“All right,” Tasha said. “That’s it. I need to see a picture of Luc right now. I thought you were kidding or exaggerating or—”
“Nope,” Dave said, getting out his phone. “They really do look alike. I mean, I can tell them apart easily, but... Ah, shit.” He glanced at Rio. “Casey texted me again. She says she’s sorry, and... she hopes I’ll still come to the wedding on Saturday and... Oh, no.”
“Don’t go, man,” Rio said.
“I have to,” Dave told him as he handed his phone to Tasha, showing her what looked—from Rio’s upside-down perspective—to be a selfie that Dave had taken with Luc, probably during one of their dates.
“No, you don’t,” Rio said. “If you’re giving Luc a fake family emergency, then you can make it terrible enough so that you need to be with him, to support him throughout it. See? Easy.”
Dave shook his head. “That’s... no. I’m not gonna...”
“Wow,” Tasha said.
Rio leaned closer to get a better look at the photo.
In it, Dave was smiling—he looked really happy. And Luc... looked like Luc, laughing his ass off at something as usual, except he was also looking directly at Dave with total, undeniable, unmistakable heart-eyes.
And with that, Rio no longer had any doubt about it. Luc had fallen in love at first sight with Dave, who was still not quite over his asshole of an ex. So Luc had run—far and fast. Damnit.
Tasha used her fingers to enlarge the photo. Her eyes widened as she looked from the picture to Rio and back. “I mean, I know this isn’t you. I see his pretty red shirt and I know that cannot be your pretty red shirt because you have never, in your entire life, owned a pretty red shirt. I accept as a fact that this is your cousin Luc, but... are we absolutely sure it isn’t you?”
“Very,” Rio said.
“You look exactly like him. Except for the shirt.”
“Nah, he looks like me,” Rio informed her. “He’s a year younger.”
Tash handed Dave back his phone as she asked Rio, “So Jon’s sister came to see Luc, except it was really you?” She laughed again. “That’s... pretty crazy—for her to track Luc down like that—and it’s possibly a little dangerous. I mean, what exactly was she trying to do?”
“I don’t know,” Rio said. “She’s definitely not dangerous. Just rich and entitled.” He glanced at Dave, shooting him a look that clearly said You gonna, or am I?
Dave nodded as he sighed. “Jon’s sister is Casey Esparza.”
“Seriously?” Thomas started to laugh.
“Dave grew up across the street from her,” Rio told them.
Tasha was less impressed. “I’ve met her,” she said. “Ted was friends with Wild Sky’s... showrunner, I think it was.” When she said Ted, she meant Prince Tedric of Ustanzia. She was close friends with the royal dude. “We hung out on set a few years ago, you know, when they did the reunion movie. Casey seemed really nice. Grounded and down to earth.”
“She is,” Dave said. “She just really loves Jon. And me.”
“They were together for ten years,” Rio threw out.
“Seriously?” Now it was Tasha’s turn to be wowed. “So... maybe her overly-enthusiastic-bordering-on-stalker motivation was more of a Parent Trap thing.”
Dave laughed as he nodded. “Yeah, that’s definitely Casey’s vibe. Rated PG with zany hijinks and some slapstick comedy thrown in.”
Rio finished his beer. “Okay, help me out here. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen The Parent Trap,” he said. “I know it’s about twins separated at birth—which is bullshit, by the way, who does that to their kids? But okay, they randomly meet at some summer camp and decide to get their parents back together, and zany hijinks ensue...?” He shook his head. “I’m confused as to how that’s Casey’s vibe. And feel free to define vibe for me while you’re at it.”
“It’s the spirit of the film,” Tasha told him, “that Casey’s harnessing here. Her motivation comes from a pure, somewhat child-like place, you know—she’s trying to reconnect two people she thinks are soul-mates.”
“That makes Luc the mean lady who’s trying to get her hooks into the dad,” Dave told him. “Which... makes me the dad. Was it Brian Keith...?”
“I don’t remember the mean lady,” Rio said.
“Or Dennis Quaid in the remake,” Tasha told Dave, before turning back to Rio. “The twins are horrible to her, and she eventually leaves.”
“So... if Luc’s the mean lady, and Casey’s vibe is the whole pure-but-horrible twins thing, then she approached me—thinking I’m Luc—in the parking lot to... do what, exactly?”
“She was probably just checking you out,” Tasha said.
“Maybe,” Thomas theorized, “she wanted to see Luc up-close to make sure Dave wasn’t doing that, what do you call it, fake-boyfriend thing.”
“Fake boyfriend,” Rio said, laughing, because Luc absolutely was Dave’s fake boyfriend. Dude had managed to embroil them all into his rom-com movie of a life. “Except, whew, the layers get really deep here, guys—because... wait for it—I’m Dave’s fake Luc.” He turned to grin at Dave. “Which makes me your fake fake-boyfriend. That’s impressive, bro. I’m free on Saturday, by the way, if you want me to go to that wedding with you.”
And now both Tasha and Dave were looking at him with wide eyes, while Thomas just laughed and slowly shook his head. “Rio,” he said. “Now, I know you were kidding, but...”
“Nah, man,” Rio said. “I’m serious here. If Dave thinks he’s got to go to this thing—”
“I don’t just think it,” Dave said. “I really do have to.”
“Well, my first choice would be Dave doesn’t go and expose himself to Jon’s toxic bullshit,” Rio said. “But if he really thinks he has to, then my next choice is that Dave doesn’t go alone. And since his real fake-boyfriend’s in London...”
Dave laughed. “Rio, I appreciate it, I do, but I’m not gonna make you—”
“You’re not making me do anything,” Rio countered. “I hate Jon’s lying, cheating face. I’m more than happy to help keep you safe from him, plus I get to meet Casey Esparza for real, with hopefully fifty-percent less weirdness. Also? I’m still hoping you’ll eventually get your head out of your ass, and spend some quality time with Luc to see if it’s real. That’s not gonna happen if you hook up with Jon again and get trapped in his relentless drama. Again.”
Dave was still shaking his head as Thomas chimed in. “It’s not like Rio doesn’t have the leave time. In fact, I can practically hear the Senior Chief applauding from here. Take a day, Rosetti. Take two days, no, take a week!”
Shit no, he was not taking a week, although Thomas’s words were not untrue. Every chief and senior chief even remotely connected to SEAL Team Ten was starting to get on Rio’s ass about all of his accrued leave. Ever since Randy Duncan had sold his Florida-based camp for corporate SEAL wanna-bes, Rio had stopped taking any extended time off. Sure, he’d take a day here and there when his family came to visit. But he loved being a SEAL. He loved going wheels up with the team—nothing better.