“I’m sure I’ve seen him around, but I don’t think I’ve actually talked to him.” Luke stuffed a fry into his mouth. “I asked my dad about him, though.”
“Oh yeah?”
He nodded. “He said Rich mostly keeps to himself, but he’s friendly.”
“Did they ever work together?”
“No. Dad said Rich works odd jobs and never ran with a crew. From the way he talked, I’m betting Rich might once have had ambitions about starting his own construction company, but Moira’s disappearance derailed his dreams.”
That made sense. Losing someone you loved could alter a lot of things about a person’s life. From what I’d learned about Rich Stevenson, I was growing more certain he didn’t have anything to do with Moira’s death. It sounded like he loved her.
“Yeah.” I propped my chin on my fist, thinking about how life would have been different for Rich if Moira hadn’t met such a terrible fate.
Luke finished the last of his fries and closed his to-go box. “I better get back to work. This evening, we can talk to Claire. I’m interested to hear about what she found out about Walter.”
Sitting up, I nodded. “Me too. And whether any of that information is about other properties he owned and sold.”
Pushing to his feet, Luke held out a hand, helping me up. He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek.
“Call me later?”
With a bright smile, I brushed a piece of his wavy blond hair away from his forehead. “Yep. Maybe your stew can be tomorrow’s lunch, and we can have dinner again?”
A wicked grin spread over his face. “And dessert.”
The shiver that went through me at the heated look in his eyes was enough to make my knees shake. “I like that idea. I’ll bring the whipped cream.”
He leaned in, nuzzling my neck behind my ear. “I like chocolate better.”
I had to clutch his t-shirt to stay upright when my knees threatened to buckle. Silently, I cursed him for putting those thoughts into my head. Now I would spend the rest of the day wondering how he would eat that chocolate.
