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“Daniel will love them.” She glanced over her shoulder. “But I’m guessing they’re a way to pad bad news?”
“That obvious?” He sealed the bag again.
“You’re usually a little more upbeat when you bring us new treats.” Sandy shrugged.
“It’s not all bad, I don’t think,” Michael said. “I’ll go tell him now.”
“Okay, talk later.”
Michael went over to the office and tapped on the slightly opened door. Their office was small and only looked smaller with Daniel in it. His broad, sturdy frame overwhelmed the small desk chair. Daniel looked up from the computer.
“Hey, do you have a minute to talk about the ship?” Michael asked.
“Sure thing. Take a seat.”
Michael sat down across from Daniel and handed him the bag of espresso beans. “I have these also. White chocolate covered espresso beans.”
“Thanks!” He took the beans and popped a few into his mouth. “These are great.”
“Good. I’m having some made and hoped you guys would stock them.”
“Yeah, they’ll fly off the shelves.” He ate a few more. “Is news about the boat just as good?”
“No, unfortunately.” Michael sighed. “The boat’s in bad shape, mostly because of age and lack of care. It’s possible to fix it up, but it’ll take a lot of work, maybe far more money than anyone would pay for it. And it would take someone who knows about boats to fix it up to a usable state, at least when it comes to the insides.”
Daniel sighed, running a hand over his shaved head. “That’s what I feared.”
“But on the upside, someone might buy it for cheap. I can still try to sell it and take more of a look to see what needs to be done,” Michael said.
“Really? That would be incredible, thank you.”
“It’s no problem. I like working on problems like this.” Michael smiled.
And it certainly was a problem. Michael knew that diagnosing all the problems the boat had was going to be a big problem. And once he had all that information, he had no idea who would buy a boat like that. Anyone who knew a thing about boats could see it needed hours and hours of work if it was going to leave the dock again. His only hope was that things weren’t as bad as they seemed.
* * *
Alissa settled at her desk at The Outlet, pushing her glasses up on her nose before pressing her computer’s ‘on’ button. Unlike at her old job at a stuffy newspaper back in Denver, she never dreaded Monday mornings here. Back then, she’d had to psych herself up to get out of bed, and dragging herself through the tasks on her to-do list drained her dry by the end of each day.
But now, she was excited to see what was waiting in her inbox after being out of the office on Friday. Plus, she had a caramel latte from Tidal Wave Coffee to make the morning even better.
She hummed to herself, sipping her latte as she went over what she had to do for the day. She had articles to write for the paper and needed to work on a pitch for a piece for the magazine. Just because she and Dane worked closely together didn’t mean she could get away with writing a piece without pitching it first.
Then admin stuff was last, her least favorite but still much more tolerable than anything else she’d done at a job before. Josie really helped her and Dane with it too.
After she knocked a few quick emails off her list, she glanced at the time. She was much earlier than usual, so Dane was probably going to show up shortly. She loved being able to see him every day. Doing the work she loved alongside the man she loved? She couldn’t have dreamed of a better life for herself.
And she hadn’t even thought of it as a possibility. Men she’d dated in the past had been writers, but she never thought she’d be in a position where they’d work together. And if she hadn’t known what it felt like to be with Dane at work, she would have thought it would be the nail in the coffin of a relationship.
But it was the opposite in reality. Knowing that they were able to bring the best out of each other both at work and outside of it gave her a sense of security that she’d never known before.
Alissa nibbled on the opening of the cup, guilt creeping into her thoughts. She was so happy while Caitlin was going through such heartache. How could she help?
Alissa was already helping her and Pearl find a house, and she was cooking dinner for them so Caitlin could have breaks in the evening. And of course, Alissa was more than happy to introduce her to all her friends. That left love. Caitlin deserved a man who actually paid attention to her and Pearl. Her sister was an amazing woman that any man would be lucky to have.
“Hey. Hope I’m not interrupting,” Dane said, tapping on Alissa’s slightly open door.
Her heart fluttered as she took in his face. They’d been together for a while now, but the feeling was just as strong as it was when she first fell for him. It didn’t hurt that he looked even more handsome than usual in his dark green polo, which was the same shade as his eyes. She had off-handedly mentioned how nice the color looked against his auburn hair too, and he’d started wearing it more.
