Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,60

but she’d come anyway. Was there any way to interpret that other than that it meant she still wanted to go out on the boat?

With him?

Dear God. Had Eiko been right? Was Maya here because she wanted to spend time with him? Just him? He started to sweat. “You, uh, want to go for a quick spin anyway? Since we’re here?”

A pickup truck vroomed up, taking the turn into the lot too fast.

“I was hoping you’d say that, because I invited Holden Hampshire.”

If there was anyone who didn’t need a pickup, it was a city-dwelling actor. Honestly. Holden jumped out, and he was wearing the most obnoxious pair of board shorts. They were tight, white, and long—they came to below his knees. He was shirtless, and his feet were stuffed into a pair of slides that said “Givenchy.” He looked like a North Toronto kid dressing up like a California surfer—which was actually exactly what he was. Or, no, a North Toronto kid dressing up like a California surfer playing at being a cowboy in that ridiculous truck.

“I’m trying, to, like, show him a good time,” Maya whispered, leaning in so much that he caught a whiff of that botanical-sugar scent. “But I have to say, he is trying my patience.”

“Okay,” he said, though he was a little surprised at how much he did not want to take Holden Hampshire on a boat ride. But also, maybe Maya’s murderous scowl of a moment ago hadn’t been intended for him? That would be a twist.

Another car pulled up, and Rohan got out.

“Oh, and I invited my brother, too,” she said. She shrugged. “I figured we had a lot of extra capacity.”

Law didn’t mind Rohan’s joining them. And Rohan was dressed like a normal person in shorts, a plain T-shirt, and Birkenstocks.

But so much for Eiko’s crackpot theory that Maya had been looking forward to seeing him. She’d brought an army of other men.

Well, just men. No other. Other implied…whatever was the opposite of other. One. Singular. Exclusive. None of those words applied. “No problem,” he said.

Maya made introductions, and they were off, Maya and Holden talking about something up front while Law chatted with Rohan. As they approached the lift bridge, Maya twisted and said to Rohan, “There have been a few sightings of Pearl in there, even though she swears she has no interest in Dennis Bates.” She turned to Holden. “Have you met Pearl from Pie with Pearl? She’s an avid internet dater. But we all think she has a secret affair going on with the guy who runs the lift bridge, even though she swears she doesn’t.”

“Cute,” Holden said noncommittally as he looked at his phone.

The bridge was up, so they cruised out into the lake, and Law could feel himself relaxing, and that, in turn, made him realize how not-relaxed he had been for so long. The stress of the restaurant situation had really been getting to him.

“Too bad I wasted my time preparing a theater talk for the old folks,” Maya said.

“Hit us with it anyway,” Law suggested. To his great surprise, he wanted to hear what she had to say.

“Yeah,” said Rohan. “Let’s hear it.”

“Nah, you guys don’t want to listen to me.”

“I think it might be good for my characterization to hear your thoughts on Benedick,” Holden said.

“But you heard my thoughts on Benedick all day,” Maya said. “First day of rehearsal,” she explained to Law and Rohan, “so I talked a lot. But okay.” She launched into a very entertaining talk on the play, explaining what she thought some of the enduring themes were and how its message of bullying and cancel culture resonated today.

“And,” she added when she was done, “it has a great song in it. Often the songs in Shakespearean plays get cut or glossed over.” She turned to Holden. “But usually you don’t have a musical genius in the cast.”

Holden, without warning, broke into song. Something about sighing ladies? Holden was a good singer, but it turned out that having an ex-boy-band member sing you a song from Much Ado about Nothing acapella was a little awkward.

When he finished, they all clapped. Well, Maya and Rohan clapped. Law moved his hands back and forth like he was clapping, but he stopped short of letting them actually touch, because no way was he going to applaud this dude.

After an enjoyable couple hours touring around—well, Law had enjoyed himself, and it seemed the Mehta siblings had, too, but Holden had spent