Blue raised his palms as if to shield himself from her wrath.
“Just listen.” He turned on his stool to face her. He kept his voice steady, as if to diffuse her reaction. “You’ve been running this place for a decade. You made it successful, and everyone on this island knows that. If you sold it now, at the height of what it’s worth, you could pay off both mortgages and probably walk away with enough to start fresh.”
She could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Start fresh where?”
“Anywhere. You wouldn’t have the debt hanging over your head. If you wanted, you could develop the coffee brand without the pressure of keeping the diner afloat at the same time. You could take your time and do it right. Or not. Maybe you’d want to open a diner in Chicago.”
Jo stared at him. He wasn’t being dismissive. He genuinely believed he was offering her a way out. That was the worst part. He meant every word.
“I’m not sure how or why Chicago came into this conversation.”
“It’s a hypothetical. Sort of.”
“Blue,” she said slowly. “This diner is not a burden I’m carrying. It’s who I am.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Because what you just described is me selling everything I’ve worked for so I can follow you to Chicago and start over from nothing. That’s not a solution. That’s my mother’s life.”
She saw him pull back as if she’d slapped him. “That’s not fair.”
“Maybe not. But that’s how it sounds to me. And you didn’t mention anything else on the table, like our relationship.”
She folded her arms and waited.
The diner was silent. The neon sign buzzed faintly in the window. The red Formica counter stretched between them, the same counter where she’d served him his first cup of coffee. He’d asked her name, and she’d fallen in love.
Now he was too stubborn to leave when she pushed him away.
“I wasn’t saying follow me to Chicago,” Blue finally said. “I was saying you have options. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I’m not doing it alone. I have Junie, Maileah, Rocky, and my staff. I have a plan. The crowdfunder and a launch tasting. I’ve been working on this every day.”
“I know you have.”
“Then why is your first instinct to tell me to sell?”
Blue ran his hand over his hair. “Because I’m watching you drown, and I don’t know how to help.”
Something in his voice made her stop. She looked at him again, past the frustration and sting of what he’d said, and saw the vulnerable man underneath. The man who brought her a sandwich because she’d forgotten to eat. Who remembered her favorite wine and made her grandmother’s cornbread from scratch.
And who kept showing up at her counter even when she’d walked out on him.
If he didn’t want to marry her, then why?
“Look, Jo. I’m not trying to erase what you’ve built. But I’m a cop. I run toward problems to save people. This is what I know how to do. So consider my suggestion as an option.”
“You’re trying to save me? Wow.” Jo shook her head in disbelief. “I can solve my own problems. I don’t need you to rescue me. What I need is for you to believe I can do this.”
Blue was quiet. Then he said, “I have faith in your abilities, and I hope your judgment about this is sound. I hate watching you suffer.”
Again, Jo was taken aback. “I’m not suffering, I’m building. There’s a difference.”
Now at an impasse, they stared at each other. The neon sign hummed, and outside, a car passed on Orange Avenue, its headlights sliding across the ceiling.
“I shouldn’t have said sell,” he said finally.
“No. You shouldn’t have.”
