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wouldn’t hesitate and delay his trip to
Melbourne?
    His back teeth pressed
together.
    For now, it was enough
to know he didn’t have to rush back to L.A., and just as well,
because at this rate he’d be going back empty-handed.
    “Somewhere between
yesterday morning and now you lost your happy face.”
    Theo looked up from his
cup of coffee and seeing Eddie, he rubbed the tips of his fingers
across his forehead, easing down the ridges of concern, but his
thoughts remained. If he couldn’t convince Claire Muldoon to return
with him—
    Eddie Faydon’s smile
distracted him.
    “Surely our coffee
isn’t that bad.” She shifted and gave him a slanted look. “Okay,
between you and me, our coffee is not great but Joyce refuses to
share the name of her supplier with me, so until I wrestle the
information out of her—”
    “Are you saying there’s
an establishment in Eden serving superior coffee?”
    She laughed. “Did you
just use your snooty tone with me?”
    “I may have.”
    “Say something
else.”
    “Who is this Joyce you
speak of and how do I find her?”
    She clapped her hands.
“Hang around here long enough and the Eden Thespians will rope you
in to play the lead role in the annual theatre production. This
year they’re doing Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of… something or
other.”
    “Being Earnest.” Theo
shook his head. “And that’s one way to ensure I leave immediately
and never return.”
    “Oh, this is precious.
I’ve discovered your kryptonite,” she said and sent her eyes on a
happy dance around his face. “There has to be a story to that.
School theater production gone bad?”
    For as long as Theo
could remember, his parents had taken turns at trying to entice him
into the fold. As far as they were concerned, life was not worth
pursuing unless part of it could be immortalized on the big screen,
or in his mother’s case, on the stage.
    Theo had rebelled,
throwing himself into a lifetime of academic pursuits, earning one
degree after another. From an early age, his trust fund had
provided him with the freedom of choice. He’d chosen to learn how
to increase it, never touching the principal and only living off
what he could make, which over the years, had become a substantial
amount. While he also dabbled in film production, nothing could
have enticed him to follow in his parents’ footsteps, not even the
megabuck earnings. He simply didn’t have the ego for it.
    “Something like that,”
he said. “The thought of standing in front of a crowd and
pretending to be someone else...” he shrugged, “I’m not into
putting myself on display.”
    “And yet you don’t seem
to disapprove of all public displays.”
    “Meaning?”
    She laughed. “Women are
scheduling their morning coffees to coincide with your
jogging.”
    “I haven’t
noticed.”
    “And I’m not surprised.
You look in the zone. Actually, you look preoccupied. Makes one
wonder what you’re churning in your head. Plans for world
domination?”
    Theo would settle for
controlling the outcome of at least one scenario. While he’d
managed to leave a message for Claire Muldoon, he doubted she would
get back to him any time soon. She hadn’t heard him out. When she’d
leaped to conclusions and had warned him to stay away, he should
have done something to change her mind right then and there.
Instead, he’d sat back and had watched her stumble into the
hairdressing salon, closing the door with so much force he’d heard
the windows rattle.
    “How was your day off?”
he asked trying to give himself a break and find his way back to a
place where he could relax and refocus.
    “Full of mischief. A
friend is getting married and we’ve been trying to come up with a
memorable send off.”
    “I suppose you’ve
considered the obvious.”
    “A male stripper?” she
asked.
    “A decadent spa
retreat.”
    “With a male
stripper?”
    “Sounds like you should
choose a venue far away from your regular haunting ground.”
    “A