“I helped you create this one,” she reasoned. “And you weren’t the only one Mrs. W. hired to run this project. She hired me, too. And Jay.” She lifted her chin, gaze flinty with challenge. “We’ve all got a lot riding on this, big brother. If you really believe your plan will help garner a good review and increase the resort’s chances for success, you need to go all in. You can’t be half-assed about it.”

Before Luke could protest, which he was sorely tempted to do, Penelope continued, “If you think this charade of yours will work, I trust you. All I ask is that you do the same for me. At the very least, give me a chance to prove myself.”

Luke harrumphed, but he didn’t argue.

“So what’s the plan, boss?” Vijay asked.

Luke was about to answer when he realized Vijay was asking Penelope. He harrumphed again.

His sister shot Jay a grateful grin before turning back to face him. “We’re all in this together, big bro.” She patted him on the back. “We make a great team.”

Luke relaxed. She had a point. The three of them had been a team well before this venture started. As long as they trusted one another and stuck together, he believed they could succeed.

CHAPTER 6

JULIA

A bellhop pushed the luggage cart down a long hallway, Julia and her friends trailing behind. The hotel turned out to be much larger than she’d expected, and grander too. It reminded her of a resort in Florida that was designed to look like an Italian villa, except this place was built so that the exterior resembled a row of English townhomes smushed together. Something you’d expect to find on a posh street in London, not off the shore of Lake Michigan. Notting Hill in Wisconsin. She smiled to herself as they passed doors to various rooms, all painted a bright, bold blue.

Downstairs, Kat had given each of them a tiny envelope with a key card. Julia had assumed the resort would only spring for one room, meaning the three of them would be rotating on couch duty. But when she got back from her walk along the beach, she’d been pleasantly surprised to discover separate rooms had been assigned to each of them.

At the end of the hall, the bellhop stopped and glanced back at them quizzically. Realizing that he didn’t know which of them belonged to which room, Julia and her friends gathered their luggage and handed him a tip. As the squeaking wheels of the cart faded away, they checked the numbers on their envelopes and found the corresponding doors. She and Andie were directly across the hall from each other, while Kat had the room on the wall between, through a set of French doors.

Kat read the sign over the number on her room. “The Princess Suite. Ooh, fancy.”