“That’s not all bad, right?” Aiden says. Is he trying to convince me to accept now?
“No, I never saw myself with someone like her. But am I being picky?”
“Are you seriously considering it?” Aiden asks.
“What else am I supposed to do? I don’t meet people outside of work. Maybe my parents know better than I do.”
Aiden makes a sound. “I’ll set you up with someone, or a few someones, while you’re out here. At least then you have a choice.”
“Tell that to my parents.”
“But you own your company now, right? We’re grown men. It’s okay to push back.”
Sounds great in theory. Convincing my German mother? Not so much.
“That sounds awesome until they start coming at you with words like ‘duty’ and ‘honoring the family.’ They hold those as the biggest things to a happy life. That’s why I’m here. To figure out what I want.”
“Don’t get married before I talk to you again.”
“Are you kidding? My mother will need a full year to plan the wedding.”
“Well, that’s something,” he says.
We say our goodbyes, with Aiden promising to contact my father on my behalf. I take a seat on a bench by the sand, staring out at the ocean. My phone buzzes.
Aiden sent the addresses to my buildings.
I’ll give it a few more minutes before I go find them.
For once, I feel a flicker of peace, and I don’t know if that’s because I don’t have an urgent problem, or fifty, to solve.
7
AVERY
“Who was that?” Sarah asks, gesturing her head toward the door.
“You mean Earl?” I ask, frowning at her. He just left after our practice session, looking more confident than he did before. Hopefully he can make it work with Laura Lynn.
Sarah raises an eyebrow. “No, the other guy. The hot one with hair I could run my hands through. And that smile.” She grins, and I feel a twinge of irritation at her description.
“His name is Max.”
“Max? Max, what?”
With a quick shrug, I grab the washcloth and wipe off the counter below the coffee maker.
Sarah gets that gossipy look in her eye and grins at me. “I’ve never seen him before, but he’s dreamy. Did he already come into the shop when I wasn’t working?”
“No. I sort of helped him on the way back from dropping Cora off at the airport the other day.”
She grabs my arm and turns me toward her. “You didn’t think this was pertinent information to tell me?”
I frown, not sure what to say.
I met Sarah near the beginning of my time in Penrose Beach. She was working to put up a balloon arch along the boardwalk, and I helped her stabilize it. She’s five years younger than me, but she’s been fun to get to know so far, and she adds an element of adventure to the shop.
“No. I didn’t think about that at all. Why would you need to know anyway?”
