“Which we are,” Kalle counters. “Apparently, the show asked some guys from here to join the cast. Some kid Lyra went to school with, and Jonathan.”
I watch Edie mix drinks and process what Kalle just said.
They asked some guys from Battle Harbour.
Not me. No one asked me. Did Lyra give suggestions? Did she have a list of men she wanted to get to know, and I wasn’t on it?
“That would have been hilarious,” Gunnar says, not bothering to hide his laughter. “Lyra can’t stand Jonathan.”
“Lyra can’t stand a lot of people,” Bo points out.
Lyra never would have suggested Jonathan McKibbon. Never.
Ever.
“Odin said they were looking for architecture types?” Gunnar shakes his head. “I don’t get it.”
“Archetypes?” Edie suggests, trying to hide her smile. “Like characters from a book.”
“I thought these were real guys.”
“They are, but they’ve got certain types—athletes, and heroes, and brother’s best friends,” Edie explains. “You need to read more romance novels.”
“And have Duncan looking at me from the cover every time I pick it up?” Gunnar shivers. “No, thank you. Besides, I don’t need to read any romance. It’s not like I need help in that department.”
Edie rolls her eyes and I try to smother my laugh. Kalle doesn’t even try.
Bo, on the other hand, is still on the Lyra topic. “They didn’t ask you?” he demands of me. “If they want these types of guys? You’re our best friend so—”
“No. I’m with Abigail, though.” I swallow painfully. “Was.”
Bo holds my gaze for a long moment.
“Was with Abigail,” I admit. “She, uh, ended things yesterday.”
“Why?” Gunnar demands. “Did you do something?”
I glance at Edie, who is looking at me with as much confused concern as the boys. It’s never me that needs to get stuff off my chest. I’m always the one listening to Gunnar or Kalle… even Bo sometimes, although his lack of romantic entanglements over the years makes sense now that I know he was still completely in love with Hettie the whole time.
“Lyra.” My shoulders slump. “Abigail thinks there’s something there.”
“Because there is,” Gunnar says with emphasis.
“I don’t know,” I argue. “Can you actually see Lyra and me? We fight all the time.”
“I don’t want—” Kalle, in full big-brother mode, begins to bluster, but Edie holds up her hand.
“When you and Lyra are together, you lean toward each other,” she says simply. “It’s quite fascinating to watch. It’s like you both have some magnetic pull.”
“We don’t.”
“You kind of do,” Gunnar agrees. “I’ve seen it too, but I just thought she lost her balance.”
“Or drank too much,” Bo adds.
“But she doesn’t…” I trail off as Gunnar raises his eyebrows. “Does she?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Bo asks. “And it seems that’s what Abigail is telling you to find out.”
