“A dollar can’t buy shit, but I mean, money is money.”

“You okay?”

He see-sawed his hand from side to side, and she nodded. Didn’t ask him to elaborate. She obviously got it. Had to be feeling some of the same weariness, anger, and frustration at the entire situation. They both stared out at the waterfront for a while, deep in their own thoughts, until Maxine interrupted the silence.

“Are you thinking about how weird that hug was that we walked in on? Because I sure was.”

Of course, she wouldn’t let that slide. Maxine wasn’t Devon, who didn’t care to be involved in his siblings’ business. Not that Cherisse was Keiran’s business in any way that didn’t involve wedding stuff.

“Nope.” This time, he strived for casual, uncaring. That hug? No biggie. Didn’t affect him in any way. “I’m taking in the scenery, calming myself so I don’t rail that Adam guy.”

“Don’t deflect. What’s going on with you two? You were hugging.”

“Nothing is going on. We decided to be civil, that’s all. And I got all up in my feelings, and she felt sorry for me. Just like I said.”

“Cherisse doesn’t even like you. Would probably not pee on you if you were on fire, but you’re at the hugging stage now?” Maxine’s stare burned the side of his face. He loved having a twin, but times like these, Maxine’s perceptiveness was unwanted.

“Look, I needed a favor from her, so we paused our arguing, called a truce. That’s it. Really. Don’t ask me what favor. I’m not telling.”

Maxine sighed loudly and resumed leaning against the wall, arms folded, lips pursed. She was legit pouting, but Keiran wasn’t revealing a thing. Cherisse was already nervous about it, and he’d promised he wouldn’t tell anyone about the studio session except Dale.

It was easy enough to get Cherisse in and out of the studio without anyone knowing. His mother, sister, and brother would be at work, and Leah was still at school until the July/August break. They had enough time to get it done.

The knocking of glasses and scraping of utensils against plates jogged something in his brain, a rhythm formulating. Keiran tapped out the beats on his thigh. It was always how it began, some random sound that lit up his brain and shouted yes, you’ve got something here! There was a new potential beat in that chaos of sound. He’d extract it. He always did.

“You’re doing that zoning out thing again.” Maxine turned to head back to the table. “I’m going back inside to rescue that boy from mummy, cuz she’d eat him alive.”

Keiran flapped his hands at Maxine. “Shh,” he hissed. That beat, right there. Cherisse’s voice, layered over it, would be something magical.

“Okay, I’m out.”

He didn’t acknowledge Maxine’s exit, only smiled to himself as he tried to coax out the fledgling beat, excitement coursing through his veins at seeing what Cherisse could truly do with that voice.