Page 33 of Finding Forever

Dave sat back on his heels. “Because I wasn’t sure.”

“About Beth?”

“About myself.”

Hank nodded slowly.

Dave appreciated that he didn’t tell him what Carol would have wanted. People had done that after she died, always with the best intentions. Carol would want you to be happy. Carol wouldn’t want you to be alone.

Maybe they were right, but Carol wasn’t here to ask. “I’ve got a good life,” Dave said. “It took me a long time to get here. Mark and I are closer. I’ve got friends. Work. I’m not sitting at home miserable.”

Hank nodded. “I know.”

“So why change it?” Dave asked.

Hank studied him for a moment. “Because you’re already changing it.”

Dave frowned.

“You’re leaving work to have coffee with Beth,” Hank said. “You’re volunteering for jobs because you know she’ll be there. You’re talking about her when she’s nowhere near the conversation.” Hank nodded toward him. “And you smiled when I said she’d love this fireplace.”

Dave looked at the stones.

He had.

Hank returned to scraping the old timber fixings from the wall. “You keep thinking there’s a decision coming. I don’t think there is. I think you’re already halfway down the road and you’re standing there pretending you haven’t left home.”

Dave was quiet. That was annoyingly close to the truth. “What am I supposed to do?”

Hank’s eyes widened. “Why are you asking me?”

“You’ve been giving me advice for the last twenty minutes.”

“I’ve been pointing out the obvious.”

Dave laughed. “Fine. Point out one more obvious thing.”

Hank considered it. “Same advice as last time. Talk to her.”

“We talk all the time.”

Hank snorted. “About everything except this.”

Dave looked at him.

Hank shrugged. “You don’t need to tell her you’re madly in love with her. You don’t even know if you are. But stop hiding behind work and friendship every time you want to spend time with her.”

That landed harder than Dave expected. He’d done exactly that with Cedar Ridge. Beth had asked whether he needed help, and he’d accepted before she’d finished offering. Then he’d spent the entire day pretending it was nothing more than collecting furniture.

“What if she doesn’t want anything more?” he asked Hank.

“Then you respect that.”

“And if she does?”

Hank grinned. “Then you take her somewhere nicer than a diner beside a gas station.”

Dave shook his head, smiling.