Chapter 1
Addy – a woman who doesn’t have time for a man who thinks she should fall at his feet because he plays football
Addy
Ipush past the crowd at theBootleggerto reach the bar.
“There you are!” Alaia shouts. “I thought I was going to have to start Mermaid Karaoke without you.”
I stuff my purse into a cubbyhole. “Sorry, I’m late. Otis needed a ride to football practice.”
“Why can’t Otis ride his bike the way all the other kids on Smuggler’s Hideaway do?”
I shrug. “He can hardly carry a huge bag with all of his equipment on his bike.”
She sets a shot of moonshine on the bar in front of me. “Your brother is seventeen. You shouldn’t be chauffeuring him around the island any longer.”
I sigh. I’m not having this discussion again. I raise my shot glass instead. “To the smugglers!”
She clinks her glass with mine. “And the mermaids wholoved them!”
We always drink a shot of moonshine before I go on stage. The tradition began years ago when I would get stage fright before I performed.
But I learned over time that there’s no reason to get stage fright at Mermaid Karaoke. This isn’t a reality television show to showcase my talent and maybe earn my way off this island. This is just a fun night during the summer to practice singing on the stage.
Besides, no one’s paying any attention to me. The men are too busy staring at the women dressed as mermaids. Yes, mermaids. There’s a reason this event is named Mermaid Karaoke after all. The inhabitants of the island of Smuggler’s Hideaway are obsessed with mermaids.
“Are you ready?” Alaia asks when I set my shot glass down on the bar.
“Ready as ever.”
“What are you going to sing? Something original?” She presses her hands together and bats her eyelashes at me.
“Not tonight. I’m still working out the kinks of my latest song.”
“Your talent is wasted on this island.”
“As is yours.” Alaia is a journalist. Unfortunately, there isn’t much cause for journalism on Smuggler’s Hideaway.
“The difference is I’m working hard to get off this island. You aren’t even trying.”
“I can’t abandon my mom with the kids. She’d never cope.”
Alaia scowls. “They’re her children. Not yours.”
“I know, but—”
She whips up a hand to cut me off. “No. I’m tired of your excuses. And, make no mistake about it, they are excuses.”
She whirls around and stomps toward the stage before I have a chance to respond. She doesn’t understand. I’m not abandoning my siblings the way my father abandoned me. I’m not allowing their childhood to be cut short. I’m not standing by while they raise themselves the way I did.
“What are you singing?” she asks once I catch up to her.
“Shake It Off.”
She cues up the song before grabbing the microphone and climbing onto the stage.
“Single ladies! It’s time to don your fins and sparkles. Can you catch a smuggler? You’ll need some serious chops.” She motions to me. “To start us off, our very own Smuggler’s Hideaway native, Addy.”
