Andrea watched the exchange with her cousin Paula and Mia’s hot neighbor, Ben, and felt her blood boil. Was she giving him her number? How could he be interested in Paula? Ben was like the one hot guy at the party and Andrea hadn’t really had a chance to talk to him yet. He seemed to know everyone and was constantly in conversation with someone.

But after Paula walked outside, he was alone for a moment, and Andrea pounced. She was across the room in two seconds and held her hand out.

“Hi, I’m Andrea. I don’t think we’ve met yet.”

He shook her hand, and she liked the feel of his firm handshake.

“Ben. Mia’s next-door neighbor. How do you know Mia? You look a bit familiar.”

“From The Whitley Hotel. I work there in concierge services. You probably saw me there at your sister’s wedding. It was quite an event.”

He laughed. “It certainly was. My sister doesn’t do anything halfway. Mia did a fantastic job.”

“She did,” Andrea agreed. “Do you live here year-round?” She thought that she’d heard it was just a summer place for him.

“I wish. Not yet. I split my time between here and Manhattan.”

“No kidding? Do you love living there? I always have fun when I visit, but it’s so different from Nantucket.”

He laughed. “Manhattan is the concrete jungle. It’s great, but I don’t miss it when I’m here. When I’m there, I’m almost counting the days until I can get back here.”

Andrea looked at him curiously. “If you like it here that much, could you live here year-round?”

“I’ve tried to think of a way to make that work. But I’m in real estate and I physically need to be there for a lot of the work that I do. But I might be able to shift to spending more time here. That’s the goal anyway.”

Andrea smiled. “And what do you like to do here?”

“Well, I golf a lot. My family has a membership at the new club. But I like to go downtown to all the usual places, Club Car, The Gaslight.”

“I like those places, too. I’ve never golfed. It’s something I’ve often thought about learning.”

Ben’s face lit up. “Oh, you should. It’s a sport you can play for years. My parents both play and there’s a social aspect to it as well.”

“I’d definitely like that.” She leaned toward him and looked him in the eye and flirtatiously said, “I don’t suppose you’d want to give me a lesson sometime?”

Something flickered in his eyes that she couldn’t quite read. But then he laughed. “Of course. Anytime. I gave Mia some pointers last year and she loves the game now.”

“How does Tuesday afternoon look for you?”

“This Tuesday?”

Andrea nodded.