flinched. “No! I was just looking out for you.”

I stared at her like I didn’t even recognize her. “I thought you were my friend.”

“I am your friend, Luna. I still am. Your mom said you’d been holed up at home for weeks after your breakup. Not to mention the public’s scrutiny after the last episode of Lunch with Leo and Luna ?—”

My stomach turned when she said the name of the show out loud. It felt like I’d never escape it. I’d never escape Leo and what I now realized had been a sham of a relationship.

It would haunt me forever.

Just then, Josie and Marla showed up, glittering with a cheer that grated on my mood like—well, like a cheese grater.

“She knows that we know now?” Josie asked, practically bouncing.

“Finally,” Marla added with exaggerated relief.

My spine straightened. “Excuse me. What? What do I know that you know?”

Marla’s eyebrows lifted like it was obvious. “About what happened on the show you were on with your fiancé. That pompous lout Leo—the chef?”

“Ugh, he was the worst,” Josie muttered.

Marla waved a hand. “We all knew, dear. And just so you know, every single one of us—except maybe Ed—thinks you were totally justified in dumping the sauce over his head.”

Josie nodded, eyes bright. “It’s just a shame you slipped. Kind of ruined the effect of the moment. But honestly, even that wasn’t too humiliating. You still looked cute, wearing your grandmother’s apron. I barely noticed that two of your buttons popped off.”

Cute . She thought I looked cute on the worst day of my life. Well, thank heavens for that!

My mouth may have opened, but nothing came out.

Because what was there to say?

The world I thought I’d been living in had been made up.

Again.

The safety I’d felt with these people had been just like the show. Scripted. Manipulated.

I would not cry. Even if everything inside me had split wide open.

But I was totally incapable of trying to pretend any of this was okay.

I simply stood up and walked away.

I had come on this trip thinking I was anonymous. That I had a blank slate. That I could breathe without my mistakes catalogued with memes and hashtags.

I’d thought I could breathe without feeling like everyone was watching me.

But I’d been wrong.

This had never been a clean start. It was a setup. How much of it? The entire trip? The excuse of Mom not being able to get a refund? Had Ashley and Mom cooked this up together? A misguided scheme cloaked in the guise of good intentions?

Would Ashley really do that to me?

And Noah?

I’d shown Noah the clip. I’d told him everything. If he’d known that they were talking about me, he would’ve said something.

Wouldn’t he?

He would have.

Of course, he would have.

In my escape from Babs, and Marla, and Josie, my feet carried me to the reception desk, where Tay was hunched over a stack of spreadsheets

“Tay.” I couldn’t tell if my voice sounded normal or not. I didn’t care. “Do you know where Noah went?”

She looked up, frowning slightly. “He must be upstairs. I gave his mom their room keys first.”

“So…he’s in our room?” We’d agreed we would share again.

Her eyebrows rose. “Huh. He must be.” She flipped what looked like a full deck of card keys, and then handed me one of them. Room 1616. “If your luggage isn’t there yet, it’ll be delivered shortly.”

Okay. This was good. If I was going to fall apart, at least it wouldn’t be in public.

I was pretty sure I thanked her. I hoped I did.

But it took all my shattered composure to shuffle across to the elevators. I was utterly untethered but also weighed down by a thousand pounds. And because I must have been the unluckiest person in Vegas, of course, I wasn’t alone.

Ed. Eddie. Patty. Denise. All looking at me.

Perfect.

We stood in awkward silence for a few seconds as the elevator began its journey upward. Going off the glowing numbers on the panel, they’d all be getting off before me, but until then...

“Not right what you did,” Ed muttered eventually. “A man has pride, you know. One mistake shouldn’t cost him his reputation. And then to pick up with Dr. Noah.”

What I did? “To whom?”

“Your fiancé. The world-renowned chef.”

“Ex- fiancé. And Leo is not world-renowned,” I informed him.

In that moment, Ed lost every benefit of the doubt I’d ever extended to him. The whole clueless-boomer act. The complaints that came with winks, his poor taste in jokes.

He was defending Leo.

“He was cheating, Ed,” Eddie snapped. “And we know the things he said in that post about Luna and Dr. Noah aren’t true. They didn’t even know each other when we left Denver.”

I closed my eyes.

Maybe if I stayed very still, I could hit reset on the last ten minutes. Or ten days. Or ten years.

But no.

When we’d pulled into Vegas, I’d apparently landed back in the real world. And unfortunately, all the things that were happening in Vegas wouldn’t even have the decency to stay in Vegas.

“Don’t listen to Ed, Luna sweetie,” Patty chimed in. “Leo deserved everything you dished out. And then some.”

I. Didn’t. Ask.

But I didn’t say that, just grit my teeth. It’d be a miracle if I didn’t manage to grind them to dust by the time I got home. Wherever that was now.

The elevator dinged on the ninth floor.

They got off with cheerful waves, like we were all still on good terms.

Like they hadn’t all been lying to me for the past ten days.

By the time I reached the sixteenth floor, I’d absorbed enough betrayal to last a lifetime. It felt way too similar to what had happened at the station. Like I was living in one giant illusion. Nothing had been real.

But I would survive this.

I wasn’t the same Luna as before.

I just needed a hug.

Just a familiar, steady pair of arms. I needed the one person in the world who I knew I could trust. Noah would reassure me. He might even help me figure some of this out.

Just…breathe.

I unlocked the door to Room 1616 and stepped inside.

And froze.

