“The tall guy,” said Gus.
“I thought that was Tall Harry,” said Barb.
“Tall Harry is the comedian with the mole on his chin.”
“So why aren’t we calling him Chin-Mole Harry instead of Tall Harry?” said Barb.
“Because he was the tallest Harry before Hairy Harry arrived,” said Gus.
“Is Hairy Harry hairy?” asked Barb.
“He’s bald,” said Gus. “But since he’s an author I thought he’d appreciate the irony.”
“Here.” Nate passed the notebook on to Evie. “Your turn.” He was tapped out on taking notes after writingIs Hairy Harry hairy?
“So how much money are we looking at, Georgie?” asked McKenna. “Nine thousand dollars just to break even after we pay all the Harrys?”
“Well...” Georgie tugged on her green beaded necklace like it was choking her. “Maybe more like... twenty thousand dollars.”
“What?” everyone said. Georgie lifted her finger to her lips, wearing a constipated look as she shushed them.
“What do you mean more like twenty thousand?” Barb said. “Did more Harrys arrive just since we’ve been hiding in the pantry?”
Georgie scrunched her face tight. “When I said three thousand dollars, I may have underrepresented the total amount I offered. I may have promised I’d pay another three thousand once the concert was over.”
“Okay, back to the killing-them-off idea,” said Gus.
“Shh. Stop. Nobody’s killing anybody,” said Nate. At least not yet. And at least none of the Harrys. He wasn’t completely ruling out Georgie’s demise. “People will still want to come and enjoy a nice evening with a little entertainment to support a good cause. So it’s not the Harry we thought it would be. Or the Harry anyone in town currently thinks it will be. Or the Harry we’ve been spreading word all over Tennessee it will be. We’ve still got a Harry. Three Harrys to be exact. We can still deliver on what we promised.”
“How?” said McKenna. “We promised everyone a big-name celebrity. I promised Oliver a perfect proposal opportunity. Right now all we’ve got is a bass-playing, joke-telling, jazz-lecturing group of Harrys nobody’s ever heard of. That’s not even enough to make my portfolio stand out.”
Nate cupped McKenna’s face, really wishing they weren’t squeezed inside a pantry with four other people who were crunching on Cheez-Its and breathing all over each other. “Listen to me. It’s not on your shoulders to fix this. I’m going to help you figure this out. And I promise you, wewillfigure this out. Together.”
She held his gaze, her turquoise eyes swirling with doubt beneath the surface. But her foot tapped against his. “Okay,” she said with a tiny nod.
“Okay,” he whispered back to her. After all they’d been through, no way was he losing McKenna in two days because of a stupid miscommunication caused by Georgie.
No, he couldn’t get Harry Connick Junior here, but that didn’t mean Nate couldn’t turn this around. Hewouldgive McKenna that perfect proposal for her sister. Hewouldgive her an opportunity for a great portfolio so she could pursue opportunities in New York. Hewouldfix this somehow, someway. Even if the somehow, someway, already forming in his brain made his gut churn. Did this pantry contain any antacids?
“What do we tell all the Harrys in the meantime?” said Barb.
Nate gave McKenna a quick wink, then reached for the pantry door behind her. “We tell them everything is going exactly how we planned, we’re happy they’re here, and that with a little luck none of their checks will bounce. Meeting adjourned?”
“Meeting adjourned,” said Georgie.
“Thank goodness,” sighed Barb. “I think the Harrys had the right idea in taking a nap. I know I could certainly use one.”
They shuffled out of the pantry one by one to find Tall Harry smiling back at them from the kitchen island. “Oh cool,” he said. “Are you guys doing a podcast too?”
McKenna may have been tempted to believe Nate’s rah-rah speech when they were crowded together in a pantry closet beneath a bright lightbulb, but now, hours later, standing alone next to the goat pen beneath a pale quarter moon... well. She couldn’t stop the fears attacking her any more than she could stop the mosquitoes. She slapped at another one.
“Need some bug spray?”
McKenna turned. The light spilling out of the house revealed Nate’s solid build walking toward her with a bottle of bug repellant in his hand. “Tried getting out here sooner, but one of the Harrys cornered me upstairs and wouldn’t stop talking.”
“Thanks, and don’t worry.” She took the bottle and sprayed around her neck and arms, flooding the air with the scent of citronella. “All you’ve missed is me lamenting to the goats about how I’m doomed to stay stuck in Nebraska forever.”
Nate folded his arms and leaned back against the fence. “Why do you say that?”
