Sway by Melanie Stanford

sheet music from her bag. “Maybe we can pick up some hot surfers while we’re at it.”
    My eyes caught on a woman carrying a blinged-out cello case. Kaz would have hated it. My thoughts turned to his silky black hair and slim fingers. I wondered what he was doing right then.
    “Does your sister have any hot neighbors?” Lexi asked.
    “No idea.”
    “Geez, Ava, priorities. You’re so oblivious.” Lexi set her violin on her knee and looked at me. “I have a hard time getting dates because I’m working all the time, and when I’m not, I have a tiny two-year-old attached to my hip. What’s your excuse?”
    I shrugged. “No time?”
    “Nope.”
    “Too old?”
    “Try again.”
    “Every guy in California is either shallow, fake or only interested in girls with gigantic boobs?”
    Lexi hesitated. “I almost want to agree with you on that one, but it’s actually not true.” She motioned her head to the girl with the cello case encrusted with diamonds. “Even she managed to snag someone.”
    “Who is that?” I asked. Those couldn’t possibly be real diamonds, could they?
    “Helena Somerville. She’s dating some millionaire entrepreneur.” Lexi made a gagging sound.
    We stared at Helena. She was tall, thin and perfect in all her Prada-clad splendor.
    “I think she drugged the guy,” Lexi said.
    “Why?”
    She arched a brow. “I’ll-make-your-life-Hell-ena? She’s a rotten human being who spews word-vomit every time she opens her mouth.” Helena began to pluck the strings of her cello with perfectly manicured nails. “How else would she land him?”
    Beauty and talent obviously didn’t register to Lexi. “Maybe she used Jedi mind-tricks.”
    Lexi laughed. “Evil faerie magic?”
    “Love potion number nine.”
    We continued to come up with ways that Helena Somerville had duped her millionaire boyfriend into dating her until the violinist who sat next to Lexi appeared, wanting his seat.
    I took my spot at the piano. A few of the musicians approached me and introduced themselves. The rest were too involved with practicing. I eyed Helena Somerville, a frown creasing her forehead as she focused on the sheets of music in front of her. Lexi was just as attractive as Helena, but in a more natural way, with wavy auburn hair and a vintage hourglass figure. Not only that, but she had this spark that hadn’t been killed by what life had dealt her.
    Love had found me twice but it still eluded Lexi. If anyone deserved a handsome, millionaire entrepreneur, it was her.
    Me? I didn’t know if I deserved anyone after what I did to Eric.
    I turned my attention to the music and began to practice. My fingers found the notes easily enough, a song forming beneath my hands. The noises of the other instruments in the room faded into nothingness and it was just me, the piano, and Tchaikovsky.
    In my experience, old, dead composers were a lot easier to deal with than ex-boyfriends.
    * * * * *
    My cell phone rang, waking me bright and early at seven a.m. I squinted at the number then sat bolt upright. Kellynch Mansion was calling me.
    Immediately my heart started to pound. Dad and Beth had moved to Malibu. If the Crofts had a problem, they’d call Dad, not me. I took a deep breath and answered.
    “Hello?” I hated my voice for trembling a little.
    “Is this Ava Elliot?” came a gravelly male voice on the other line.
    I relaxed a little. It wasn’t Eric. “Yes, that’s me.” Not that he would’ve called me anyway, sheesh.
    “Hi, this is Richard Croft calling. Your renter?”
    “Yes, hi,” I said, wondering how he got my number. Then I realized Dad and Beth would never want to deal with the renters. Of course they’d leave it to me to handle such things. “Is everything all right with the house?”
    Richard laughed. “Everything’s more than fine. Kellynch is amazing.”
    At least he appreciated it.
    “Some boxes arrived with your name on them,” Richard continued. “We thought you might want