Well, it was official. He’d been shutting himself away too much.
As they hit Fife Street and merged with the night market crowd, Liam felt a cloud of discomfort settle over him. Connor and Dane had talked him into coming, with promises of great street food and good music. Everyone would be there, they’d said. Everyone.
That should have been enough to make him stay home.
But he didn’t.
As they walked past stands selling handcrafts and fresh vegetables and homemade pickles, he was aware of people noticing him—the long-lost, last remaining Ward brother, home at last. Shit. He was tempted to turn around and walk straight back home again, to escape the curious glances and whispered comments. But Connor and Dane had a spring in their step, saying hi and waving to old friends and acquaintances, trading the occasional smart quip. They’d both been able to fit right back into the bay, as though they’d never been away.
Connor noticed that he’d fallen behind. “Come on, man,” he said. “Keep up.”
“I am,” he muttered. But he picked up his pace.
They found Connor’s little sister Penny, talking to Riley Dawson by a stall selling honey products.
“Hi, Liam,” Penny said. “Haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Yeah…” He didn’t know what else to say. Instead, he looked at the pots of lotions and creams on the stand. What the hell was royal jelly, anyway?
But she persevered. “How are you?”
Her tone expressed unspoken sympathy for his loss, and an acknowledgement of his years of absence. But he wasn’t about to go there.
“Fine, thanks,” he said casually, and looked away again, hoping that would satisfy her. The weight behind her question made small talk seem extra small. But then he noticed that everyone was looking at him, waiting. He cleared his throat. “How are you?” he added belatedly.
But he didn’t hear her answer, because at that moment, Jacinda arrived, her cheeks pink and her hair tousled. All the air caught in his chest. Don’t stare. But she was so freaking beautiful. He’d only seen her that morning, when she came over with Sam, but the shock of her beauty caught him off guard all over again. Her eyes were bright, her tan had evened out, and the little red sundress she’d changed into emphasized all the glory of her curves. These southern latitudes seemed to suit her.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said breathlessly to Riley, hitching her bag on her shoulder. “My friend Hannah called while I was getting ready.” Then she noticed him, and her face changed. “Oh.”
“Hi,” he said. And now he was glad he’d come…even if she wasn’t.
“Hi,” she replied. Then she seemed to remember that everyone was there, and added a polite smile.
“I thought you’d forgotten!” Riley said to her.
He wondered if Riley knew what had happened between them. Didn’t women tell their friends everything? He glanced at Riley, but she was giving nothing away. Maybe she and Jacinda weren’t at that stage yet.
“No, Hannah just needed to talk.” She pressed a hand to her stomach and looked in the direction of the food trucks parked down the street. “I’m starving.”
Riley nodded. “Me too. But I want to show you Tina’s stand first, with her jewelry, then we can eat.” She waved around at the group. “See you guys later.”
“I’ll come too,” Penny said. She poked Connor in the ribs. “Bye, Poophead.”
He messed up her hair. “Bye, Stinkface.”
Listening to the old nicknames, Liam was instantly a teenager again. Apparently some things would always be the same in Sweet Breeze Bay. He tried not to watch the women go, but one glimpse of Jacinda’s hips swinging in the red dress as she walked away, and he was captivated. The teenage him threatened to rise up again, horny and inappropriate. He swung around before she turned and caught him looking.
“Come on, Poophead,” he said to Connor. “I’ll buy you a beer.”
“I’ll buy you a beer if you swear never to call me that again,” he replied.
Dane laughed. “I’ll buy you both a beer. Go find us a seat.”
In the tree-lined park between Tony and Marie’s and the corner store, a stage had been set up at the far end. It seemed to be an open mike event, with performers coming and going, their music spilling from the park into the street, threading between the stalls and floating into the fading evening sky. They found seats at one of the picnic tables under the trees. Liam sat with his back to the street, where the table was partly hidden behind a tree trunk, cutting himself off from any curious passers-by. He breathed with relief. That was better.
