All around, candles flickered on white tablecloths, and a piano player in the lobby was working through a set of standards that were soft enough not to interrupt conversations but jazzy enough to lift the mood.
And his date most certainly didn’t wear a lab coat.
Kate sat across from him in a simple black dress that was all things elegant, attractive, and perfectly fitting for the atmosphere. Her hair was down, and she’d paid him the highest possible compliment by wearing her contacts and a light shimmer of makeup that made her look vibrant and so feminine.
“You’re doing it again,” she said with a lilt in her voice.
“Staring?”
“Yeah, kind of.” She touched her face self-consciously. “I can’t hide behind my glasses.”
“Never hide with me.” He leaned in to whisper, “You’re beautiful and I love being here with you.”
She blushed, which she almost never did, and picked up her after-dinner coffee to hide behind it.
They’d eaten well—filet mignon for him, the signature shrimp and grits for Kate because Southern food was mandatory—and the meal had been exactly what the evening required. Unhurried, warm, with conversation that never stalled because there was always more to say.
He took her hand across the table. Her fingers were warm from the coffee cup.
“Can I ask a serious question?” he asked.
Her eyes flickered as if bracing for something difficult. “That could be dangerous.”
“It’s not,” he assured her. “But I want to talk about something.”
Kate set her cup down, giving all her attention to what came next.
“What if we stopped thinking about this as temporary and started to explore options for…permanent?”
She looked almost relieved—and as though the question didn’t surprise her at all. Did that mean she’d been thinking the same thing? He hoped so.
“The house,” he continued. “Vivien, Crista, and I have been talking. We’re not selling. The trust transfers to us in November and we could make a fortune, but?—”
“No one expects you to sell,” she said. “I mean, not from my side of the family, although we admittedly don’t have a say. But you and Vivien have built the Summer House into a…being. Does that make sense? It’s alive, that beautiful beach house. Farmore than a compound, I feel like the place is its own little world.”
The compliment warmed him more than the coffee or the company.
“Thank you,” he said simply. “But a lot of that atmosphere is due to you and Tessa, and Peter. And Crista. The original summer kids.”
She smiled. “I think that’s true.”
“And our mothers seem pretty content up in the apartment.”
“You’re not going to get Jo Ellen back to Ithaca,” Kate said. “She’s already told me to put her house on the market and we will.”
He nodded. “Well, Tessa and Dusty are in Miramar. Peter’s in Crystal Beach. Crista and Anthony bought the bungalow. Jonah’s settled in with Atlas, Meredith’s here to run Lakeside for the foreseeable future, and Vivien’s already looking for office space for her business. The whole family is gravitating back to Destin.”
“All but me,” Kate said.
He took a breath…and a baby step. “Could you see yourself here? Ever? After the kids finish school or…”
She fingered the polished spoon on the table, looking down, her great mind no doubt turning over all the pros and cons and data points.
He loved watching Kate think—the way her brow furrowed slightly, the way she pressed her lips together, the way she looked at a question from every angle before allowing herself to come to the most logical answer.
“My lab is closed, obviously,” she said slowly. “My grad students work remotely. Cornell doesn’t need me in person.”
“And Emma?”
