But tourists tended to pay her bills, and she was about to go into a place where tourists were kings.
“What are your plans for the night?” Callie asked while they both waited as Alexei worked on their orders. “I mean I know you’re supposed to go out with…”
“Don’t say it.” If she let this go, she would forever be known as Luty or Mucy or even worse Miluyer.
Callie grinned. “Michael and Ty. Where are you going? I could set up a table for you.”
And have her giving all of Bliss a blow by blow of what might be her only date of the year? “We’re picking up some pizza and going back to River’s to watch a movie.”
“What are you going to do once she’s back permanently?”
“Cheer. Thank the universe she’s safe.” It didn’t matter that she would have to find a place to stay. She just wanted her friend back. “I’ll look around once she’s settled in.”
“If you need help, you know where to go,” Callie said. “I’ll keep a lookout for any cabins that open up in the valley.”
She wouldn’t be able to afford a whole cabin. “Let me know if you hear about anyone needing a roommate.”
“I will, but I don’t think that will be necessary. If you get that job you’ll get your own place, right? From what I understand the waitstaff who live out there share rooms, but management get their own apartments.”
Her own place. Actually she didn’t mind having roommates, but she was always the one struggling to make rent. She wanted a place she could decorate and feel comfortable in, a place she wasn’t worried she would lose. It wouldn’t be so hard to live in that place with someone she cared about. A friend.
Or two.
It was way too soon to even think about that.
Except she couldn’t get that kiss out of her head. When Ty had dragged her against him, she’d forgotten about everything except how good it felt to be in his arms. How right.
It had also felt right to look up at Michael.
I don’t think that’s who you want to be.
He’d been right about that. She didn’t want to be the person who couldn’t accept a little help from someone who cared about her. She didn’t want to be the woman who wasn’t brave enough to try for what she wanted.
“Yes,” she replied. “But I could also live in the valley if I wanted to. It’s close enough that I could get to work even if I had to take a snowmobile. Lots of people ski in. I don’t know. I’ll have to see how I feel if I get the job.”
She liked Bliss. She worried living at the resort would put her in a bubble. She wanted to be surrounded by happy families and the kookiness that came with living in this amazing, weird town.
“Good for you,” Callie said. “Now go on and get changed. I’ll take your drinks out. I saw that pretty dress hanging in the supply closet. It’s definitely what I would wear to hang out.”
She flashed Callie a frown but knew she was right. This was supposed to be nothing more than a hangout. Except Michael had called it a date, and a date felt like something she should dress for even if it was nothing more than pizza and a movie that hopefully worked because sometimes the Internet was spotty out at River’s, and she was pretty sure their choices would be extremely limited if they had to use River’s DVD collection. It was mostly romcoms from their teen years and her dad’s plethora of war films.
She was pretty sure those romcoms hadn’t covered what to do if she was approached by two completely opposite men who wanted to share her. Nope. She hadn’t ever seen one of those.
She thanked Callie for giving her time to get ready. Michael had texted her earlier that he and Ty would pick her up around seven. That only left her fifteen minutes to change. She hurried to the supply closet to grab her dress and bag before going into the women’s bathroom. There was a roomy stall that everyone used when they needed to change. It happened more often than she would have thought. She changed into the dress that she’d been told made her eyes shine.
Ty had told her. She’d needed a dress for a friend’s wedding, and he’d driven her into Alamosa because he didn’t trust her piece of crap car to make it that far. They’d had lunch at a burger joint, and he’d watched as she’d tried on at least twenty different dresses before declaring this one to be perfect.
Was he telling her the truth? She stared at herself in the mirror and tried to be the person she wanted to be. Brave. Confident. Willing to take a risk.
But if she lost Ty, she would be devastated.
She cared about Michael, could even see herself really trying with the man, but that was because she didn’t have anything to lose with him. She didn’t remember a time when Ty wasn’t around to hold her hand, to tell her everything would be okay. To buy her breakfast when she couldn’t afford it.
She needed to talk to him. Tonight was nothing more than a friendly hangout.
Which was why she was wearing her pushuppiest bra and the Chanel lip gloss Georgia Warner-Stark had given her for Secret Santa last year that she hoarded like it was gold.
She looked good. Definitely good enough to hang around her best friend’s place, eat pizza, and watch some Netflix.
She took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom and into the tiny hallway that would lead her back out past the bar, where she would catch hell from Callie for how dressed up she was for a hangout.
She walked right into a big body.
Lucy gasped and stepped back. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“No problem, sweetheart,” a deep voice said.
She tilted her head and realized she’d bumped into the douchiest of the Foster siblings. Brock stood there, blocking her way out. She moved back again, trying to let him get past her to the men’s room. “Well, I hope you have a good night.”
His hand came out, effectively cutting off that escape route. “I hope I have a good night, too. I wanted to find you before you snuck off.”
She got serious creep vibes off the dude. Before he’d been mildly annoying, but now she worried he was about to get nasty. “I’m not sneaking off. It’s the end of my shift, and now Zane or Callie will be helping. In fact, I’m sure it’s Zane. I’ll introduce you.”
If this man was going to get aggressive with staff, then six-foot-five Zane could handle his needs. Including the need to get punched and tossed out into the snow.
His lips curled up in a smirk that she was pretty sure he thought was charming. “But I don’t want some guy to serve me. Not when I could have you.”
He probably had seen her smile and read weakness. “You can’t have me. I’m off work.”
He moved in, crowding her and forcing her against the wall. “Good, then come back to my place. We’re going to have a party. You would be very welcome. What do you say?”
She was going to give him one more out. “No, thank you. I have plans for the evening.”
His jaw went tight, and he leaned in. “I can make it worthwhile for you. You live in this hick town. You probably haven’t been around real men who can take care of you.”
She sometimes hated the fact that she didn’t look like a woman who could take care of herself. “Step back. I need to leave now.”