“And he’s a dream,” Saanvi says. “You should see how he looks at her. It’s something out of a fairytale.”

Something shifts in Sabrina’s expression as she takes Carter in.

Saanvi squeezes Sabrina’s shoulder. “I need to go rescue Liam. If I had to guess by the way she keeps gesturing to his butt, I’d say Aunt Tammy is giving him her fiber lecture. I’m glad you made it safely. We’ll talk later.”

She rushes over to Liam, who’s looking mildly horrified as our mother’s sister speaks. I can’t hear their conversation over the music, but I catch the words bowels and roughage, and I know Saanvi’s mission is indeed dire.

“I didn’t realize you were dating Carter Jackson,” Sabrina says.

“Well . . .” I swallow. “We were friends first, so we kept it quiet for a while. We didn’t want everyone’s expectations weighing on us. You know?”

She worries her bottom lip between her teeth as she stares at him. “I guess that makes sense.” Crossing her arms, she rubs her hands over her bare shoulders. “And to think I believed this would be the weekend you finally got back together with Rich.” She meets my gaze, and there’s something hard and bitter in those icy blue eyes.

“Rich and I are over for good.”

“Hmm. We’ll see.”

I want to rail at her for judging me for what she thinks I did to Heath when Heath cheated on me with her. Hypocrite much, Sabrina? But she never believed she did anything wrong with Heath. He’d told her about a fight we were having, and she assumed we were breaking up. The truth is that Heath was drunk, and she saw an opportunity to get him back. She believed what she wanted to believe. I bite the inside of my cheek and push down the old anger—at her, at Heath.

“How long did you say you and Carter have been together?” she asks.

“Casually for a while, I guess, but we’ve gotten serious the last two months.” I swallow the bitter taste the lie leaves in my mouth. I’m not close to Sabrina, but she’s the person here who would most enjoy catching me in this lie. I guess that’s what I signed up for by asking Carter to pretend to be my boyfriend.

“Did Carter ever . . . mention me?”

I frown. I didn’t expect that. “You and Carter know each other?”

Her porcelain-perfect cheeks flush bright red. “We don’t know each other. Not well, at least. I came to town and interviewed him.” She clears her throat and dodges my gaze. “After the whole puppy-rescue thing?”

She came to Jackson Harbor and didn’t even tell me she was here. Of course. Because she still doesn’t like me after . . . everything. I try not to let it sting, but it does. “Did you tell him you were my cousin?”

She shrugs. “Your name never came up.”

I lift my chin. “I guess you had no way of knowing he and I were close friends.”