“Does it work in romance novels?”

Eve groaned. “No.”

“Well, you gotta do you, but it seems like you’re torturing yourself. Why not torture yourself and get some, is all I’m saying.”

Hmm. Was it possible that Maya had a point? “You really think I could…be with him and not get my heart trampled on again?”

Maya glanced quickly at the bar and back to Eve. “Honestly? I don’t know.”

“Well.” Eve harrumphed. “I’ll think about it.”

*  *  *

Eve thought about it.

She thought about it all through the next week, which she spent arguing with her tradespeople—when they bothered to show up.

She thought about it when she texted Sawyer. So, hey, not that I ever deserved the special treatment, but did you stop greasing the wheels of my reno?

He didn’t reply, but he did do that thing where he showed up thirty seconds later because he’d been over at Law’s.

“Hey,” he said when she answered the door. “What’s happening?”

She stepped back to let him in. “Nothing. That’s the problem. I thought you were throwing your weight around so stuff got done around here. Did you stop?”

“I did not.” He jogged up the stairs, which were still exposed underfloor. They had sanded and refinished the main floor themselves, but she was having new wood installed on the upper floors. When she arrived on the second-floor hallway, he was coming out of one of the rooms. “There hasn’t been any progress on this floor since I was here on New Year’s eve.”

“Right. And the bathrooms on the third floor have basically ground to a halt in terms of both plumbing and tiling.”

“And what do the trades say?” He narrowed his eyes. “What does Dave Pearson say?”

“When I talk to them individually, there’s always a good reason. The tile is on backorder, or there’s a burst-pipes emergency somewhere else.”

He pressed his mouth into a thin line and nodded. “I’m going to take care of this.”

*  *  *

Murder Mystery at the Mermaid.

Sawyer had to admit, it was something. Maya had rigged the place with spooky lighting, and the cast, kitted out to look like they’d stepped out of the board game Clue, was mingling with the audience—which was made of townspeople only, as this was a dress rehearsal Maya had wanted a friendly audience for. They were standing around in clusters, and apparently they would move among a few rooms for different scenes.

The centerpiece of it all was a section of the dining room blocked off with police tape and guarded by cast members dressed as cops. And by one actual cop. He caught Olivia’s eye, and she shrugged. He got it. Maya could be very persuasive. Inside the tape was a dead body covered with a sheet.

“I’m surprised you went for this,” he whispered to Eve a few minutes before showtime.