Page 5 of Patio Lanterns (The Blue Canoe Cottage #1)

Rick

Rick loaded up a tray with the steaks, salad, plates, and cutlery, before grabbing two more beers and returning to the deck. “It’s such a nice evening, I thought we could eat out here,” he said, placing the tray on the table beneath the pergola. “Unless you’d prefer to eat indoors.”

“Oh, no. This is perfect,” she said, getting up. “I’ll set the table.”

The slabs of beef sizzled the instant they touched the hot grate. That would ensure a fine sear, and it appeared the three-legged supervisor glued to his every movement agreed. “Don’t worry, buddy, there’s plenty here for us all.”

“You’re so good with him,” Robin said. “He really likes you.”

Rick smiled. “Oh, I’m pretty sure that it’s the steak he likes.”

“I don’t know about that. They say that dogs are a very good judge of character.”

“I’d love to have a dog around here for company,” he said, leaning over to scratch Mutt behind the ears. Rick then left Mutt in charge of manning the grill while he took his seat next to Robin again.

“So, how exactly does one become a merch queen?” he asked, lifting his beer.

“Oh, let me tell you, mine is a real rags-to-rags story,” she said with a laugh. “I was a fan of the Dawn Cherries back in uni when they were still playing in bars. I became a regular at their shows, and we started hanging out. I even designed their logo.”

He glanced at the front of her shirt. “That logo?”

She pulled back her shoulders, drawing him in to leer at her chest. If only she knew he’d been fighting a losing battle to keep from doing precisely that. He cleared his throat and averted his eyes again. “Impressive.”

“I had an on-again-off-again thing with the lead singer, who invited me out on the road with them,” she said.

“Because I came up with the logo, Parker, that’s my ex, put me in charge of selling merch.

It’s a very important job. Did you know that a lot of bands make more money selling merchandise than they do for the actual gig? ”

“No, I didn’t know that,” he said. “So what do you do?”

“I design and order the inventory, set up the merch table, and handle the sales. After the show is over, I tear it down, pack it up, and drive it to the next show,” she said. “I also manage the band’s online store.”

“Wow, you do all that by yourself?”

She smiled. “I don’t like to brag or anything, but the band has never sold more merch.”

Rick had no doubt that Robin had what it took to be successful in sales. She was smart, personable and seemed quite savvy. It also didn’t hurt that a pretty young thing in a tight-fitting tee could sell snow to Winnipeggers in the middle of January. “Bet you’re really good at it.”

“I think I’ve found my calling,” she said. “Of course, my parents weren’t on board. They hit the roof when I quit art school to go on tour. I was four credits short of graduating.”

He could definitely see why that would’ve rattled her folks. At the same time, he also understood that when a rare opportunity comes along, you have to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

“I don’t regret it. University wasn’t for me. Guess I’m one of those people who learn more through real-life experiences, know what I mean? When I think about everything I’ve been able to do and see with the band, it’s been an education and a half. Totally worth it,” she said. “Most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” he asked, getting up to flip the steaks.

“Parker has a tendency to be, well… let’s call it chaotic.

There’s constant fighting in the band. We go through drummers faster than dollar-store light bulbs.

We’ve been permanently barred from two of the biggest budget hotel chains in North America.

Last summer, Parker busted into the liquor cabinet on one of the headlining bands’ buses and invited some kids volunteering at the festival to party on board. ”

“Oh shit.”

“Underage girls and tour buses are never a good mix,” she said, heaving a sigh. “Of course, I cleaned up that mess too, like I always do. But what happened at our last gig might’ve been the final straw.”

He tipped his head curiously. “I’d really like to know, but I also hate to ask.”

“We were in Orillia. The band thought it would be cool to end their set with a classic Gordon Lightfoot cover in tribute of being in his hometown. So they came up with their own arrangement of ‘Sundown.’”

“Great tune,” Rick said.

“Oh yeah, it’s a banger. So, the time comes to do the song, and the crowd goes wild from the first guitar strum.

But Parker misses the cue, and the band is stuck repeating the same chords over and over, waiting for Parker to jump in and just fucking sing already,” she recounted.

