“Who is she?” Jimmy asked.
“Who is who?” He took a drink of his beer to hide his smile. He didn’t keep secrets from his friends. They were all pretty open with one another, but he enjoyed giving them a hard time.
“Come on, man. The woman you’re crushing on.”
Ethan laughed. “Okay, there’s a woman I’m interested in, but I’m not sure she’s interested back. Plus, she isn’t from here.”
Dixie sighed. “None of the good ones are.”
“Hey,” Ethan and Jimmy said at the same time.
She rolled her eyes. “Present company excluded. So why don’t you think she’s interested?”
“I can’t be sure, but I think she just got out of a relationship based on a conversation I overheard. Plus, she rolls her eyes at me a lot.”
“Is she grumpy?” Jimmy asked.
Ethan shrugged. “Maybe a little. Why?”
“Grumpy people don’t like sunshiny people.”
“Sunshiny people?” Ethan asked.
“Yep. You’re probably too happy for her,” Jimmy said.
Ethan bellowed out a laugh. “What? That’s not a thing. People don’t dislike other people for being too happy.”
Dixie leaned her elbows on the bar and smiled. “People always find something to hate. So you can bet your ass they do.”
“So what’s the plan?” Jimmy asked.
“Plan for what?”
“For getting her together with you. We did a pretty good job with Jackson and Mia.”
Jackson and Mia had grown up together and were best friends. Everyone knew they belonged together, except them. Once they realized Mia was giving up on ever being with Jackson, Ethan and his brothers stepped in to meddle. They set Mia up on a series of dates to make Jackson jealous. Jimmy was one of the people to go out with Mia. He had been more than happy to take part since he, along with everyone else in the town, knew Jackson was in love with Mia. He just needed to realize it for himself.
“That was different,” Ethan said. “They both live here. Lily doesn’t.”
“Oh, her name is Lily?” Dixie asked. “I met a Lily the other day. Short, brunette, frowny?”
Ethan nodded with a chuckle.
“She’s cute.”
“She sure is,” Ethan agreed.
“Now I want to see her. Is she here? Point her out if she comes in,” Jimmy said.
“She isn’t here,” Ethan said. He didn’t even have to look to find out. He hadn’t been able to refrain from looking for her the moment he stepped inside the resort. And now his eyes were trained at the entrance to see if she would come into the bar.
“I still think we should make a plan,” Jimmy said.
“Nah. It’s not needed.”
As if on cue, Lily walked through the door. She looked around before heading toward the counter and sitting in a seat on the other end of the bar. He wasn’t sure if she had seen him yet, but his eyes were fixed on her.
Ethan lifted his beer up to his lips just as Jimmy snapped his fingers in front of Ethan’s face. He startled and sloshed beer out of his cup, down his arm, and all over the counter.
