Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) Read Free

trailed off as if deep in thought. “Anyway, she’s moved to San Diego. She’d been living near Mom and Dad, but it was getting to her. I tried to get her to move out here, but she said I would just smother her too.”
    “Okay . . .” Sonny was starting to get a picture of where this was going.
    “She has an old friend from San Francisco—Colby something-or-other—who plays in a bar band in San Diego. He called her to ask if she’d be interested in singing lead for them. They lost their lead singer.”
    “Uh huh . . .”
    “Needless to say, she took the gig. We couldn’t convince her not to. It’s not that we don’t support her music—she’s really great—it’s just that we don’t like the idea of her being so far from anyone in the family right now. And the fact that she’ll be playing in some bar four nights a week . . . with all those military guys hanging around her . . .” He quickly added, “No offense!”
    Sonny laughed. “None taken.”
    “I’m really referring to the Marines,” Mathias joked.
    “Yeah, right. I know ,” he said drily.
    “Anyway . . . We just wondered if you would mind going into the bar and checking in on her periodically. Make sure she seems okay and that she knows she has someone local to call on if she needed anything.” He took a breath. “But, it’s a bad time for you and I completely understand that. We’ll just have to keep in close contact with Colby. He knows what’s up with her and I’m sure he’d let us know if she needs us.”
    “I can go in and see what’s up. I’m hobbling on crutches, but I am ambulatory.”
    “No, really, Luca. Don’t worry about it. I can get a few days off in a couple of weeks too, and come out to see the lay of the land. I’d like to see you too, while I’m there.”
    “That would be great, but I’ll still go in and check on her. It’ll give me something to think about instead of sitting here feeling sorry for myself and wishing I were back on the job with the team. I’ll consider it a mission,” he chuckled.
    “Really? It’s not too much to ask?”
    “It is a lot to ask. I mean . . . you expect me to go hang out in a bar and listen to good music. You’re going to owe me big.”
    “It’s a lot more than that, and we both know it.”
    Sonny got down to business. “Okay . . . what’s the game plan? Do I go in and let her know you called me? Or do I play it off like it’s a chance meeting?”
    “ She’s really smart. If you go in all innocent and ‘Hey! Fancy meeting you here!’ she’s going to see right through it. Just tell her I mentioned in passing that she was singing there and you decided to go in and check out the band. She’ll probably see through that too, but at least it’s a little less deceiving.”
    “Okay. You said they play four nights a week. When and where would I find her?” Sonny asked.
    “She ’s at a country bar called Savannah’s. The house band is Sugar Creek and they play Wednesday through Saturday nights. I don’t have the address, but I think it’s near Balboa Park.”
    “That’ll work. The medical center is in Balboa Park, so I could always just say I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by.”
    Mathias breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much, Luca. You don’t know what a load off my mind this is. I do owe you big.”
    “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, I need something to think about besides my pitiful self,” Sonny laughed. “I’ll call and let you know when I make contact.”
    Mathias chuckled. “Is that a Navy SEAL term?”
    “Not really. It sounds more like a 007 term to me. Which fits, because this is sounding a lot like a spy mission.”
    The two old friends finished their conversation and signed off, one headed to that high-powered executive meeting and the other to putter around his tiny apartment, killing time until he was to go to Trace and Meg’s little beach house for dinner—and baseball.
    • • • • • • • • • •