Page 75 of Three Little Wishes

Cami walked over to the piles of her clothes and footwear and found what she was looking for. She held up a pair of delicate white heels. “Try them on.”

“I can’t wear heels,” Riley protested.

It took almost thirty minutes of Riley practicing walking in the shoes for her to get the hang of it. Then they had to cordon off Lucky in the living room. Riley didn’t want to leave him in his crate. So by the time they’d gotten in the station wagon and were headed for the bar, Willow had at least an hour’s head start.

“Are you sure she’ll still be at this bar?” Riley asked, tottering in her heels on the sand.

Cami hooked her arm through Riley’s. Last Call had been one of her family’s favorite bars. The locals considered it their bar, and it tended to get rowdy. It was on the beach just downfrom the pier. Christmas lights were strung along the wooden roofline, and the front of the bar was completely open to the outside when the weather was good, and it was a beautiful night, warm with a light breeze. The bar was packed with people spilling out onto the sand, drinking and dancing to the music that drifted down the beach.

“If she isn’t at Last Call, we’ll try Surfside on Main Street.”

“Um, that might not be a good idea, Cami. The station is on Main Street, and Noah’s there, remember?”

“Right,” she said as they made their way through the crowd. “Play it cool. You look twenty-one. You are twenty-one.”

Riley nodded, her gaze moving around the bar. “I see her.” She raised her hand.

“Don’t point her out. Just tell me where she is, and we’ll get close enough that we can intervene if Megan gets nasty.” Or if she looked as if she was about to cause a scene or if Willow did.

“She’s sitting at the bar with Megan. Left side, four stools from the end.”

“Got her.” The two women had their heads bent together. Willow had on a cute sleeveless A-line shift dress trimmed with gold ribbon. Thankfully, instead of sneakers, she wore gold sandals. No heels, of course. The lights of the bar shimmered like sunshine on her golden hair.

Cami searched for a table and found one in the perfect location. She caught Riley by the hand. “We’ve gotta move fast. The table right behind Willow and Megan is free.”

“There are three guys headed for it, and they’re big.”

Riley was right. They were. “Leave it to me.” Cami wove her way through the bar, dragging Riley behind her, reaching the table half a second before the bodybuilders. Grabbing achair, she pushed Riley into it and lowered herself onto the one beside her.

“Hi, boys.” Cami tipped her head back. “Is one of those for me?”

“If I say yes, what do I get for it?” the tallest guy asked.

“A thank-you?”

He put the beer in front of her. “We’re giving you our table, and I’m giving you my beer. I think that deserves more than a thank-you, don’t you?”

She picked up the beer, took a sip, and said with a flirty smile, “A thank you, and a dance… with the three of you.”

The other two men put their beers in front of her, and she laughed. “You haven’t seen me dance yet.”

“We don’t have to to know that you’ll be good,” the first guy said. “We’re picking the song, though.” He winked. “Drink up.” Then he looked at Riley. “What are you drinking, beautiful?”

Riley stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

Cami dropped the flirty smile and gave the guy a look that had him backing off with his hands up. “Okay, mama. I won’t go there.” He lifted his chin at his friends, and they sauntered back to the bar.

“He called me beautiful,” Riley whispered. “And they gave you their beers and didn’t fight over the table just because you said you’d dance with them.”

“You are beautiful, and this is a do-what-I-say-and-not-what-I-do moment. Don’t do what I just did.”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have been able to even if I wanted to, and I really don’t want to.”

Their backs were to Megan and Willow, and Cami glanced over her shoulder. “We need to move the table closer. I can’thear what they’re saying.” Although from what she could see, Willow looked a little tipsy. Her hand movements were exaggerated.

Cami and Riley couldn’t move their chairs back more than a few inches without getting in the way of anyone going up to the bar. Cami leaned back anyway. She still couldn’t hear them. “I’ll get you a soda.”

She tugged the brim of the ball cap lower and got up from the chair, moving the beers to the far side of the table. “Don’t talk to anyone and don’t look around or make eye contact with anyone.” She grabbed the drinks menu and handed it to Riley. “Pretend you’re studying this.”

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