Plot Twist(27)

“I should’ve taken her in for a tune-up before the trip.” He shrugged, mainly because there wasn’t much else to do.

“What should we do, if they can’t fix it today?” Sophie asked Dash. “There are a lot of nearby hotels.”

He was about to respond, but Brittany did that for him.

“It’s the Ojai music festival this weekend.” Brittany fanned her face with her hand. “All of the hotels are booked solid. We have a guesthouse—it’s small, but all set up. My mom is going to stay with us for the first few months after the baby comes.”

“I can’t ask you to let us stay at your place,” Sophie protested.

“I know we got off on the wrong foot today, but we were friends once. It’s really not a bother for you to stay the night.” Ned rubbed Brittany’s back as he spoke.

“Dash?” Sophie angled herself away from them and spoke softly enough so only he would hear. “I don’t love this any more than you do, but I don’t know that we have another choice.”

Dash did not really want to stay at this random couple’s home, even though Brittany had done him a massive favor by inspecting his car. He just didn’t know her or Ned.

“It’s not a problem,” Dash said. “I can call hotels near Ojai and we can Lyft there.”

“You don’t want to say no to a pregnant woman, especially a hormonal one.” Brittany slung an arm around Ned’s waist. “You’re staying with us.”

Sophie shot him a look, and he tried to read her expression. Something about the way her eyes slightly widened told him resistance was futile.

“Okay, we’ll be happy to stay, then,” Dash finally said.

The promised tractor came twenty minutes later, and despite them being on the main street with all of the local shops, no one seemed fazed in the slightest to see an enormous piece of farming equipment rumbling toward them.

Except for Sophie, whose smile stretched across her face as she bounced on the balls of her feet. “That’s a John Deere 7R 350,” Sophie whispered, as if the tractor might hear. “Won Tractor of the Year last year.”

“How do you know that?” he said, laughing.

“I’d been toying with writing a book about a tractor-riding shero.” Sophie crossed her arms and nodded to the tractor. “Research was needed.”

“Admit it.” Dash leaned in so close that his lips brushed her ear as he said, “You have a subscription to Tractor Weekly.”

She flushed and fought back a smile, and he lowered his sunglasses down the brim of his nose for added effect. She turned back to the tractor, then said, “It’s a monthly magazine, for the record.”

He suppressed a too-big grin.

Brittany and Ned’s house was set in the mountains, surrounded by farms with acres of land, blooming citrus trees, and fences made from massive, fallen rocks. She parked the truck in front of a garden path that led to the house, and just behind was an endless sea of vineyards with emerald leaves and deep brown twisted trunks.

When Dash stepped out, the air was warm from the late-afternoon sun, but not hot. His phone vibrated with a new message.

@craftycindy Don’t leave me hanging

He quickly typed back, Rain check, then pocketed his phone.

Brittany led them toward a small cottage just off to the left. But when she opened the door, Dash realized, maybe at the same time as Sophie, that this was a studio with one bed.

“Is there another room?” he asked, but the only additional doors he saw led to a bathroom and another into a closet.

“Another room?” Brittany asked. “Aren’t you two together?”

“No,” they both answered at the same time. Dash looked at Sophie and she looked back, her face paler than usual. Now that he had a real crush on Sophie, the idea of being in a bed with her was...well, a bit daunting.

“Oh.” Brittany glanced between them with a frown. “Well, we don’t really have any other space. Our main house is just our room and the baby room.”

“Right.” Dash took in a deep and resigned breath, then looked to Sophie.

“Only one bed,” she said, each word sounding like its own sentence. “Well, isn’t that something.”

The sunflower-yellow burst around her irises seemed to flare gold back at him, and he cocked his head, wondering what the hell she was thinking at that exact moment.



11

SOPHIE

One bed. They only had one bed that they would have to share?! This was absolutely impossible. Sophie never believed the only one bed trope could happen in real life—it was a fantasy, a series of ridiculous events that would lead the main characters to share a bed, forcing them together even if they didn’t want to be.

And this was also the exact moment she’d figured out she had a real crush on Dash? If things were happening for a reason, then she could not imagine what lesson the universe was attempting to teach her.

Do not covet thy best friend’s brother.

Remember to only find people attractive who are available.

You shall not have sex with Dash.

The real problem was that those damn butterflies immediately responded as soon as they’d heard she’d be sleeping next to Dash, fluttering up like loose pages in the breeze. Because if she was in a bed with him, she might get close enough to study the tattoos that wrapped around his arms and dipped underneath his boxers...