anything. A few tables were occupied, and a few more were covered with dishes and crumpled-up napkins. Near the door that led into the kitchen, two figures stood, filling water glasses and talking.
“Bathroom still in the same place?” Eddie asked.
Nick jerked one thumb toward the dining room. “All the way in the back.”
Eddie ran one hand over his damp hair, smoothing it down. He was glad he’d stopped at the house to take a quick shower after finishing up at Frank’s. He didn’t want Ash to think he walked around smelling like diesel fumes all day. He headed into the dining room, taking his time. He passed one table with a young family he didn’t recognize and another with a single man bent over a laptop, and slowed at a third when he recognized the two women having cocktails.
“Hey, Simra.”
The bleach-blonde with the heavy eye makeup looked up. “Eddie?” She practically leapt out of her chair, dragging her napkin and menu with her. Flinging her arms around his neck, she leaned in for the squeeze.
Heavy perfume nearly choked him, and he pulled back after a minute. Probably should’ve skipped the hello. “How’ve you been?”
She leaned against the table, posing the way she used to back in high school. One hand on a hip and chin cocked up at him. Trouble was, her hair had grayed and her hips had broadened quite a bit in the last ten years, and the pose looked less come-hither and more tired-single-mother-aching-back. He wondered how many kids Simra was up to by now.
“How’s Carl?”
She made a face. “Please. The loser left me last winter for a waitress over at the truck stop. Surprised you didn’t hear about it.”
Eddie was surprised too. News like that usually traveled through Paradise pretty quickly. Still, he’d been so wrapped up inside his own head the last few years that a train might have derailed and gone careening down Main Street without his noticing.
“Sorry to hear that.” He cut a glance toward the kitchen door, where he thought he’d seen Ash a few minutes earlier.
“Oh, don’t be.” Simra reached over and tugged at Eddie’s shirt. “That means you still have a chance.”
His cheeks heated up. He’d gone on exactly one date with Simra Hall, five or six years ago, and the way she’d thrown herself at him in the back of his Camaro had turned him off fast. “I like women, but not when they don’t let you do any of the catching,” he told his buddies later on. “Shooting fish in a barrel isn’t my style.”
“This is Denise Reynolds. Lives over in Silver Creek.” Simra turned to her friend, a redhead with graying roots, who gave Eddie a shy smile.
“Hi.”
“Nice to meet you.” Eddie nodded. “Listen, I’ll catch up with you later. Nice seeing you.”
“You, too.” Simra leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek before he could react. “Call me sometime. I’m staying with my parents over by the trailer park.”
Eddie winked rather than answer and made a mental note to stay far away from the mobile home community until Paradise’s grapevine told him Simra had gotten herself another man.
He continued through the dining room, waving a hand to Zach Olson and his wife, then stopped to drop a friendly kiss on the cheek of Mrs. Wainwright, his fifth grade teacher. Still, he hadn’t caught sight of Ash and decided to head to the bathroom after all when the kitchen door swung open, and she nearly ran into him.
“Whoa!” Eddie took two steps back.
She backpedaled, and for a dangerous moment her tray tilted left. “Eddie?”
He reached over and helped her steady the steaming plates before they hit the floor. “Hi there.”
Her face lit up, and he hoped it was because she was glad to see him and not just because he’d rescued the nachos and chicken fingers. Out of habit, he gave her a once-over, taking in her tight black shorts and the t-shirt that curved around her breasts and stretched the words “Blues and Booze” in just the right way.
“You here for dinner?”
“Just stopped by for a drink. And to say hello.”
“Hey, sweetheart!” A burly guy Eddie didn’t recognize waved a hand in the air. “You gonna bring us those nachos while they’re still hot?”
“Sorry,” Ash called over, and her cheeks pinked. “I gotta go.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“I’ll come out and see you at the bar if I get a minute,” she added.
“Hey, sweetheart!”
Eddie cut another glance across the room and didn’t like what he saw: a middle-aged