She stumbled when her mother pulled her up onto the tiny stage that had the ancient karaoke setup of a monitor with two microphones. This stuff had seen better days.
Her mother touched the screen and searched for the song. “Ready?”
“No.”
Her mother hitload track, then shoved a microphone into Polly’s hand. The music in the bar stopped and “Forget You” started.
When the first line of lyrics appeared, her mother didn’t hesitate, she threw herself into it, belting out the lyrics. Her friends, who had now congregated at the front of the stage, cheered and yelled, drinks spilling over as they threw their arms up.
Polly couldn’t help herself…she laughed. And when her mother nudged her hip, Polly rolled her eyes.
Guess she was doing this.
Without glancing at the lyrics, she sang the next line. She was ridiculously out of tune and sounded exactly as her mother had described, but everyone cheered her on anyway.
People in the crowd started singing with them. Everyone in the bar danced and drank. There probably wasn’t a person in the room who wasn’t smiling.
They were halfway through the song when the bar door opened and Joel walked in. Not just Joel, his entire team—but Polly only saw him.
His gaze went straight to her, as if even in a roomful of people, she was all he could see. And maybe she was. Heck, shewason a damn stage.
She continued to belt out the lyrics, watching his lips curve into a wide smile. Ethan went to stand by Maggie, and the rest of the guys stopped at the bar, but Joel didn’t take his eyes off her. He barely moved at all.
She liked having his gaze on her. It was possessive and intimate, like a public declaration that she was his.
When the song finally finished, her mother pulled her into a hug before taking the microphone and flying off the stage toward her friends.
Polly moved slower, heading toward Joel. But she paused when she overheard a couple of her mother’s friends talking.
“I’m ninety percent sure the guy Jenna was seeing was religious.”
Polly slowed her steps further.
“How do you know that?” the second woman asked. “She never even admitted to dating anyone.”
“Please. The late nights. The makeup and shorter skirts. And that glow. Then she started talking about going to the local Catholic church, but she wouldn’t tell us why.”
“Polly.”
She jumped, looking up to see Joel in front of her. “Hey.”
His brows flickered. “Everything okay?”
“Of course. I, um, didn’t know you were coming out tonight.”
“Couldn’t miss my first divorce party.”
She smiled. Or at least she tried to. After the car accident, she told herself she’d stop looking into Jenna’s death. That she’d leave it to the professionals. But this could be connected to Jonah and Jonah was connected to her mother. That made this personal.
One little visit to this church wouldn’t hurt, right?
Joel slipped an arm around her waist. Then his breath whispered against her neck. “You smell nice.”
A shudder skipped down her spine, and suddenly all she could concentrate on, all she could think about, was Joel. The arm around her waist. The breath that tingled her skin.
Fuck,it felt good to hold Polly again. To smell the sweet scent of her skin. It was like she bathed in strawberries.
“I’ve missed you.” It felt like a lie. He hadn’t just missed her. He’d felt her absence like a quiet ache inside him that grew louder every second they were apart.
