Santana had a picture on her screen of their earlier party sitting on Marcus’s boat. It was one of several group shots that had been taken at Carol’s insistence. She’d brought an honest-to-God tripod for her phone and put it on a timer before scurrying backward to her spot in front of the group. On two separate occasions, her sun hat had nearly poked Brady’s eye out.

The picture he was looking at now, however, was a good one, all things considered. Marcus and Felicity were holding hands, Marcus looking as annoyed as Brady had felt but still playing along, and Felicity smiling, ever the politician’s wife, while Ruby was up front next to Carol, trying her damnedest to copy the socialite’s signature teacup pose. Sloane, with her definitely sunburned skin, was leaning against Brady’s side and giving her small I feel awkward smile.

It was cute, and, in the present, Brady couldn’t help but grin.

That was until he saw himself.

He didn’t remember why, or even that he had, but there was no way around it— In the picture, he was staring at Felicity.

Not only that, he was smiling.

“And I’m guessing by the look on your face right now that you didn’t mean to stare lovingly at your ex while holding your supposed current girl,” Santana said, lowering her voice. “Am I right?”

“Felicity cussed under her breath at Carol’s damn sun hat because it got in the way, and I guess this was right after I laughed. I mean, Sloane and I had already complained about that damn behemoth hat, like, five different times,” he said honestly. “Carol took about fifty pictures and never once took that damn thing off.”

Santana tapped the username at the top of the screen. “Well, this is the only one Carol posted from the day so far, and—” She moved her finger to the text beneath the picture. “It already has two hundred likes.”

Brady instantly became grumpy. “I swear that woman tries to stir more pots than a cook.”

There was no denying that Carol had chosen that picture for a reason. And considering her bread and butter was passive-aggressive with a heaping dose of drama, and Sloane had stumbled into a spotlight way bigger than Queen Bee ever had? Brady knew she had done it at Sloane’s expense.

Santana nodded, sympathetic. “She sure knows how to hit all the right spots to make you go oomph.” She patted Brady’s shoulder. “You better give Sloane a heads-up before other people start speculating to her rather than behind her back. Because you know the next time Carol sees her, that’s all she’s going to talk about.”

Santana was right. Brady got her to cover the bar while he took his phone back to the office. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to say, but he felt oddly nervous about it.