There was a woman inside. Wrapped in a towel. Blond hair damp and darkened from a shower.

She turned around, startled.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” I began backing up. “I must have the wrong room. Tay must have?—”

But then I saw the luggage. Two suitcases lined up by the dresser.

One polka dotted. One gray.

Mine.

And Noah’s.

“That’s…mine,” I said, frowning. Confused.

The woman tilted her head. “This one?” She pointed at my suitcase. “Well, I suppose that makes more sense. I didn’t think Noah would go for polka dots.”

Noah.

“I’m sorry…who are you?”

She smiled like she wasn’t adding one more ingredient into a pot that was already dangerously close to boiling over.

“Sorry, you must be Luna—the girl from that cooking show, right? I’m Courtney Grady.”

Grady.

Courtney… Grady…?

I felt faint.

If I’d had anything to eat recently, I might have thrown up, then and there.

This lovely and confident person was Courtney. Noah’s ex-wife.

Courtney Grady .

She extended one hand while clutching her towel with the other. It was honestly unfair just how pretty she managed to be like this, with no makeup on, wet hair slicked back from her pleasant, heart-shaped face, except for a few tendrils that curled around her temples.

I took her hand, woodenly, and she shook it without any other response from me. I was sure mine must have felt as limp as a wet noodle.

“Christine said there was one other young person on the trip. I still can’t believe she dragged Noah out here. But honestly, I think it was good for him. He needed some space. Some perspective. You know?”

I nodded, though I didn’t actually take in anything she’d said just now.

Why was she here?

In our room?

Although… I’d just assumed it was ours.

Tay could’ve easily made the same mistake after yesterday.

If it was a mistake.

“Perspective. Yeah.” I mumbled, wrestling my suitcase away from the wall to drag it toward me. The handle jammed, and I had to yank on it to get it to extend to the proper length. Then, I had to roll it back onto its wheels after it tried to flop over like a turtle stuck on its back.

For fork’s sake! Why are you fighting me?!

Even without looking at her, I could feel Courtney’s smile. “He should be back any minute if you want to wait with me.”

I did not want to wait with her. I did not want to spend another second in this room.

“No. No, I should sort out my room.”

I backed up a step, dragging my polka-dotted luggage with me.

She smiled again. “Of course.”

I stepped into the hallway, and the door mercifully clicked shut.

But before I could even begin to process what just happened, to think about what to do next or where to go, I practically ran right into Noah’s mom.

She had stepped out of the adjacent room, deliberately closing the door behind her.

“Oh. Luna, dear. I thought I heard your voice.”

She smiled.

It was just smiles all around today, wasn’t it? Because everyone in this forking hotel was just so forking happy!

“Courtney flew in to surprise Noah,” Mrs. Grady said, as if she was announcing the winner of a raffle. Her voice was light, breezy even. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

No. No, it’s not. It is, in fact, the literal worst.

I said nothing. Because if I spoke, I wasn’t sure what would come out.

She continued, her expression one of gentle sympathy, like she was bestowing wisdom on a na?ve and clueless child. “You met Courtney already, I see. And I’m old, but not too old not to know that you and my son developed a…friendship on this trip. But he mentioned it was just a fling.”

A fling.

I blinked. The words landed like a perfect bullseye. Piercing me in a way that threatened to drain away my hope.

“Nothing wrong with taking a little timeout, is there?” she said pleasantly. “Something that ultimately leads you back home—to the people who really matter.”

She smiled, but every word dripped with condescension. Step aside, sweetheart . She was back in control. Calm. Polite.

Her head tilted slightly. “You’ve had a difficult year... That episode.” She grimaced. “I can’t imagine how painful that must’ve been for you.”

The episode .

Of course, she’d seen it too. Probably more than once. Probably with the entire bus!

I squeezed the handle of my suitcase until my nails dug into my palm, forcing myself to stay steady. I could practically hear all the conversations that had been had about me. The whispers. The judgments. The knowing looks.

That did it.

“Noah’s not a spot of fun. And he’s definitely not a detour,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “He’s thoughtful. Compassionate. Kind. The kind of man who listens, who shows up, who cares.”

I held her gaze, letting the next part land.

“And with all due respect, you need to realize that he’s more than capable of deciding what he wants in his life.” Or whom.

Does she even know him?

I steadied myself, squeezing the handle of my suitcase until my nails dug into my palms.

For a moment, something flickered across her face. Doubt? Hesitation? It passed quickly, replaced with yet another smile that didn’t reach her eyes—the only kind I’d ever gotten from her.

“Well,” she said gently. “We all learn what we want in time. I think you’ll go home with more clarity, too. Sometimes a short-lived connection helps us find our way back to where we really belong.”

When she went to turn back to her suite, I reached out and touched her arm lightly.

“Do you know where Noah is?”

She paused. “Oh, he just stepped out. He’s getting champagne.”

“Champagne?”

“For the celebration,” she said sweetly.

A celebration .

I stood there for another beat, my breath trapped in my chest.

Had I misread everything?

Had I been the one falling while he was only...helping me land?

Was my time with Noah just another illusion too?

I backed away, my suitcase rolling softly over the carpet, an abstract design of brown, orange, yellows, and reds…meaningless swirls leading nowhere.

I didn’t remember pushing the button.

Didn’t remember the elevator ride down.

But when the doors opened into the lobby, I walked out another person. Someone I didn’t recognize, inside or out. Not even sure my heart was beating at this point.

Everything was just…noise.