Wild Child. Cindi Myers

us with the photo scavenger hunt.” She leaned forward and nudged Ellie. “And how is Bill?”

      A pink flush washed Ellie’s cheeks as she added tequila to the blender. “He remembered me.”

      “And?”

      “And…I think he liked what he saw.” She slanted a look at Sara out of the corner of her eye. “I’m meeting him again in a little while.”

      “Then I’ll make sure I’m out of the way.” She finished the last of the salad and dropped the fork in the sink. “Drew and I want to check out the carnival.”

      “We’ll meet you and Candy and Matt by the main festival stage at nine,” Ellie said. “That’s when the scavenger hunt starts.” She added triple sec to the blender and dumped in ice.

      Sara went into the living room, switching on the stereo as she passed. A bouncy rock tune filled the room and she danced her way over to her laptop. She hated even to turn the thing on, but she’d promised Uncle Spence. In any case, it wouldn’t take a minute to search the county property records for the information he needed and e-mail it to him. Then she could change clothes and get ready for her date with Drew. She gave an extra hip shake at the thought of the evening ahead.

      True to form, Uncle Spence called again while she was searching for the information. While she was talking him down, the door to the beach house opened and Candy sashayed in, followed by a good-looking guy who, on second-glance, proved to be Ellie’s brother, Matt—sans glasses and his usual conservative threads, with a stylish new haircut and streaks in his hair.

      Sara grinned and waved hello, then turned her attention back to business. “I’m sending the information right now, Uncle Spence,” she said. “All you have to do is print it out.”

      When she got off the phone at last, she switched over to a spreadsheet she’d set up last night to track their points in the contest. She added in the points she’d earned today for entering the surfing competition, along with Ellie’s points for landing the role in Sin on the Beach. “We’re racking up the points,” she said. “Take a look.”

      When everyone had oohed and ahhed over the totals for the Java Mamas—the name they’d chosen for their team, in honor of Ellie’s coffee shop, where the three of them had met—and Ellie had given Sara a hard time about her businesslike approach to the contest, they debated ways to add to their total and made plans for the scavenger hunt later. Candy disappeared into Ellie’s bedroom to change clothes and Sara followed her.