“I don’t think you’re supposed to tell people that,“ Graham advises, but she just rolls her eyes.
“No one here is a filthy-rich scumbag who is cheating on his wife or on his taxes or selling trade secrets. Not really the kind of people the Mavens usually target.” My interest is piqued, but she keeps chattering on, and I file it away to ask about another time. “Anyway, she was on assignment at a Daydream property—someone was trying to sabotage it; it was a whole thing—and then Rowan was there, and they fell in love, and now he actually takes vacations and time off. But before that, Annette—she’s the CEO—kept threatening to lock him out if he didn’t take a vacation. I’m pretty sure she would have done it, too, because Annette’s a badass, too. Thankfully, she didn’t have to because Rowan got a life.”
“Except, the one vacation he went on, he came to Seaside Point and found Surf and decided to buy it, so wasn’t that working?” Graham counters.
“I don’t get paid enough to figure out that kind of math, so I don’t know. But Idoknow he has a soft spot for overworked people, and if I tell him that’s you, he’ll get all worried. So have a drink.”
“I don’t—” Graham starts.
“Rum and Coke, then,” Sutton says, turning to Lainey. “Everyone loves a rum and Coke.”:
“I don’t,” Decker says, and Sutton looks him over.
“Sure you don’t, big boy,” she says, patting his cheek. He goes a bit starry-eyed, then blinks out of the daze she seemed to have put him in.
“What does that even mean?” he asks, a goofy smile on his lips.
“I bet you’d love to know,” she says, and they start bickering back and forth as they tend to do. With Sutton distracted, I turn fully to Graham, still a bit awed at seeing him out of his work clothes and here in a small-town dive bar.
“Thanks for coming,” I say. “I know it’s a lot, very out of your comfort zone. But it’s good for you to get to know everybody. It reallyisgood networking.” His thick brows furrow, and he shakes his head.
“I’m not here for networking, June. I came to celebrate you.” Butterflies move in my chest, but I push them away, giving him a playful smile.
“Watch out, Graham. I might think we’re officially friends. Celebrating one another’s accomplishments is definitely friend territory.”
Before he can respond, Lainey slides a drink over to him, and he takes it with an appreciative nod. Grant and Miles start talking to him about properties and projects, and soon Claire begs Lainey to turn on the music. Decker and Sutton pull me into their argument, asking me to take sides, and it turns into another normal night at the Seabreeze, but this time with Graham in the mix, fitting perfectly into our little group.
At some point, Claire pushes the tables back, making a space for us to dance, and a couple of other patrons come to join us. I check in with Graham often, but he’s nursing his drinkwith Grant and Miles, chatting and seeming to enjoy himself genuinely. I should have known they’d all get along; they all have the same low-key attitude.
Almost two hours after Graham arrives, a slow song starts, one of my favorite old Atlas Oaks songs, and Claire instantly moves over to the group of guys to grab her boyfriend.
“Come on, bud, let’s go,” she says, grabbing his hand and tugging, though his work-booted feet stay planted in place.
“Claire–”
“Either dance with me or I’m finding someone else who will,” she threatens. Miles rolls his eyes, looking at the ceiling before taking in a deep breath, but he doesn’t argue any further; instead, he sets his beer on the counter and moves toward the center of the room with his girlfriend.
“I think Graham needs to dance, too,” Sutton says, a twinkle I don’t like in her eye, but I’ve had two drinks, and the buzz numbs out some of my common sense.
“I don’t think—” Graham says, shaking his head negatively, but I put my hands up, excitedly.
“Yes! It’s part of the full Seabreeze experience!”
He lifts a brow at me, and through his refusal is entertainment. He’s notfullyagainst the idea.
“Getting forced into dancing is part of the experience?”
“Honestly? Kind of,” Decker says, with a shrug. Graham sighs, looking from me to the door.
“I was about to head out. I have a lot of?—”
“You can leave after you’re done dancing with me,” I say, deciding that’s the obvious answer.
“I’m dancing withyou?” he asks, lifting an eyebrow.
I blame the alcohol on the short spark of disappointment that moves through me at his shock.
“Oh, uh, no, you can dance with Sutton, if you want. Or Lainey.”
