Page 90 of For Eva

A cute young blond with her hair up in a twist smiled and placed a white cocktail napkin in front of me.

“What can I get you?”

“Um, just a beer. What’s that local pale ale? Zoo something? I can’t ever remember.”

She chuckled and nodded over to the line of taps behind her. “Yazoo Pale?”

“That would be it.” I flashed her a grin, startling as my BlackBerry vibrated against the bar. I picked it up to see Jade’s name displayed on the screen. I ran my hand along my brow, clicking the button to send the call to voicemail. I wasn’t in the mood to hear about her day spent lounging poolside at the Beverly Hilton or how one of her twentysomething friends-slash-enemies had stolen some modeling gig from her. I was pretty sure she was fucking someone wealthier than me, anyway.

While I did well as head of A&R for the label, it was obvious Jade had her sights set much higher. I wasn’t upset about it. I’d known for months that I’d let my dick do way too much of the thinking when getting involved with her. And it was clear she’d come to realize that dating an ex-guitarist with one hit album in the ’80s wasn’t going to buy her the mansion in Beverly Hills with five luxury cars parked in the driveway. But for some reason, she kept coming around, and I kept letting her.

The red light on my BlackBerry blinked again.

Jade:WHERE R U?

I tapped out a quick reply that readin a meetingand turned the phone off.

The bartender set my beer down on the napkin. “Not from around here?”

“No,” I said, slipping the device back into my pocket. “Los Angeles. Just in town for work.”

She cocked her head, giving me the once-over. “Music biz?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

“It’s that sort-of-messy-but-not hair, black blazer, shirt with the three top buttons undone kind of thing,” she said, waving her hand in front of me.

I raised my chin and looked at her out of the side of my eye, half smiling. “That obvious?”

“Totally. But don’t worry,” she added, winking. “It’s a good look on you.”

“Ha,” I managed as I took a sip of my beer. “I’m gonna leave a good tip, regardless. You don’t have to flatter an old man.”

She bit her lip flirtatiously while studying my face. “Is…thirty-five…old?”

I laughed as I placed my beer back on the napkin. “No, but forty-four is.”

She smiled and glanced to her left, nodding to a customer trying to get her attention. “My name’s Rain. Let me know if you need anything else,” she said, her hand trailing along the smooth wood as she walked toward the other end of the bar.

I shook my head, chuckling to myself. I really needed to meet some women my own age. Maybe someone who wasn’t named after a gemstone or a weather event.

I took another swallow of my beer and ran my finger around the edge of the pint glass. Whyhadn’tI found someone to settle down with? For the past fifteen years, my relationships—if you could call them that—had been with a string of younger women who were primarily interested in which bands I knew and how much money I made. I’d only had one girlfriend whom I actually considered to be serious, and she’d walked out after several years of arguments about my inability to commit to marriage. And before that…Well, I didn’t allow myself to think about before that very much.

I sighed and pulled out my phone, debating whether or not to text Jade. As soon as it flipped on, I saw I had three texts, all pictures of her with my German shepherd, Jade’s full lips pouting for the camera.

Jade:Come home.

Jade:We miss you.

Jade:Bridget is such a bitch. Slept with the photographer from the swimsuit shoot and got a bigger spread than I did. We hate her.

I rolled my eyes, feeling bad that I’d left my dog in the care of such an exhausting human being. My fingers moved over the keys, typing something meaningless, when I heard the laugh. I looked up from the phone and scanned the open dining space across from my seat at the circular bar in the center of the restaurant. It was early and only a few tables were filled. A young couple at one. A group of women in business attire toasting around a larger table.

I shook my head and looked back at my text to Jade when I heard it again.

I shifted my head to the left, this time certain of the direction from which it came. There was a woman with blond hair standing at the front of the restaurant, talking with the hostess. She turned around, extending her hand in a wave to Rain the bartender before taking a seat at a four-top table.

My breath caught in my throat and a rush of adrenaline surged through my body. It had been nearly twenty years, but I knew that laugh. I knew that face. What I didn’t know is how the hell I’d ended up in the same restaurant in the same city at the same time as Eva Holloway.

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