“But Parker was already in a pissy mood that night, not to mention pretty wasted, and decided nope, we’re not gonna do it.

The crowd turned on them and started booing and throwing shit on stage.

Parker lost it. Grabbed the mic and screamed, ‘Fuck you, Orillia! And fucking Gordon Lightfoot sucks donkey balls!’”

Rick frowned. “That man’s a national treasure.”

“The whole shit-show went viral in less than an hour,” she said. “And that was the last gig we played. By the next morning, we’d been dropped from the festival circuit, and everyone in the band went their separate ways.”

“Why the hell should you or anyone put up with that shit? Can’t you kick Parker out of the band?”

“No, because there is no band without Parker. Parker started the Dawn Cherries. Parker IS the Dawn Cherries.”

“Okay then, why don’t you jump ship?” he asked, collecting their plates from the table and bringing them to the grill. “Surely there are other bands out there who could use a talented merch queen.”

“Believe me, I’ve thought about it many, many times. I was especially close to leaving after Parker and I broke up. You can imagine what it’s like having to tour together after that.”

Rick’s mind leapt to all sorts of ways a self-centred rock star might numb the pain of heartbreak—groupies, drugs, and whatever vices their lifestyle afforded them.

For Robin to have to endure watching that unfold while nursing her own broken heart must’ve been torture.

She deserved so much better. It made Rick feel sad for her, and at the same time, made him want to throttle Parker.

Both for putting Robin through the wringer and for being stupid enough to let such a great girl slip away.

“Forgive me, but I can’t understand why you’d stick around after you two broke up.”

“This sounds awful, but I think it’s because I love my job far more than I ever loved Parker,” she said with a shrug.

“It gives me a sense of purpose and fulfillment like I’ve never had before.

So I couldn’t bear to walk away from it after we broke up, although I have seriously considered it.

Especially when Parker had a meltdown after my father died, and I needed a couple weeks off.

” Robin rolled her eyes. “It’s always about fucking Parker. ”

Rick shook his head in disbelief. “And your job is worth putting up with that bullshit?”

“Part of me knows I can do more with my life. Maybe someday I will. But I’ve already invested six, almost seven years into this band.

We’re family. Plus, we’re so close to our big break, I can taste it,” she said.

“That is, if there still is a band and Parker hasn’t completely torpedoed any chance we had to succeed. ”

While Rick admired Robin’s devotion, there had to be more to it. What kind of hold did Parker still have on her? Was she still in love with that toxic asshole? A strange mix of jealousy and protectiveness swirled inside him as he took the steaks off the grill.

Rick brought their plates to the table, setting them down directly across from one another. Robin dispensed the salad between them. When she’d finished, he pulled out her chair for her.

“Wow,” she said, smiling up at him as she sat down. “So fancy.”

She considered basic etiquette fancy? Maybe Robin just wasn’t used to being treated well. Either way, it pleased him to impress her, and he was still smiling to himself as he took his own seat.

Mutt hedged his bets and sat halfway between them, looking expectantly from one side of the table to the other.

“Look Robin, about Parker. I know you don’t need my advice, but…”

“Actually, I’d welcome it,” she said, cutting into her steak and feeding Mutt first. “Feel free to say whatever’s on your mind.”

“Don’t waste your loyalty on anyone unworthy of your allegiance,” he said. “If they don’t appreciate what you bring to the table, then let them eat alone.”

Robin dropped her knife. “That’s fucking brilliant, you know.”

“I’ve read a lot of self-help books,” he said jokingly, spearing at his salad. “It’s also because I also unfortunately know a thing or two about misspent loyalty.”

“Well, you know what they say, misery loves company,” she reminded him. “Might make me feel better to hear you’ve experienced something similar.”

Although a couple of years had passed, Rick had avoided having to revisit that painful chapter of his life. But, if Robin was able to benefit from his past mistakes, he figured now was as good a time as any to open up about it.

“Like I said, after I retired from football, I started my own business. A year or so in, I asked a good friend to partner with me and help take things to the next level,” he recalled, keeping his eyes trained on his steak as he sawed off a tender piece.