Soon Dane came back with the beer. “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” he said, plunking the tall plastic glasses down on the table. “And that place is here.”
As they drank and talked, shooting the warm evening breeze, they listened to the performances on the stage. Some were good, and some decidedly average. When a deeply serious man got up, sporting a complicated beard, and announced he was a slam poet, Connor snorted.
“That’s my cue. I’ll get the next round.” He extricated his long legs from under the table, and strode off to find more beer.
As the evening set in, the fairy lights grew brighter in the trees, and the stage lit up too. From his spot behind the tree, Liam tried not to keep looking back to the street, checking for Jacinda. Catching himself for the umpteenth time, he forced his attention back to whatever they were talking about. It turned out to be Dane’s close call with the bends on his last diving assignment.
“There are two parts to it,” he was saying. “Decompression sickness and arterial gas embolism.”
Connor shook his head. “That’s serious shit.”
“Is that the same as astronauts?” Liam asked. “I read that they get something similar.”
Then he felt a tap on his arm, and looked to see Sam standing next to him.
“Oh, hey Sam. How’s it going?”
He grinned. “Good.”
“These are my friends Dane and Connor.”
“Are you guys talking about astronauts?” His eyes were wide, as though he couldn’t believe adults would talk about something so awesome.
“Amongst other things,” Dane said. “Good to meet you, Sam.”
There were firm handshakes all round. Then Sam bit his lip, and looked at Liam. Something was obviously coming. He gulped in a breath, his freckled face anxious.
“Liam…can we play our song on stage?”
Liam blinked. “No. Not tonight.” He’d had enough surreptitious attention, heard enough whispered comments, endured enough loaded questions about how he was. He wasn’t going to get up on stage in front of everyone, like a sideshow from the past.
Sam bounced on his toes. “Please, though? Look, there are guitars up there already. We just have to play.”
“Sorry, Sam, I’m not up for it.” He hated himself for refusing, but there was no way he’d draw even more attention to himself. He felt Dane and Connor looking at him, but knew they’d understand. Hoped they would.
Sam put his hands together like he was praying, his face still hopeful. “Pleeeease?”
Jesus, this was torture. But before he could reply, Danielle was there, putting an arm around Sam.
“Come on bud, tonight’s not the night. Another time.”
She tried to turn him away, but he wouldn’t be placated. His eyes started to brim, and his face was red with longing and frustration as he looked at Liam. “But it would be so cool!” he said, trying one last time.
Then Liam heard Jacinda’s voice behind them. “I’ll play with you, Sam.”
They all turned to where she was standing.
“I didn’t know you were there,” Liam said.
“I know,” she replied. “Come on Sam, let’s do it.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sam exclaimed, pumping a fist in victory. Then something occurred to him. “Can you remember the notes?”
Liam could see her stifle a smile. “I can. But remember…” She lowered her voice. “I’m undercover. Don’t give me away, okay? Tonight I’m just your band member.”
Sam nodded, and gave an exaggerated wink. “Got it.”
“Thank you,” Danielle said to her, over the top of Sam’s head, and Liam could hear the gratitude in her voice. Jacinda just nodded, and both women glanced at him before they walked away, Sam dashing ahead to the stage. He took a slug of his drink. Well, it was what it was. He’d promised nothing more than a few guitar lessons.
And to make it okay for Sam.
He rubbed the back of his neck. Damn.
Then again, they’d both promised that. So it was only fair that Jacinda should take a turn on this one. For all his secret practicing of her song, she’d do a better job singing it than he would, anyway.
“We’d better watch this one,” Dane said.
So they left their drinks on the table, and went closer to get a better view. Standing on the grass, Liam watched as Danielle gave Sam a good luck kiss, then he and Jacinda went up onto the stage together. Probably no one would realize it was her. And if they did, well…how long had she expected to stay incognito, anyway? New Zealand might be the end of the earth—literally—but the country wasn’t completely cut off from everything. She wasn’t well known here, like she seemed to be in the States, but that one song had been popular. So even if he kept her identity quiet, and Dane and Connor did too, and whoever else knew, someone would figure it out soon enough. Maybe Riley knew already, in which case it would probably be common knowledge before long. He shook off the tension that had crept across his shoulders. She knew what she was doing.
