Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
He was good-looking enough to cause me to trip over my tongue for a beat, not at all the kind of grizzly old guy I’d pictured owning a place like this in the middle of nowhere. “Uh, yeah. Thanks.”
He tilted his head and smiled wider. “Yeah, thanks coffee or yeah, thanks juice?”
Shit. “Coffee. Please. Cream and sugar, if you have it.” If you have it? What kind of place serves coffee without cream and sugar? Idiot.
He nodded and turned to the counter behind him, where the coffeepot was currently steaming. “Shay, honey,” he called over his shoulder. “Why don’t you go put that in my office? I’ll see if Billy can do something to fix it tomorrow when he gets back.”
The young woman with the broken guitar looked up and sniffled. Warm brown eyes sparkled over a reddened nose. She was cute in a way that reminded me of my sister. “But you said I could play my set tonight. And now I can’t.”
He set the mug in front of me and lowered his voice. “Sorry. My sister saved two years for that guitar, and I accidentally dropped my toolbox on it.”
She crossed her arms on the table in front of her and buried her face, sobbing some more and wailing that it was probably the end of her life. Jake winced and shook his head. “Teenagers.”
I snorted softly. “I’d cry like that, too, if mine broke.”
His eyebrows lifted. “You play?”
I nodded and hesitated before making a decision. “Yeah, actually. I’m, ah, in the area for a bit, and… well… she can use mine tonight. I mean, if she wants.”
Shay’s head popped up. “Really? You mean it?”
Jake shook his head. “You don’t need to do that.”
I shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m staying at the campground, but my van’s parked next door right now. Let me grab it so you can practice before your set.”
I gave Jake my breakfast order and went out to the van, grabbing the soft-sided case before returning to the restaurant.
“Maybe I can come watch tonight,” I said with a smile. “What kind of music do you play?”
Shay had already moved next to my spot at the bar and immediately began filling my ears with her love of all things Lyra Vale. Thankfully, she was also a big Looper fan, and she also knew way more classics than I would have guessed for someone her age.
“How old are you?” I asked when I noticed her wearing a letter jacket from a high school.
“Eighteen. I’m finishing my senior year online right now, and then I’m going to Nashville. I told Jake I’m going to go get discovered and make a ton of money so he can finally buy a ski pass and snowboard.”
I glanced up at Jake as he set my plate of eggs and toast down. He shook his head. “Not sure where I’d get the time to use either one, but I appreciate the thought, Shady-Lady.”
“I take it this is your place?” I asked stupidly.
His eyes crinkled with a laugh. “Not originally. Our parents had a few bucks and a moment of insanity a while back.”
“More than a moment,” Shay added, distracted now with my guitar in her lap. “They took off last year and left us with this shithole.”
“My sister hasn’t been through customer service training,” he said, shooting me a wink that made my stomach flip a little. “Shay, maybe don’t tell the paying customers they’re eating at a shithole?”
“Sorry, I don’t mean it like that.” She strummed a C major without looking up at me. “The debt is shitty. Howbout that?”
Jake nodded and blew out a breath. “The debt is shitty. But summer season’s almost here, and that’ll help.”
“And so will my music career!”
He smiled at her. “And so will your music career. I’ll be your manager, and we can finally sell this place and move somewhere else.”
My heart went out to them. It was an easy decision to arrange for Jataya, my assistant at the foundation, to send Shay a new guitar. Instruments for kids in need was one of our core initiatives.
“What time are you playing tonight?” I asked politely between bites of food. Since I was the only customer in the place, both of them had stuck around to ask me a few questions about where I was from and what had brought me to Hush.
I told them I was from San Francisco and I’d taken some time off to get some perspective on my life. “I turned thirty earlier this year,” I admitted with a shrug. “Kind of wonder what the heck I’m doing, you know?”
Jake let out an easy laugh. “Join the club. We can’t afford T-shirts, but the hugs are free.”
I shot him a shy smile, unsure if he was flirting or just being friendly. There’d been a few men on this trip who’d flirted or outright propositioned me, but this was the first one I’d met who actually tempted me to consider a date over a hookup.