She rolls her eyes at me before heading back to her bed. I settle under the sheets in the main suite, enjoying one more night before I have to be back on the pull-out couch. Yay for being the younger sister.
I should put my phone away, but I scroll through rental listings in Penrose Beach.
Every option I find is smaller, older—or nearly double what I’m paying now.
I stare at the screen a little longer than I should.
Maybe this place isn’t perfect.
But right now…
It’s what we have.
Sure, I’m an adult, but I don’t think I want to stretch for a more expensive place—especially when I still have the loans from the coffee shop to worry about.
I wake up early,with thoughts of Max swirling in my brain.
After going over every interaction with him, trying to see how I would treat Earl, or Frank, the owner of the hardware store, I’m not sure there’s a difference in my actions, especially when Lila is around.
So I focus on the leak instead. I watch a handful of videos online about how to fix it, but even attempting it would mean buying tools that cost as much as just calling a plumber.
I’ll put that on my list to do today.
I head down to the coffee shop later than usual after getting Lila off to school. I figured that with everything she was worried about last night, it would help to have me there for moral support until she left.
Thanks to Sarah, things are open and running.
To my surprise, Max is already there, sitting in a booth with a cup of coffee in front of him.
“Good morning,” he says with a smile. There’s still something a little tense about him, like his mind is somewhere else.
“Good morning. Did Sarah take care of you?” I ask, pointing to his cup.
Max smiles. “She did. Thank you. I might be addicted to whatever blend you sell.”
As much as I don’t want it to matter, the compliment lands. It gives me a small sense of purpose I didn’t realize I needed this morning.
“That’s great. You should spread the word. We can use the business,” I say quickly. “Did you find a contractor?”
“I did, actually,” Max says. “I just had to keep asking.”
“I guess I should mentally prepare myself for the power tools and hammering.”
Instead of joking, Max looks worried. “I’ll make sure they don’t work after five. It might take longer but?—”
“Max,” I say, shaking my head. “It was a joke. They can work later than that. Lila and I will be fine. Cora, too, when she’s in town.”
His eyes study my face, and I squirm, unsure of what it all means. “Thank you. That will hopefully get the project done sooner.”
“I’ve been around enough building projects to know that they never go how you hope, but we can be patient.”
“I need to ask you—” he says, but he looks at me and stops talking for a moment.
“Max, are you okay? Do I need to power you off and restart you again?” I say with a small laugh.
A grin slowly spreads over his face, and he continues. “Sorry, my mind is going a million miles an hour, and if it’s possible to glitch, that’s what happened. My boss wanted me to ask you if you still have the invoices from remodeling the coffee shop.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Yeah. Richard said it was all up to me to get it ready.”
