Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,10

understood that. How many times had she had some idiot ignore the turn-your-devices-off announcement before a show and then been interrupted by a phone ringing? And the living room feeling she liked about the bar came from its communal vibe. Not its everyone-staring-at-their-own-phone vibe.

Most importantly, she wasn’t in a position to complain if she wanted to watch football here. So she just said, “Okay.”

“Okay? That’s it? You’re not going to expose me as a fraud?”

“Not today.” She shot him a saccharine smile. “Maybe later.” But actually…“What’s the password for the Wi-Fi?” If she could get Wi-Fi in her living room away from home, that would be awesome.

“Why?”

So I can mooch off your Wi-Fi. “I really, really need to check something.” She shook her phone at him, and he raised an eyebrow. “It’s an emergency. Tell it to me, and I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

He shook his head, but he leaned farther in—he smelled good—and whispered “LLH1943.”

“How original.”

“Well, we can’t all be creative geniuses.”

She typed it in, connected to his network, and shot him another fake smile. “That’s true.”

Chapter Three

Four months later

Law looked up from garnishing an old-fashioned when the bells on the door jingled.

It was Maya.

Which was a surprise. She generally didn’t come in on nights he had bands in.

As if on cue, she paused in the doorway, glanced at the band, and rolled her eyes.

She pulled up a stool next to Eve and Sawyer, who were oblivious to her arrival because they were half making out, half whispering to each other. Maya rolled her eyes again, but this time it was an inclusive eye roll, like she expected Law to share her view on how annoying the lovebirds were. He had the sudden urge to wink in solidarity with her, but he held back. They didn’t do solidarity.

“How come you have a band here tonight?” she asked him. “I would have thought that’d be tomorrow night.”

Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve, and she was right; he did usually have a band on New Year’s Eve, and since he didn’t usually do bands more than once a week, her surprise at finding one here tonight was logical. “I’m trying a DJ for New Year’s this year.”

“Well, I was hoping to watch football, but now it’s going to be impossible to hear it.” She sighed, but not in her usual theatrical way. Something was off. She seemed almost…sad?

He handed her the remote for her preferred TV. “My sincerest apologies that the normal operation of my business is getting in the way of your recreation,” he said in a way that was neither apologetic nor sincere. Thrown a little by how out of sorts she seemed, he was trying to goad her back to her usual self, but she didn’t take the bait. So he set a wineglass in front of her, filled it, and left her to her sulking.

A while later, when the band was on a break between sets and Eve and Sawyer were settling their tab, he was drawn into a conversation between them that Maya was tangentially part of as she half listened, half watched her match.

“It’s December thirtieth,” Eve said, leaning over to speak to both Law and Sawyer. “You think Jake is okay?”

“Yeah,” Law said.

“Well, as okay as he ever is,” Maya said.

“You and I should probably go check on him tomorrow, though?” Sawyer asked Law.

Law nodded his agreement. Jake’s son, Jude, who had died of the flu several years ago, just shy of his first birthday, had been born on December thirtieth. Jake always marked the day in self-imposed solitary confinement in his cottage, and he also never appeared for any New Year’s Eve happenings. Law and Sawyer had tried, that first year, to be there for him on and around significant days, like Jude’s birthday and the anniversary of his death, but Jake had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to be left alone. That wouldn’t stop them from checking in on him, though.

“Has anyone heard from Nora?” Law asked, since they were taking stock of absent friends. Nora had left town abruptly a little before Christmas because her grandmother was dying.

“Yes,” Maya said. “Her grandma died on the twenty-sixth.”

They were all silent for a moment. “Any idea when she’s coming back?” Law asked.

“Nope. I’ll ask her next time I talk to her, though,” Maya said.

Eve and Sawyer made their farewells, and Maya picked up the remote and turned the volume up on her match. “Sheesh. I could hardly breathe through all the