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“That’s pretty ambitious, a start-up tech company,” she acknowledged, imagining he was Liam’s age and thus, maybe thirty or thirty-one.
“No more impressive than taking on a hundred-year old house and a bed and breakfast business,” he returned.
Maren grinned. “Yeah, well, I know nothing about tech, so this seemed a safer bet.”
Alec grinned. “Lonely business, right?”
She frowned a bit, considering the houseful of people presently occupying the Inn.
Alec clarified, “I mean being a business owner. Doesn’t matter if you own a company with five hundred employees or a small business of one, it’s a solitary journey.”
Understanding now, Maren nodded. “It is lonely in that regard. The autonomy can be empowering, but it also means there’s no one to share the load, with either success or failure.”
“Not for the faint of heart.”
“No, it isn’t.” Sensing that he was in no hurry to excuse himself and say goodnight—and rather ridiculously pleased by this—Maren asked him about his family. “Jasmine said your family is in Buffalo? Three sisters? Please don’t tell me you’re the baby brother—it won’t make sense.”
“Three younger sisters,” he confirmed. “Why would that not make sense if they were older?”
“You give off first-born vibes, clearly having strong leadership skills. You strike me as a very organized and structured person, and responsible, and maybe...achievement-oriented.”
He moved his head side to side, as if it were slowly bouncing off one shoulder and then another, while he considered this. “I guess that about sums me up.”
Maren knew, she just knew, that only scratched the surface. What a shame she’d not get a chance to uncover more about him. A pang of melancholy enveloped her, realizing this connection, however nebulous, had an expiration date: tomorrow.
“What are you parents like?” She asked, wanting to know so much more about him.
“My parents are easy-going,” he said. “They don’t get riled too easily. I figure they were perfect to raise three girls, teenagers all at once at one time. Dad was a steel worker, retired just last year, and Mom is Nurse Jackie—because Jackie is her name, notNurse Jackielike the TV show, with a drug addiction and episodic drama,” he explained, smirking a bit. “They are grandparents now and loving it. They were great parents—aregreat parents—but they are awesome as grandparents.”
“And you are Uncle Alec?” She pictured a little dark haired girl or blond-headed boy calling out his name with excitement, wondering if he might be the stereotypicalfun uncle.
“I will be, I guess, when they start talking. Two of my sisters had babies a little over a year ago, and my sister Kayleigh just had her first about three months ago.”
“Oh, wow. Do you wish you lived closer, to be near all that fun? Or are you happier visiting, with a definite departure date?” Maren bit her lip, wondering if that was too intrusive, or came across as judgmental? “I’m sorry, I’m not saying—I don’thave siblings so I guess I’m just curious about the dynamics of brothers and sisters.”
Evidently not rubbed the wrong way by her question, Alec offered, “Well, I can tell you that I like my sisters a whole lot more than when they were teenagers. And yes, I do sometimes wish I was closer and could see the babies—well, everyone, my sisters and my parents, too—more than only a couple times a year.”
A real shame, that he didn’t live closer, in Willowbrook. Would I want to get to know him better if he did? A resounding yes answered her internal query. She recognized that he definitely had an effect on her, that she wasn’t immune to...so many things about him.
Just as she thought this, Alec’s gaze fell to her lips, as if drawn by some magnetic force.
In turn, Maren’s heart quickened. Nervously, she turned on the chair and pulled the little chain on the lamp, darkening the kitchen so that it was lit only by the few night-lights. “I should get to bed. I’m exhausted.”
She shouldn’t kiss him, she knew that, having some suspicion that she’d read his lingering stare correctly.I’ll be sad to see him go tomorrow,she decided. I shouldn’t make it worse by kissing him and allowing hope to rise.
Unnerved by the very idea, she pushed the chair back with greater force than necessary, and it scraped loudly against the floor.
Alec hopped off the counter at the same time Maren stood and turned.
They were face to face, less than a foot apart.
Lifting her gaze to his, Maren glimpsed a yearning in his dark eyes that only grew when he lowered his gaze once more to her lips. She held her breath, suspended in the moment. She’d had her share of first kisses, so she recognized this for what it was,the prelude. All it needed was for either of them to move forward and cut through the suddenly charged air.
His eyes, normally brimming with self-confidence and occasions of playfulness, now held a depth that seemed to reach into a reservoir of silent intensity. Maren would swear she observed a fleeting glimpse of a vulnerability in his motionless expression. His posture mirrored the heightened awareness between them. The casual ease he typically exuded gave way to a subtle tension as if he, too, wrestled with longing and restraint.
Maybe he was thinking as she had: what’s the point, considering the reality of geographical distance?
For an instant, time stood still as they teetered on the edge of possibility. The warmth of his proximity was exhilarating, but not nearly as intoxicating as the possibility of a kiss.
