I pushed myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom, groaning as a yawn cracked my jaw. I scratched through my blonde hair, not even realizing it was sticking up in all directions. I shouldn’t complain, it wasn’t so long ago I didn’t have any at all. I never thought I’d get up again, and here I was, staring in the mirror, thankful I got to live another day.

My one-bedroom apartment and match-box bathroom was all I needed, I thought, as a sunbeam turned my hair to fire as I looked in the mirror. My hair looked like little rays of fire and it always made me grin. That was what everyone called me at the hotel: little ray of sunshine.

If only they saw me when I woke up in the mornings, I thought, they’d think the complete opposite. I looked like a mess, which would have been fine if I’d been out all night and had a man in my bed to show for it. But it had more to do with how much work I had to do than how much time I’d spent in bed.

The guests in the hotel get worse every day. Cleaning up after them gets harder by the minute. My job was never easy, but at times it feels completely out of my league.

I didn’t bother taking another glance at myself in the mirror before stripping out of the t-shirt and shorts I’d slept in and under the spray of my shower. I didn’t wait for the water to warm up and yelped when the freezing water hit me at first. At least it woke me up a little.

Five minutes later, I was back in my bedroom, a towel wrapped around me as I rubbed my hair dry. I found some clothes and put them on quickly, then made breakfast and sat down to eat. There was nothing exciting about my mornings, nothing at all.

I glanced down as a blob of my egg fell onto my chest. Even though it had been a while, I still couldn’t get used to them. I found myself at times, wondering if someone knew the truth behind the firm globes that greeted me. My breasts. The new ones. The old ones I lost to breast cancer and had been replaced by perky new ones. Well, I’d lost one to the cancer, the other one had been operated on to make them look similar.

Whenever men’s eyes rolled over them, I wondered if they knew they weren’t real. Jessi, my best friend, would laugh and say men didn’t care about things like that. If they did, then there wouldn’t be things like Playboy which were full of them. I laughed to myself, trying to focus on the brighter side of life, the way I did back then. I quickly scraped the egg away and wiped my shirt clean.

A few minutes later, I picked up my purse and my phone and walked out of my tiny apartment. As soon as I did, my phone rang. Jessi’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hey Jessi,” I chirped, a little skip in my step as I walked down the street. Hearing her name had put a smile on my face and finally getting out of the apartment made me feel better too.

The distance from my place to the hotel was short enough that I could walk, and the exercise was good for me. Though I’d be on my feet for most of the day, walking was still way cheaper than taking a taxi.

“Hey girl, where are you?” she asked through the phone, and I picked my pace a little more.

“I don’t know what got into me this morning, or rather didn’t get into me. I couldn’t get up this morning, and now I’m running behind.” My stride and skip started to turn into a mini jog as I glanced at the time.

I knew I should have told her I’d call her later so I could flat out run to the hotel, but curiosity got the better of me. So I asked what had been playing on my mind for the last couple of days. The thing that she’d been so quiet about and one thing she knew about, I was shy but I wasn’t too shy to ask about her love life.

“What’s going on?”

She sighed over the phone, so I figured it wasn’t good news and regretted asking.

“I’m still keeping out of his way. He's a big help there. I’d rather not have another run in with him again.”

“You ran into him?” I asked as I stopped dead in my tracks. There was silence. My eyes narrowed in suspicion and I forgot about my tardiness.

“Jessi,” I said, my voice lowered. “Is there something you’re keeping from me?” I didn’t get a response. “Jessi! We’re supposed to be best friends! Don’t tell me you… dumped me for him!”

I finished the words with a whimper, and I heard Jessi laugh on the other end. That had me smiling.

I’m so sorry, Jessi, I thought to her silently. So sorry you have to hurt like this. Sorry, that I’m so little help to you that you don’t even come to me. Sorry that all you can think about is running away.

Whether she’d put in for the transfer already, or would soon enough, I’d miss her once she was gone. Jessi thought she was good at keeping secrets but she wasn’t. She felt things too strongly for that.

