Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,45

about the restaurant. She had always thought of him as a person who had it easy. Unlike her, he wanted his family business, so all he had to do was sit back and let it happen—or so she’d always thought. But he was constantly innovating, now that she thought about it, and apparently worried over whether it was the right kind, or amount, of innovating.

She shook her head. So weird.

“Well, that was a nice idea Law had,” Pearl said after Benjamin peeled off at the lager house, but then she clapped her hand over her mouth.

“What was a nice idea?”

Pearl’s eyes darted around, giving Maya the impression that she’d said something she regretted. “Nothing. Ignore me.”

Yeah, not happening. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, if you must know, Law had already suggested taking the Whispering Pines group on a boat ride. It was his idea for you to join and do the theater talk.” She shrugged, as if the ways of men were mysterious to her.

Huh? That was odd. “Why didn’t he just ask me himself?” And why would he have the idea for a theater talk? Something was off here. A game of broken telephone. Pearl did not have her information right.

They’d arrived at the bakery. “I don’t know!” Pearl said. “Maybe he was too nervous to ask you himself! You want to know my theory?” She lowered her voice and leaned in. “He fancies you!” She blew a kiss and disappeared inside the bakery.

Whaaat? Pearl definitely did not have her information right. Maya had done a little reevaluating of her opinion on Benjamin just now, but Pearl’s theory was so absurd, she was left sputtering on the sidewalk.

But only for a moment. She shook her head and, with it, that ridiculous notion out of her consciousness.

Chapter Nine

Law had spent the time between the roof incident and Karl’s Junior Achievement meeting thinking about Maya’s dad. So it was funny that when he showed up at said Junior Achievement meeting, Mr. Mehta was there.

As was his daughter.

He didn’t know how to act around her now. They’d spoken so openly on the roof. They’d told each other stuff. It felt awkward now, and he didn’t know what to do.

So he fell back on the methodology employed by teenage boys since time immemorial: he ignored her. “Hi, Mr. Mehta.” He knew Maya’s dad. They were both members of the Moonflower Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Business Improvement Association.

“Law.” Mr. Mehta stuck his hand out, and they shook.

“Hi, Mr. Lawson,” Maya said, and Law did a double take. He was used to her calling him “Benjamin” when no one else did, but—

“Maya. Nice to see you. Looking forward to Much Ado about Nothing. Turns out my wife is a big fan of this young man you’ve got coming to town.”

Law turned. His dad was here, too?

“Hey, Son.” His dad gave him a half hug, and Law tried not to panic. He’d been avoiding his parents. He knew he had to tell them about the restaurant sooner or later, but right now he was going for later. It wasn’t that he thought they would disapprove. But that was part of the problem. His dad was always saying little things about how Grandpa would be proud of whatever Law’s latest innovation was—the seasonal cocktail list, the pizza. Still, it was one thing to tell them he was opening a second place, another to tell them he was thinking of mortgaging the first to indulge himself with the second.

But he was getting ahead of himself. He was only going to do that if he won the grant.

Right?

“Good evening.” Karl tapped the microphone. As the longtime proprietor of Lakeside Hardware and president of the chamber of commerce, Karl was committed to instilling entrepreneurial ambition in the younger generation. Hence his devotion to Junior Achievement—it was the economic development arm of his meddling nature. “Welcome to our special guests. As you know, our students are spending eighteen weeks planning and starting a small business. We’re early in the process, and I thought they would benefit from hearing from a panel of local entrepreneurs.” He turned to the kids. “As a special twist, I thought it would be fun for you to hear from families that each have two generations of entrepreneurs.”

Well, that was a twist Law didn’t need right now. From the look on Maya’s face, she had not been aware that the program was going to take this format any more than Law had. She was