On stage, Sam got settled on a stool, his skinny legs dangling. Jacinda swiftly shortened the guitar strap to the right length and settled the guitar around Sam’s body, then adjusted the mike stand in front of him. When everything was just so, she said something to him, and he nodded. Then she winked at him, and he winked back, before she took her place on a stool alongside but slightly behind him, giving him the spotlight. He beamed out to the audience, not looking even slightly nervous.
Jacinda didn’t seem nervous either. But she turned slightly to the side, toward Sam, and let her dark hair fall across her face. Then she counted him in, and they began. The first notes of Hourglass Reverb lifted into the night air.
Even though she was singing extra slowly, to match Sam’s pace on the guitar, the song was unmistakable. And there was no doubting her voice—that sweet, clear tone with an edge of something darker, catching occasionally in a way that also caught at the listener’s heart. As she sang, the market-goers became increasingly focused on the stage, and Liam noticed more and more people drawing closer, until he was standing in a crowd.
“Wow, she’s good,” someone said, in an American accent.
He tore his attention from the stage to see who had spoken. A woman with striking green eyes and dark hair was standing next to him.
“Really good,” she added, speaking directly to him this time.
“She is,” he agreed. Then he returned his gaze to the two figures under the stage lights. One in particular. The raw purity of Jacinda’s voice was rolling through him, working its magic, churning up memories and feelings better left tamped down.
The woman laughed. “Weird to come all this way and see an American up on stage.”
Did she have to talk through the whole thing? He kept his eyes on Jacinda. “Yeah, it must be.”
“Does she play here often?”
He grit his teeth. “I don’t know. I live in Australia.”
“Oh. Okay.”
She turned away, and for a moment he wondered if he’d offended her. He looked at her profile, noticing the small diamond stud in her nose, but couldn’t read anything in the expression on her delicate features.
Then he noticed something else. Was that recognition on the faces of the people around him, as they listened to Jacinda sing? There were whispers and pointing, and here and there, a phone held up to take a photo. The tightness gripped his shoulders again. Had she blown her own cover?
“That kid is the cutest,” the American woman said, holding up her phone too.
Sam was grinning out at the audience, clearly relishing the moment. Every now and then, enthusiasm got in the way of accuracy, but he recovered and found his chord again. Not once did the glow leave his face.
“He should have his own show,” she added, reaching a little higher with the phone.
“He probably will, one day,” Liam replied. “He’s determined enough.”
She turned to him, still holding her phone up. “Oops, sorry.” She lowered it again, then smiled. “Yeah, I’d watch him on TV.”
He nodded. Maybe all the enthusiasm was for Sam, showman of the night, and the secret of Jacinda’s other identity was safe for now.
When the song finished, she stayed seated, but Sam leapt awkwardly down from the stool. With the guitar almost as big as him getting in the way, he treated the audience to a series of extravagant bows and waves. And they loved it, cheering and clapping. He was a hit.
Liam clapped along with everyone else, but his eyes were fixed on Jacinda. She was smiling quietly, staying in the background. Then she put her guitar on the stand and snuck offstage, giving Sam his moment.
“I had no idea she could sing like that!”
This time, the accent was not American, but New Zealand. Liam looked to his side, and instead of the American woman, it was Riley standing next to him, looking incredulous.
“She’s amazing! She sounded just like the song.” She shook her head. “She said she had a boring job with a record company, but they should totally sign her.”
He nodded, giving nothing away. “They should.”
So Riley didn’t know Jacinda’s big secret. And if she hadn’t guessed, even after seeing that performance, maybe no one else had either. Which would mean he was off the hook…in one respect, anyway.