Page 5 of The Last Goodbye

“Hi, Meatball.” I bent slightly to pat the top of his head before pushing to stand. “I’m Briar. Nice to meet you.”

Another woman approached—she had blond hair, equally striking in that way that felt almost unfair for a town this small. She hugged Gracie first, like this was the most natural thing in the world, before turning to me with an easy smile. “I’m Tatum.”

I shook her hand. “Briar. Nice to meet you. Do you both live here?”

“Yes,” they said at the same time, then chuckled.

“Are you from out of town?” Tatum asked.

“Yes. I live in New York,” I said. “Just here temporarily. I thought I’d venture out in search of a glass of wine.”

That earned another shared smile between them.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Gracie said. “Want to join us? That’s what we’re doing here.”

I hesitated. In my world, an invitation from strangers usually came with a catch, or an angle, or a networking opportunity disguised as friendliness. Here, it just…

Seemed to be wine on a random late afternoon.

That alone made me pause.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. We love a mysterious woman wearing killer stilettos,” Tatum said with a smirk. “We definitely need to know more about you.”

A laugh slipped out before I could stop it. I wasn’t used to random strangers being that openly friendly with me.

Or family for that matter.

It made me feel mildly off-balance, but I was going to just roll with it.

Meatball collapsed beneath the wooden table as we took our seats. A man strolled over, glancing at me. “And who do we have here?”

There was clearly something in the water in Blue Sky Bay, because it wasn’t only the women who were strikingly gorgeous. Bass Bennett was effortlessly good-looking, even for being the world’s grumpiest bastard, and this guy had the same sort of appeal.

“Hi. I’m Briar. Do you all know one another?” I asked, unsure if the question was directed solely to me, or if he was asking all three of us.

He laughed and extended a hand. “We know one another very well. I’m Brody, nice to meet you.”

“It’s a small-town thing,” Gracie said as a wide grin spread across her pretty face.

“It’s a Blue Sky Bay thing,” Tatum added.

“Wait,” the man standing at the table said, his face losing all trace of the relaxed, light way he’d just greeted me. “Did you say your name was Briar?”

Both women looked at him and then back to me, not hiding their confusion by the question, and my guard went up immediately.

His entire presence shifted, and this wasn’t casual curiosity. It was something more. Something I couldn’t quite read.

I nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“What’s your last name?” he pressed.

I tipped my chin up and met his cool gaze. “Briar Sinclair. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“I recognize the name,” he said, his voice hardening. “You’re the woman who’s trying to push Bass out of his restaurant.”

Word clearly travels fast in small towns.