Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,6

have two items: red and white. Now it contained six offerings, vintages he had researched and selected. He slid her one of the small laminated menus.

“What do you recommend?” she asked.

“The Tawse Chardonnay is nice.”

“I’ll have the Riesling, thanks.”

Okay, then. Rohan’s little sister was a sourpuss. Noted. Law turned to pour the wine, and by the time he set it in front of her, she was getting out her wallet.

“Take the free drink,” Rohan said. “You were just complaining about the cost of living in Toronto.” He turned to Law. “Maya’s at Sheridan College studying theater. She just finished her first semester.” He raised his glass to toast her, his pride apparent.

“I can pay for my own drink,” she said again.

“By all means, don’t let me stop you,” Law said. “I’ll happily take your money.” He was teasing. Mostly. He didn’t understand why she would turn her nose up at a free drink, or why her refusal was so snooty, but whatever.

“I would never let you stop me,” she said.

Huh? But before he could even try to start parsing what she’d said, she’d pressed a ten-dollar bill into his hand, and it felt like she was electrocuting him.

And that was the story of how Law came to be wildly attracted to someone he didn’t even like. If he were a superhero, that day would have gone down in the lore as the day Maya came into his bar, her bright, bitter beauty an injection of life on a slow, snowy afternoon, and stung him.

She had come into his bar a lot in the years after the sting. Not so much when she was in college, though there had been a few visits. But once she came home for good, she was in the bar all the damn time. And every single time she walked through his door, his brain stuttered for a second. It was irritating. It was embarrassing.

“Hey,” Nora said as Maya plopped down next to her. Maya was still wearing the pink tube top from the parade—God help him—but the tail and tiara were gone. The top was now paired with her standard jeans and Cons, though she’d changed the Cons from her blue mermaid pair to a baby-pink pair. “That was really something. This whole town is really something.”

“You’ll get used to us.” Maya smiled at Nora. Maya had a big, easy smile, but Law had still never seen it straight-on.

“So what’s with the mermaid queen thing?” Nora asked, looking between him and Maya. “I hear you’re behind her election every year?”

Sort of. He had been the first time. After that, it had taken on a life of its own. But he would take the credit. “I am.”

“Benjamin,” Maya said, finally deigning to greet him. Everyone in town called him Law except Maya and his mother. Maya had a certain way of saying his name, emphasizing it like it was heavy in her mouth, like it pained her to say it.

He set a wineglass down in front of her and poured her wine—that was his version of greeting her. It was still a Riesling, though a different one from that first time. After he’d taken over the bar full-time, he’d done even more tinkering with the wine list—although this one wasn’t on the menu.

“Benjamin lives to antagonize me,” Maya explained to Nora.

“You started it,” he retorted.

“Untrue,” Maya said, but, having dismissed him, she was talking to Nora. She was also wrong. She had been distinctly frosty since Sting Day.

Most people liked Law. He had always thought of himself as inherently likeable. Until she came along. It was kind of interesting to be the object of someone’s disdain. No, not interesting. Exhilarating. Sparring with Maya was the highlight of his day—which he realized sounded crazy, but it was true. As downtown business owners whose jobs had them keeping late hours, they saw a lot of each other, and the odd day he didn’t see her felt strangely off, like he’d gone around all day with his shirt inside out or something.

“But how did you even come up with the mermaid queen prank?” Nora asked Law. She turned to Maya. “And why do you hate it so much? I would think, with the whole theater thing, that it would be up your alley.”

Maya picked up her wine. “We were all here one night during the Raspberry Festival, so the place was crawling with tourists. There was a bachelorette party happening, and the bride had one of those beauty-queen sashes