“We went from being a two-man startup to a publicly traded company, and because of that, started receiving some attractive offers to sell. My partner wanted us to consider it, but I couldn’t bring myself to sell the business I’d built from the ground up. ”

“Because you’d invested so much of yourself in it,” Robin acknowledged.

Rick finally lifted his eyes to hers and nodded.

“Then one day I walked in, and he’d had a buy-out agreement drawn up.

My so-called friend went behind my back and presented an offer to our board to secure approval, then pushed me out of my own company to get it done.

” Just saying the words out loud made the blood thunder in his ears.

“What a fucking chode,” she hissed. “Isn’t that kind of against the law?”

“If we’d had a partnership contract, maybe there’d be some legal recourse, but we didn’t,” he said.

“Looking back now, it was so obviously stupid and na?ve of me, but I genuinely believed shaking hands with a friend I thought of like a brother was the only contract we’d ever need.

I never imagined he’d betray me after being in business for twenty fucking years. ”

“Jesus, Rick,” she wheezed. “I’m so sorry.”

He chugged several gulps of beer, washing back the bitterness that had burbled up as he spoke. While his rage had subsided over time, years of built-up resentment still caused his chest to burn and temples to throb.

“All I’m saying is that I’ve been there,” he said.

“When you invest your heart and soul into something, you trust that it’ll all work out.

You want to believe more than anything that if you just give it your all, your investment will grow and continue bringing value to your life.

” He poked at the food on his plate. “Sadly, that is not always the case.”

For the next few minutes, they ate in silence. The only sound was Mutt’s happy lips smacking as Robin fed him a few more morsels. “Would you believe Parker told me to just leave him on the side of the road like some piece of trash?”

Rick’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“When the band went home, no one wanted to take Mutt with them,” she said, her voice quivering.

“Parker told me to just drive out to the country and leave him there, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I mean, I did try to find him a new owner.

I stopped at gas stations, a farmer’s market, and a burger stand looking for someone else to take him.

” She sighed. “But I felt so guilty it made me sick. Literally. In the end, I just didn’t have the heart to abandon Mutt. ”

“Because, unlike Parker, you actually have a heart,” Rick told her. “Surely, you’ve got to see that he’s nothing but a narcissistic dick.”

“Who?” she questioned. “Mutt?”

Rick scowled. “No, Parker.”

“Parker? Oh uh, no,” Robin corrected. “It’s she. She’s a narcissistic dick.”

“Who?” Christ, they were caught up in a frickin’ Abbott and Costello routine.

“Parker.”

“You mean… Parker’s a woman?” Whoa.

Robin tapped her phone and turned the screen around for him to examine. “That’s Parker,” she said, pointing to the all-girl band’s brooding lead singer, who was taking up the most space in the group photo.

“Oh. That’s not the asshole I was picturing when you mentioned your ex being a hard-partying rock star,” he said. “Nor do you seem, well…”

“Well?” She raised her eyebrows and smiled, ready for him to stick his other foot in his mouth.

“It was just the way you were talking earlier. About me. When I went swimming? It sounded like you liked what you saw…” Jesus fucking Christ, you sound like such a dork.

“Trust me, I did,” she said. “I’m really not into labels. Men, women. I’m attracted to who I’m attracted to.”

A strange mix of intrigue and relief washed over Rick.

At least his instincts hadn’t been totally off.

He was pretty sure he’d picked up on something between them.

The flirty banter for starters. Plus, she’d been licking her lips in a sultry way, and he had a hunch it had nothing to do with enjoying the steak.

Especially not when paired with those major eyes she’d been giving him across the table.

One thing he was sure of, he wanted their evening to continue.

He wanted to spend more time in her company, discovering more about what made her tick.

The new development certainly made Robin even more of an enigma—sweet but salty, strong-willed with a soft vulnerability, a head for business and a body for… Jesus, cut that out, will ya?

After giving Mutt the last scraps of steak off his plate, Rick searched for an excuse, any excuse, to entice Robin to stay a little longer.

He emptied the last of his beer and set the bottle down before clearing his throat.

“What would you say to sitting around a fire and maybe sharing a bottle of wine?”

Her eyes gleamed as a smile lit up her face. “Definitely.”