With perfect timing, the crowd started singing along with the band’s rendition of “Ironic.”

“Is Alanis Morissette Canadian?” Emma asked with surprise.

“Nooo,” Sophie and Reid cried.

“No, she’s not or…? Oh.” Emma wrinkled her nose, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“We’re going to need a Kiwi exception, or we’ll all be too drunk to walk home.” Reid waved at Quinley who carried over a tray of B-52s.

After her second shot, Sophie ignored the margarita and stuck with water. The alcohol was making her feel loose and sexy, far too aware of Logan beside her smelling all showered and fresh, looking sharp in his snazzy shorts and crisp short-sleeved button-down shirt.

“Good turnout,” she said as an excuse to turn her back on him and look at the crowd.

When he leaned forward to speak next to her ear, his breath disturbed the fine hairs on the back of her neck.

“Why is he still here?”

“Who?” She looked over her shoulder and he was right there, his mouth way too close to her own.

He had kissed her! She kept trying to pretend he hadn’t, and she kept running into the reality that the spark had still sizzled between them, as amazing as she remembered it, which made the whole thing way too unsettling.

He wasn’t looking at her mouth right now, though. She followed his gaze to where Nolan was sitting with a handful of locals.

“He wanted to stay for Biyen’s birthday party tomorrow.” And Biyen was having fun camping in the yard with him. Sophie didn’t mind. It was nice that Biyen was having a good time with his father, but was still under her nose where she got to see him every morning.

“Sopheeeee!” Randy burst from the crowd.

“Randy!” she cried. “You’re back!”

Randy was a chunky guy with a heavy beard and hair that needed cutting. He ignored both his employers as he held his fists in the air and released a very loud and triumphant, “I passed my final exaaaaam!”

“What? Ahh!” Sophie threw herself off the chair and hugged him, finding herself picked up and spun in a circle while she clung to his bulky shoulders.

“Dance with me!”

He didn’t give her a choice, basically carrying her to the dance floor where the band started “The Safety Dance.”

They both sang along, leaving behind the friends who didn’t dance because they were “no friends of mine.”

“You’re drunk,” she accused as the song ended.

“So drunk,” he agreed, dancing wildly.

His exuberance was infectious, especially because this news meant he was back full-time. The work load on her would lighten considerably and that was definitely a reason to celebrate.

She danced with him through “I’m Like a Bird” and “Everybody Wants to Be Like You,” then left him chest-bumping with Kenneth while she threaded her way back to the table in time to see Emma lead Reid onto the floor.

Traitor.

“That’s good news,” Logan said as Sophie retook her chair. “About Randy.”

“Is it ever. Your dad would have loved this band.” She cocked an ear as they shifted into a Guess Who/BTO medley. “It was all seventies, all the time, in the office. It drove Randy nuts. He’s more of a Drake fan.”

“Is Drake Can—That’s a joke,” Logan insisted when she flung him a look of outrage. “I know he’s Canadian. I’ve met him.” His brows went up in self-deprecation at his own brag.

“Really. When? How?”

“A party.” He shrugged it off. “I’m sure he forgot my name the second he heard it. Everyone was trying to talk to him.”

“You didn’t play the Canadian card?”

“Nah, I was the boat guy.” He took a pull off his beer.

“What do you mean?”

His mouth went sideways, rueful and maybe reluctant to say.

“Some of those ballers in Florida have so much money, they literally don’t know what to do with it. After I designed a cabin cruiser for one, he started inviting me to parties on it. He liked me to help him tour his guests so I could give all the technical details. He was really happy with it, so that part felt good, but he was always pushing people to hire me to build them their own boat. That was awkward sometimes. I got business out of it, but it turned into people saying, ‘Right. You’re the boat guy.’” His tone became flat and dismissive.

“Oof. You should have got yourself a T-shirt. Stay ahead of it.”

“At least it gave me something to talk about at those things. I always thought parties like that would be more fun. They were actually…” He trailed off.

“What?” She drained her water and tipped a splash of marguerita into her glass.

“I don’t know. Empty?” He didn’t look entirely comfortable admitting it. “I liked my clients. They were great, but we were friendly, not friends. When I was out with them, it wasn’t like this, where I look around and know people, not just recognize them. By the way, since when is Tamara into guys?” He nodded toward the receptionist from the lodge. She had her head tilted toward a young man as the man shaped his words with his hands.

“That’s her cousin. Supposedly he’s just visiting, but I hear he’s tired of the rat race in Surrey and has an HVAC ticket. Maybe buy him a beer.”

“Good recon.”

“Right? Randy has a girl in Nanaimo, by the way,” she warned.

“We sponsored his apprenticeship. He has to give us three years or reimburse us for his tuition.”

“Something he could do on city wages so I suggest you give him a very nice bump in his hourly rate and feel him out on where her skill set lies. I suspect it’s nursing so that could be tricky.” They absolutely needed more health care here, but positions were filled by the health authority with temporary contracts. There wasn’t much opportunity for permanent full-time.

“Hmm.” He frowned.

“Yeah.”

Sophie suddenly realized that, as they had spoken, they had leaned in close to each other. Their shoulders were almost touching. She drew back but had to stay close enough to talk over the music.

“Is this really what you were missing when you were drinking champagne on a superyacht of your own design? Labor problems and your employee’s love life?”

His gaze shifted restlessly across the crowd then came back to her face where she felt his study almost like a physical touch. She expected him to offer a laconic comeback, but he looked very serious.

“That’s not exactly what I was missing, but I definitely felt like something was. I should have been as stoked as Randy. I worked hard to get to that level. Being ‘the boat guy,’ getting contracts where cost is no object is a dream come true. I loved that and I haven’t been able to take on any new ones since I’ve been here so that’s driving me nuts. I loved the sun, too.” He shook his head with mild disgust at the changeable, damp coastal weather here. “But the rest of my life was pretty hollow.”