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Before she knew it, she had ended up near Tidal Wave Coffee. A single light was on, so she walked toward it. The door was cracked open and she saw Michael working behind the bar, frowning slightly at the espresso machine. Now was as good of a time as ever to tell him about her decision.
“I want to buy the ship and start the dinner cruise,” she blurted the moment he looked up at her.
“Wait, what?” Michael asked, his eyes wide with surprise.
Now that Caitlin was in the doorway, she realized how odd it was to barge into his business and declare that she was buying the boat so late at night. It was just him, wearing a worn t-shirt, his hair tied in a low knot as if he was trying to keep it out of his face to work.
“Sorry.” Caitlin started to back away, but stopped herself.
“It’s fine. No need to apologize.” Michael put a tool down. “Come in.”
Caitlin stepped inside fully, biting her bottom lip. Even walking across the empty shop made her overly self-aware of how she moved. The shop wasn’t big, but it felt huge as she walked across it without anyone else inside. “I was just thinking and taking a walk, trying to sort through my thoughts on the boat.”
Michael nodded in understanding, but Caitlin still felt awkward for barging in.
“You know when your thoughts just take over and you’re walking and you end up somewhere?” Caitlin asked.
“Yeah, I do.” He seemed amused, but not at her expense. It was more like he was happy that she’d ended up there.
“That’s basically what happened.” Caitlin gave him a sheepish smile. “But I’m very sure of getting the boat.”
“Great.” Michael smiled, making the small lines around his eyes appear. Caitlin’s heart fluttered. His smile was something else. It was broad, his teeth white against his tanned skin, and it brightened up the whole room. The handsomeness of it nearly took her breath away.
“I’ll get the paperwork together. And I can help with all the permits you’ll need—I know the person who’s in charge of those,” he said.
“That would be lovely. Thank you.” Caitlin fidgeted with her watch. “I’ll leave you be. See you around.”
“Yeah, see you.”
Caitlin left, heading straight back toward Alissa’s. She couldn’t shake the mortified heat in her veins at barging into Tidal Wave Coffee, but at least her brain had calmed down enough to rest tonight. Besides, she had a lot of other things to focus on right now.
And at the top of that list was her new business idea.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I’m heading out for lunch,” Alissa said to Josie, hiking her bag up on her shoulder.
“Okay,” Josie said, only glancing up at Alissa for a second. “See you in a bit.”
“See you.”
Alissa left, a furrow in her brow. Josie got focused on her work, so her barely looking up at Alissa wasn’t that strange. But something else was going on, like Josie was purposefully avoiding Alissa’s gaze. And Dane wasn’t much better. He came in and gave her a kiss as he always did when he got into the office, but since then, he’d been pacing around his office, talking on the phone. He almost never spent that much time on the phone, much less with his door closed.
Alissa shrugged it off. Sometimes days were just off for Dane and maybe Josie had something going on that she wasn’t aware of. Things were probably going back to normal by tomorrow.
Alissa popped in her earbuds to listen to an audiobook on the way over to The Crab. Today’s special was a crab melt, which she was excited to try. She ordered, then grabbed a copy of The Outlet. She found a seat near the window with a view of the ocean off in the distance. The issue looked amazing. She ran her fingers down the smooth front page.
One of Dane’s articles on a new ferry route that made it easier to get to town was on one side of the page, and another feature on summer events that they’d worked on together was on the other. Every week, even during the most stressful ones, it came together well. She was familiar with everything they’d written, but she still re-read it every time just in case.
Soon her food was ready and she dug in. The crab melt was delicious, not too greasy or heavy. And of course, the homemade chips, lightly dusted with seasoning. She munched on them, washing them down with lemonade, and cleaned off her fingers as she turned the page.
She skimmed the next page, but froze mid bite when she saw the article that she thought was going to be on The Crab’s new special. It wasn’t though, Dane had written it. She re-read the first sentence of the article over and over again: We are pleased to announced that The Outlet will soon be under joint ownership by Mr. and Mrs. Taylor if everything goes well.
Taylor was Dane’s last name. And she was dating him. So Mrs. Taylor would be… her?
Alissa sat back, her heart racing so quickly that she could hardly breathe. Was this real? What was this?
“You all right?” Willis asked as he cleared a table near her.
