“You can come stay at my place until Sunday night, but Evie’s back Monday morning.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“I was gonna say you could help Jesse with his dating profiles. Might help take your mind off things, but maybe not.”
“Wait, back it up. What dating profile?”
“Evie convinced him to try out a few dating apps.”
“There are, like, seven eligible women in this town. Why doesn’t he just go down to Claim Jumpers if he’s looking for local love?”
Zach shrugged. “She signed him up for one of those weird ones that matches moderately wealthy people.”
“Uh, I’m definitely going to talk to him about that. Speaking of dating, Walls said some shit about how I’ve been sulking since Natalie and I broke up. You think I’ve been sulking?”
Zach stepped back and looked Sam over for a second.
“I wouldn’t say sulking—”
“Wow. Really?”
“Listen, you two broke up and you only brought it up to me once in any official capacity, but there was a mood shift. I just thought you were stressed out about the movie. That script was heavy.”
“Yeah. I guess I did too.”
“But now?”
Sam almost told his brother about Cha-Cha. Days later and she was still hovering in the back of his mind. He thought about asking Helene if she knew anything about her, since they’d been together at the party, but it was her wedding week. Plus, he didn’t want to let it slip that he and Cha-Cha had slept together and Sam hadn’t even managed to catch her name.
“Nothing. It’s nothing. I just—Walls was giving me shit about ignoring all the women who’ve flooded my DMs this week. After the win.”
“You really taking relationship advice from Walls?” Zach’s eyebrow went up under his tan Stetson. “I know that’s your homie, but it’s Walls. That’s like going to Corie for a soft shoulder to cry on.” Their play cousin/Miss Leona’s assistant was a few degrees below cold-blooded.
“I just want a girl to love me for me,” he said dramatically.
Zach let out a hearty laugh. “You’re a Pleasant. That was never going to happen.”
“Oh? So what about Evie?”
“Do you see this face, man?”
Sam rolled his eyes.
“Ninety percent of what we got going on is because of this pretty-ass face.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Nah, I’m playin’, but Evie can’t stand my ass and everyone knows it. If she didn’t love the real me, there’s no way she would have agreed to marry me. So yeah, you’re onto something. But I don’t know how to help you or Jesse.”
“Is there any helping Jesse? Really? He needs a combination of Mom and Corie with the patience of a saint. I’m not sure a woman like that exists.”
“Well, what are you looking for?”
“I’m not sure,” Sam lied ’cause at the moment he knew exactly what he was looking for. He just had to figure out her name. He just knew what it would sound like if he said it out loud.
“Well, if you’re feeling lonely, man, it might not be a bad idea to get back out there. If it’s something else, there’s no bad time to talk to a therapist. Evie and I have started going together. It’s tough, but . . .” His brother shrugged.
They’d had a therapist on set when they were filmingSky. Sam had met with Dr. Gilliam throughout production and three more times after they’d wrapped. She’d been happy with the way he was processing the dark source material they were working with and kindly reminded him her door would be open if he wanted to speak with her again or if he just wanted a referral. He felt comfortable reaching out to her, but he had a feeling this particular thing wasn’t something he needed to see someone about.