Madigan’s friend Dante Dubois had devilish dark eyes that melted panties by the truckload, and surprisingly, he wasn’t a womanizer. He was a great guy, a talented musician, picky as hell, into smart, down-to-earth women who wouldn’t freak out at dog slobber. He had three dogs, which was why Madigan had tried to set him up with her friend Sidney before she and Madigan’s cousin Gunner had gotten together. “I should.”

“But you won’t.” Marly looked at Starr. “He’s not broody enough for her.”

“Uh-oh. There’s double trouble heading this way.” Starr nodded in the direction of Blaine and Zander making a beeline for their table. “I’ve got customers. Good luck.”

As Starr walked away, Madigan said, “I’m not in the mood to listen to their bullshit.” She stood, pulling Marly up with her. “Come on. Let’s go dance off my bad mood.”

Chapter Two

MADIGAN DIDN’T LIKE to sit still, which was why she loved to travel and had three very different professions. In addition to musical storytelling, she was a puppeteer, and after a devastating breakup while she was in college, she’d started the Mad Truth About Love greeting card line, which made light of the harder aspects of relationships. Her Mad Truth social media accounts had blown up over the last few years, and sales had spiked higher than she’d ever thought possible. That success had carried over to her storytelling gigs and puppeteering.

She could work on her cards from anywhere, and she’d been living the high life, traveling around the world, doing puppeteering and storytelling wherever she landed. But after her grandfather had taken a few falls, she’d realized she might not have a lot of time left with him, and she’d put traveling on hold to spend time with family. She felt good about her decision, but she hadn’t counted on having so much downtime in the evenings or watching Maverick and Chloe, Tank and Leah, and Gunner and Sidney fall in love. She was happy for them, but their couplings, and all the things that went along with them—secret smiles, furtive touches, inside jokes—sparked emotions she’d been too busy to think about before, like loneliness. She missed the rituals of being part of a couple even if she didn’t want to be in a relationship. To combat the unwanted feelings, she’d been gearing up to expand her Mad Truth brand, and her interaction with Mr. Mysterious the other night had underscored the reasons she needed to focus on work, not men.

Friday afternoon, determined to get the big, broody music critic off her mind, she presented her idea of expansion to her friend and Mad Truth client Jules Steele. Jules lived on Silver Island, just off the coast of Cape Cod, and she owned the Happy End gift shop.