Page 64 of Finding Forever

“Good.”

She stared at him. “What do you mean, good?”

“What do you want me to say?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know. Something brotherly and overprotective.”

He considered that. “Do I need to be overprotective?”

Beth would have laughed if he’d been talking about someone else. “Of course not.”

He released an exaggerated sigh. “Good, because that could get awkward at work. Remember, he signs my paycheck.”

Beth laughed, and some of the tension inside her loosened.

Ryan’s expression became serious again. “Dave’s a good man.”

“I know.”

“No, I mean it.” Ryan leaned forward. “I’ve worked with him long enough to know what he’s like when things go wrong. That’s when you find out what someone’s really like. He’s fair. He doesn’t throw people under the bus. And he listens when someone tells him he’s wrong.”

Beth waited for what would come next.

Ryan looked down at his mug. “Dave cared about Carol a lot.”

“I know.”

“And you loved Jessie.”

Beth’s throat tightened. “Yes.”

Ryan met her eyes. “That doesn’t seem like a reason the two of you shouldn’t be happy. The last few years haven’t been easy. It’s not wrong to find someone who makes you smile.”

Her eyes stung unexpectedly. “Nothing’s really happened between us. We’ve only been on one date.”

Ryan’s eyebrows rose. “And?”

Beth knew what he was asking. She remembered sitting across from Dave at the café, sharing huckleberry pie, and the warmth of his hand covering hers. Her smile came before she could stop it.

Ryan groaned. “Oh, no.”

Beth frowned. “What?”

“You really like him.”

“I already told you that.”

“Yeah, but now I can see it.”

Beth reached across the table and stole another chocolate. “I’m beginning to regret telling you.”

Ryan laughed. “Too late.”

She tried to look annoyed, but she couldn’t. Beneath the embarrassment and uncertainty, she felt lighter. For the first time since Dave had held her hand in the café, she’d told someone who mattered how she truly felt.

She liked Dave.

She liked his quiet humor and kindness. She liked the way he listened to her. And she very much liked the way her hand had felt in his.