Seduced by Sunday

Jim’s grin lit the stage. “Honey, if you were my wife, I’d be dead before morning.”

The audience laughed.

Val found himself enjoying the banter.

Margaret found Jim’s eyes, danced her fingers over the keyboard, letting everyone know she knew her way around the instrument. “Something fast and sweaty, Jim?”

Jim pulled at his collar, let her run the show.

She slowed the tune, made the room sigh. “Something slow and sensual?”

It was Val’s turn to tug at his tie.

“Baby doll, you pick, and I’ll just try and keep up.”

Margaret lifted her hands, rubbed them together, and started. “I think you might know this one.”

It took two chords for the audience to recognize the tune. “Ever been to San Francisco, Jim?” She kept playing.

Jim closed his eyes and waited, as did Val, until Margaret leaned into the mic and took command of the first few lines of “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.”

Jim let out a whoop of approval and sat on the dock with her. When Margaret left her home in Georgia, the glassware in the room rang with the pitch-perfect tone of her voice.

They bounced between lines in the song like they’d done it before. The rest of the band sat back and listened.

It was Margaret, Jim, and a lone piano. They harmonized with the chorus, let each other take center stage for a line, then gave it up to the other for the next.

Her voice easily bounced over the ending notes to the song, bringing it home with both of them pleasing the audience.

Everyone stood, and Jim offered a hand to Margaret as she stepped down from the platform the keyboard was perched on.

The woman glowed.

Jim kissed her again, squeezed her waist, and walked her offstage.

“Baby girl, you can sing with me anytime.”

She’d just belted out one of her favorite songs with Jim Lewis and lost herself in the music. Meg couldn’t stop smiling.

Michael kissed both her cheeks when she returned to the table. “You were phenomenal. I had no idea.”

Ryder pulled out her chair and they listened to Jim’s next song.

When the lights came back up between sets, they ordered another round of drinks and Jim made his way offstage and to their side.

“I don’t know what you’re doing working in an office with a voice like that,” he told her.

She’d probably stop smiling sometime near Christmas. “Does that mean I can keep the video?”

“So long as I have a copy.” He shook the men’s hands. “I need to pollute my lungs,” he said before he turned and left.

Meg accepted the kind words of those around them. But when she looked around, she didn’t see Masini anywhere.

When Jim finished singing for the evening, the house band continued to play.

Michael and Ryder were talking in low tones when Gabi sat next to her. “You were amazing.”

“Jim’s the pro. I’m the window candy.”

Gabi continued to deny the claim when Michael interrupted them. “We’re going to head back.”

Meg took one look at them and decided three was a crowd. “I’m going to stay here a bit longer.”

Michael handed her the key to the golf cart. “We’ll walk back.”

Gabi sat back, nodded at the retreating men. “So what’s with the friend?”

“Ryder?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s an old friend. Just went through a breakup. Since Michael has a crazy schedule, he decided to invite him down to cheer him up.”

The excuse worked. “Seems lots of celebrities like to combine friends and family when they can. I don’t think I’d want to be so busy I couldn’t do both.”

“Do you think you’re going to be busy once you’re married to a winemaker?”

Gabi smiled. “I honestly don’t know what my life is going to look like when Alonzo and I marry. He seems to think I’ll stay here most of the time while he runs the vineyards.”

“You’ll live separately?” That sounded like an Alliance marriage. “Until the California property is ready for us.”

“Won’t that be difficult? It seems you’re close to your family.”

“It’s time I found my own place. Val has had the burden of watching over both of us for years. My mother can always move close to me.”

“Alonzo is OK with that?” Meg couldn’t imagine having a parent living that close. Then again, Meg visited with her parents on occasion, but didn’t pine for their presence.

“Like I said, we haven’t really discussed it.”

Meg couldn’t help but wonder what they had talked about. For a bride-to-be, Gabi had little idea of what married life was going to look like.

“Miss Masini?” One of the waiters interrupted them. “I’m sorry to bother you, but there seems to be a problem and I’m not sure where Mr. Masini is.”

Gabi stood. “I’m sorry.”

“No, please. I was just about to step outside.”

Much of the club had cleared out. Meg stepped out into the warm Caribbean evening and headed in the opposite direction of her villa. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt Michael and Ryder. Besides, it was too nice a night and she was still riding high from her moment onstage with Jim. She couldn’t wait to see the recording.

She itched to pull out a cell phone and text Judy with the evening’s events. That would have to wait.

Meg walked along the wide porch of the main building. The outside patio where the restaurant spilled was free of couples.