Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,35
inn,” Eve said.
Maya took a deep breath. It was going to be okay. It had to be. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”
“What did you say to me a few months ago?” Nora asked. “It takes a village, and we’re your village?”
“Yeah, but I was talking about your bun in the oven.” Maya pointed affectionately at Nora’s baby bump. “It takes a village to raise a child.”
“Yeah,” Eve said, “but it also takes a village to attract and retain a B-list Hollywood ex-boy-band member, am I right?”
Maya was flooded with love for her friends. She might be poor when it came to money, but she was rich when it came to the things that mattered. “You guys are the best.”
Nora preened. “We really are.”
“How long do we have?” Eve asked.
“Three weeks. He’s coming the last weekend of July. We’ll do a month of rehearsals, which I sincerely hope and pray will be enough. I’m going to open the show a week earlier than usual and do two mini runs. I’ll do the Saturday and Sunday of Mermaid Parade weekend like usual, but I’m also going to do Thursday through Sunday the week before.”
“Six shows!” Eve exclaimed. “You’re leveling up.”
“I’m banking—literally—on Holden being a big draw. I figure if I do the right kind of advertising, I might even be able to attract people from Toronto.”
“So this means Holden arrives Raspberry Festival weekend?” Nora asked. “That’s kind of cute—his time here will be bookended by the two festivals. In with the raspberries, out with the mermaids.”
“I guess he will arrive during the Raspberry Festival.” Maya hadn’t thought of that, but it was good. It would paint the town in a positive light—and not a light that included her being mermaid queen. She wanted to present herself as a serious theater person, not an aquatic beauty queen, which was why she’d struck that deal with Benjamin.
It was strange to think she wasn’t going to be queen this year, though, to imagine someone else on that float, wearing her tiara.
No, not her tiara. The tiara. She was getting what she wanted here, so there was no need to feel wistful. “Speaking of the Raspberry Festival, I need to show you guys my plans for the sandcastle competition this year. Benjamin is going down.” She hopped up. “Hang on, I’ll get them.”
“We’ll have to look at them later.” Eve looked at her watch. “I forgot to tell you. There’s a town meeting tonight. Pearl accosted me on my way here. She said it was mandatory.” She turned to Maya. “She made a big deal about you in particular needing to come, actually.”
Maya groaned. “No way. I have way too much to do. I’m not going to a town meeting tonight.”
She went to the town meeting.
After arguing with Pearl for a solid five minutes—Pearl had called four times in a row until Maya finally picked up—Maya decided that sitting through the meeting was the path of least resistance. She could cruise Pinterest for apartment-makeover inspiration while the old people talked about whatever was their latest thing.
“Hey, it’s my king!” she said to Jordan as she and the girls squeezed by him along a row of folding chairs set up in the multipurpose room at the community center. He nodded good-naturedly as they settled next to Jake and Sawyer.
And then Benjamin arrived on the other side of the guys.
Benjamin. She had been so busy—and gleeful—all day that she’d managed not to think about him. Well, that wasn’t totally true. She’d started to think about him a lot. Specifically about how his hand had felt on her cheek, all callused and rough, but in a strangely nice way. But then she’d think about the reason she knew what his hand felt like: she had, in a moment of sleep-addled insanity, snuggled into that hand. And then she had kissed him. It was mortifying. So she’d shut down those thoughts.
In truth, her stated reason for not wanting to come here tonight—she had too much to do—had been an excuse. Really, she hadn’t wanted to face Benjamin. What had possessed her? It had been so long since she’d truly relaxed, but there, on his sofa, she had conked out. Had been in the middle of a dream, in fact, that she was lost in a field of flowers. Which for most people would probably be a pleasant dream, but not for her, given that she was about to lose her flower-shop safety net. And