I’d heard the rumor about her and Trent back when we were just starting to grow to like each other. I’d dismissed the ones that said she was a gold digger. I could always ask Emily, Trent’s younger sister and a friend I’d made through Jessi, but I got the sense Emily didn’t know much about her elder half-brother. I couldn’t exactly ask Mason, the second oldest brother.

I still didn’t know just how deep their relationship had been, but the look on Jessi’s face when he’d found us in the staff room that day…

Her expression had been so fucking complicated. There was hope in it, one I wondered if she knew she still felt. There was also an old wariness there like he’d been careless with her before and she was bracing herself for him to do the same to her once again. Most of all, there was so much pain—hers—and sadness for him.

It all made me very curious, but the furious and hurt look on her face after he’d left made me think better of asking.

After all, I couldn’t expect her to tell me all her secrets when I was still keeping some from her myself.

“Seriously, though,” I said. “You know if you need something, I’m here for you, right? You don’t have to keep things to yourself. If you’d like, I could share something, and you could share something…”

“Do you mean another girl’s night? Honestly, I’m not sure I can handle another night like that, Laura.”

I frowned at the secrecy before me and blew out a breath to calm myself. “You know, I’ve been wondering this for a while, but something happened on that night, right? And don’t bother trying to lie. Tell me if you’ve been back to your apartment since that night.”

“I… was at my parents,” she said hesitantly. “I’ll go back to my apartment eventually, I’m just… afraid of what I’ll find there.”

“What could you possibly find in your apartment besides your things?” I asked with a growing suspicion.

There was a short silence. “I guess I’m trying to avoid someone,” she admitted, but then she continued hurriedly. “It’s nothing to worry about, though. I wanted to find Emily, so she and I could have a chat. I haven’t talked to her in a while, but I think she’s still busy with her dad.”

“Would you rather talk to her than me?” I asked, with sadness that wasn’t entirely an affectation.

“I’ve known her longer, and it’s to do with her father. I’m not sure if you heard, but he had a heart attack, or so my mom said.”

“There were rumors,” I said vaguely, figuring she didn’t need to know if she hadn't heard them yet.

Hopefully, Emily hadn't heard them either, though I did want to know the source of that information when the Thompson family was pretty good at keeping their secrets under lock and key.

“It’s because he’s sick that his sons are all back, after all. I wanted to know if he had any plans on getting better, or if the guys will be sticking around permanently.”

“Oh well,” I muttered. “I guess there’s plenty more of cleaning up after Mason in my future, then. Hopefully, the guy tones it down a bit.” I deliberately didn’t mention Trent, even though I knew he was the one son she’d have been glad not to have come back.

“He’s been behaving so far, from what I’ve heard. Maybe he’s changed?” she mused.

I chuckled. “Oh, honey, no. A guy like that wouldn’t just change so much. I bet he’s just biding his time. I’ve had too much good luck lately. Maybe it’ll happen today.”

“You probably just jinxed yourself.”

“Better to get it over with. I’m sick of this suspense of ‘will he, when will he.’ Everybody’s feeling it.” Then I grinned. “Though I can't say I’m not looking forward to it just a little.”

She hummed. “Because there’s a slight chance you get to see him at least half naked? Along with some of the pretty friends he’ll be dragging along with him?”

“There’s definitely that,” I agreed. “It makes me feel a little jealous sometimes.”

Other times, it left me so angry that there were people like that, while there were people like me who struggled with everything living in the same country.

“I know the feeling,” Jessi sighed. “I’m afraid I need to go, I’m even later for work now. You should probably hurry too.”

At her pointed statement, I checked my watch and my eyes widened.

“Shit!” I didn’t realize I’d slowed down so much while we were talking, I’d wasted more time than I’d thought. Immediately, I picked up the pace. “Will I see you today?”

“I’ll be in the kitchen. If you have the time, come by. I’ll have something for you.”

“Thank you, Jessi! I love you!” I chirped, then hung up.

I ran most of the way, stopping when I was within sight of the staff entrance before slowing down to catch my breath. I paused outside for a moment, hoping for a good day at work, then walked in.