“TheHarry that got the invitation to come perform a concert in the backyard?” Nate said, obviously still needing more clarification.
Harry’s smile dimmed for the first time.
“Yep, Nate,” McKenna said, swooping in and wrapping an arm around Nate with the type of grip that hopefully conveyed how she would explain things later. “This is the Harry Georgie invited. And we are so...soamazed that he’s here. Aren’t we, Georgie?”
“So amazed.” Georgie waved a hand to Nate. “You should tell Nate here what it is you do, Harry. I think he’d love to hear that. Go ahead and tell him about your thing.”
“Oh. Well.” Harry batted a palm in the air. “Not sure you’d really call it my thing, but... well, yeah. I guess in a way you could call it my thing. It is the thing I’m pretty much known for even though it’s not really the type of thing—”
“Just tell him the thing,” blurted Georgie. “When you’re ready,” she added with a pained smile.
“Bass. Double bass,” Harry said with a nod.
“Double bass,” McKenna echoed back with a few nods of her own. “I’m sorry, I can’t remember, but is that the name of your band or...?”
“It’s the instrument I play.” He motioned playing one of those big stand-up basses. “Although I was in a band at one time. Maybe you’re thinking of that. For a while we were really playing the circuit out in Elko, Nevada. Hitting up all the casinos. Thought maybe someday we’d make it to Las Vegas, but you know how it is with bands. Sometimes you get a little too caught up with the fame. The girls. Or in our case, the nap times and arthritis. Want a little advice? Never start up a band with guys in their seventies. It can only last so long.”
“So playing bass by yourself? That’s your thing, is it?” McKenna clutched on to Nate for support. He patted her back, obviously putting the pieces together that some Harry nobody’s ever heard ofslapping his bass for a few hours was not the perfect proposal experience they’d been aiming for.
“How about I show you up to your room, Harry?” Nate led him up the stairs.
Soon as they disappeared out of sight, McKenna spun toward Georgie ready to give her an earful, only to have Gus step out of the kitchen and say, “You’re not going to believe this, but another Harry just wandered into the kitchen, claiming he got an email from your granddaughter to put on a show this Saturday. Says he’s a podcast host.”
That’s when the front door opened, and another man, this one tall and lanky despite a stooped back, stepped inside. “Howdy, folks. I’m Harry. Hope I’m at the right place.”
“Lord, save us,” muttered Gus. “We’re getting plagued by Harrys.”
“Hey—” Nate didn’t have time to say more than that before McKenna was opening the pantry door and shoving him inside.
After showing the third Harry to his room, Nate had been on his way to find McKenna and make sure she wasn’t too upset about whatever snafu Georgie had created. Nate may not be able to pick Harry Connick Junior out of a lineup, but he was one-hundred-percent certain none of the three Harrys who’d arrived at the B&B just now were Harry Connick Junior.
Something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.
But maybe McKenna wasn’t too upset and things hadn’t gone too terribly wrong if she had a secret make-out session in the pantry on her mind. Thatwaswhat she had on her mind, right?
“I like how you think,” Nate said, circling his arms around McKenna’s waist once she pulled the door shut behind her.
“Hey, watch your elbows, pal,” a voice whispered to the side of him.
Nate jerked. “Georgie?”
“Shh,” said another voice. This time Barb. “They’ll hear us.”
“Who?”
“All the Harrys,” Gus’s voice answered behind him.
So maybe a secret make-out session in the pantry wasn’t on McKenna’s mind right now. He tugged the lightbulb string, finding himself surrounded by way more than canned goods and nonperishables. “Just how many people are in here right now?”
“Only us,” said Evie.
“And why exactly is this happening?”
“Shhh,” they all said with their fingers over their lips. Good thing this pantry was big.
“We needed an emergency meeting,” Georgie answered once they’d finished shushing him. “We’re in a bigger pickle than we were with the pickle salad.”
“You know, I tried it, and it wasn’t too bad,” said Gus.
