Counterfeit Cupid (Mt. Olympus Employment Agency: Cupid #2)(3)

“Special assignment. I’ll have the details for you when you get back. For now, let’s just say, true love is in danger. I need you to fix it.”

I stared at her with my jaw dropped. Why the hell would she send me to do such a thing?

How could I possibly fix true love when I didn’t even believe in it?





2. Annie


Sometimes I wanted to shake my sister to see if I could get her brain to fall into the right grooves. Surely it was floating around in her beautiful head without an anchor point.

“Richard is not cheating on you, Val. I promise you.” I had to make a concerted effort not to roll my eyes while I spoke. She was being ridiculous, so it was difficult not to match her ridiculousness with silly faces.

Val’s eyes were red rimmed and puffy from crying and probably lack of sleep. “He’s never home. And when he is, he ignores me and hides in the bedroom all day.” She cleared her throat of the tears clogging it. “I’m telling you Annie, he’s found someone else. He’s so…distant.”

I groaned. “You knew when you married him what it would be like to be with a fireman. He’s gone a lot and he comes back tired. It’s how it is. You knew that.” I frowned. “Are you about to start your period? You always get weird around then.”

I was never sensitive about such things. I knew if I was extra grouchy or overly sensitive that hormones were likely causing it. Science. No need to get offended. Unfortunately, my sister was not so self-aware.

“How could you say that? You’re as bad as he is. Don’t you think I know how I feel? Something’s not right. I know it.” She picked up her plate and coffee cup and took them to the sink. “I wish you’d take my side for once.”

Her back was to me, so it was safe. I rolled my eyes super hard while I could get away with it. “Honey, I’m always on your side. I also think maybe you’re overthinking this. Richard loves you more than anything on this earth. The love you two share is all I’ve ever wanted in life. True love, Val. Don’t throw it away on weird suspicions that have no basis.”

Valerie returned to the table and buried her face in her hands, letting out a small sob. “I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

Maggie, Val’s golden retriever, chuffed and rested her head on Val’s knee, and Val rested her hand on the dog’s head.

I reached out and rubbed my sister’s back with the palm of my hand. “Talk to him. But wait until he’s not fresh off a shift or half asleep, okay?”

She nodded but didn’t look up. “I’ll try.”

That was all I could ask of her, I supposed.

“So, what about you, baby sister?” She brightened, having switched gears to focus on my love life instead of hers.

“What about me?” I focused on scratching behind Maggie’s ears rather than making eye contact.

“You’ve been on—what?—five dates in five months with five guys. Am I counting right?”

I gave her a slow nod without lifting my head. “So?”

“So, you never go out on a second date.”

I let out a long sigh and straightened in my chair. “None of them are The One. Why should I waste my time on a second date?”

“How do you know someone isn’t The One if you don’t get to know him over, say, I don’t know, a series of dates?” She reached across the table and took my hand. “You have to give somebody a chance eventually, you know.”

I squeezed her hand and smiled. “I will. When he’s The One.” I didn’t know how to explain to someone who already had her One why I didn’t want to waste time on less than true love. Until true love found me, I was perfectly fine on my own.

Val gave me her long-suffering-sister expression and gave up for now, for which I was grateful.

I sat with her for a while longer until some of her lingering dramatics were burned away by gossip and a synopsis of last night’s episode of some CSI show she’d watched. It wasn’t really my favorite genre, but I listened like a good sister and helped her think about something else.

After she told me the shocking ending that I saw coming in the first three sentences, I glanced at the clock on the microwave. “I’ve got to get going. I have a shift this afternoon, and I can’t be late.”

She nodded. “Go. Thanks for looking out for your big sister.”

I kissed her cheek. “Anytime.” I gave Maggie’s ears a goodbye scratch and bolted out the door.

Once I was out of the house, I practically ran to my car. Val was a great sister, but her drama was contagious and all-consuming. I needed a little fresh air to clear out my own head.

Something was definitely up, though. Val and Richard had one of those perfect relationships that everyone both admired and envied. Their smiles lit up a room when they saw each other, and a person could almost feel waves of love coming off them when standing in their proximity.

If Val was unhappy, something weird was going on, and I intended to find out what it was.

*

The River Rock Hotel was nowhere near a river, and the only rocks nearby were the little pebbles tossed into the city street by construction trucks. It wasn’t huge and majestic, but it was nice, clean, well run, and a pretty decent place to work.

I dropped off my purse in the back room, checked for stray lint on my black pants and polo shirt, then took my place behind the front desk.