Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,54
old double and ordered one of those inexpensive mattress-in-a-box things, and Jake had built her a bed frame.
Even the kitchen had undergone a makeover thanks to Richard’s set-design skills, boasting freshly painted cabinets and a new backsplash—and if the latter was peel-and-stick tile instead of the real thing, no one need know. And if Richard didn’t realize that he was decorating an apartment to save his job, that was also fine.
She—and her community—had worked so hard. Her chest swelled with pride and gratitude. Which was a nice change from her chest sparking with annoyance or seizing with fear as it had done this afternoon at the dunk tank.
Holden barely seemed to look at anything as he dragged a suitcase into the space while looking at his phone. She followed with a duffel bag she’d offered to carry, and since he was absorbed in his phone, she took the opportunity to examine him.
He managed to look like his old Two Squared self yet entirely different. The sweet, boyish blue eyes and dimple were still there, but they were set in an older, more angular face, one with fine lines around the eyes—kind of like Benjamin’s. It was like Holden had kept all the best parts of the boy face but added in all the best stuff that happened to men’s faces as they aged.
He was so pretty. It wasn’t fair.
Also: Holden freaking Hampshire was here!
But okay. She could be cool. It wasn’t like a Spice Girl was here. She needed to stop thinking of him as Holden freaking Hampshire. He was just a person. She cleared her throat. He didn’t look up from his phone. “Everything seem okay?”
He looked around absently, his eyes snagging on the bed. “Do you have a lighter duvet? I run hot.”
“Sure. I’ll—” What? What would she do? She would run across the street and raid the Mermaid Inn, that was what she would do. “I’ll have one sent over. Anything else?”
“Wi-Fi password?”
“In here.” She pointed at a cute little welcome binder she’d made and left on the kitchen counter.
“Great.”
“So, in terms of dinner, there’s a great little diner called Sadie’s. Or…wood-fired pizza across the street at Lawson’s Lager House.” Surely she could be seen eating Benjamin’s pizza with Holden Hampshire. “Or there’s a fantastic place in the next town up the lake.”
She would be thrilled with whatever he chose. It had been so long since she’d eaten out. She wouldn’t splurge on a restaurant meal on her own, but if she was “forced” to take her star out for a welcome-to-town dinner, she was going to enjoy the heck out of it. She had even paid Jordan to bring her car back from the dead. “I was thinking we could chat a bit about the play. I’m doing a few things with the staging that may be a bit unexpected, though they apply more to the Hero-and-Claudio storyline than to ours.” She was playing Beatrice to his Benedick rather than cast someone else. She’d never had the chance to play that role, and it was one of the greats. Also, she wasn’t paying herself, so she was a bargain.
“I’d love to do dinner, but I’m beat,” he said absently, finally actually looking at the apartment. “I think I’ll call it a night. Rain check?”
“Oh, okay.” That was disappointing. But whatever, the man didn’t want to go to dinner. It wasn’t the end of the world. “Jenna’s downstairs is open until eight if you’re in the market for any snacks or need any toiletries or anything.”
So she found herself back out on the street unexpectedly early. Also hungry: she had skipped lunch in anticipation of a big dinner with Holden. She dug in her purse and extracted a fortune cookie and broke it open.
Don’t confuse recklessness with confidence.
That was…not a great one. She popped the cookie in her mouth and texted her brother as her stomach growled. Are you guys still eating? I got jilted by the pop star, so I thought maybe I’d come by and join you.
Rohan: Nope. En route to the store. Dad wants to show me the accounting software. Good call on that one!
She let herself into the closed store to wait for them. The shop was so familiar. Like her parents’ house, it held a lot of good childhood memories. Helping her dad load the refrigerators when a delivery came. Pitching in on full-moon nights. That hilarious night Eve had gotten locked in the cooler and Sawyer had rescued her.