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“I am. And you must be Dane Taylor.” Michael smiled, the kind of smile that could win over even the grumpiest person.
“I am.” Dane’s brow furrowed as he shook Michael’s hand. “Have we met before?”
“No. I figured it was you by your clothes.” Michael nodded toward Dane’s outfit. “Not in a bad way, of course.”
Dane looked down at his dark green sweater, which was over a crisp dress shirt and slacks. Even though he had been in Blueberry Bay for months, he couldn’t shake his habit of dressing up for work. The locals here were casual through and through, even at work. Michael was the perfect example—he was wearing a well-loved cable knit sweater and jeans with sneakers.
“That’s not a bad thing to be known for, I guess.” Dane shrugged.
“Well, you’re more known for the newspaper, I’d say.” Michael rested the surfboard against the wall and tucked his hands into his pockets. “It’s been the talk of the town. A lot of people have been picking up copies. We’re glad you started it.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah. It’s a good way for us to connect with the other towns in the area,” Michael said. “The paper looks great too.”
“Thanks.”
Dane bit back his next series of questions—did people actually like it, or were they more excited about the novelty of it? Was there anything going on in this town? If there was, how could he find it? It felt like the whole area was stuck in a loop of mundane happenings that weren’t worth noting.
Now that Dane thought about it, Michael was a great choice for the front page. Everyone seemed to like Tidal Wave Coffee and Michael’s history as a surfer was probably interesting. But everyone around here probably knew about him if news traveled the way Michael had described.
Dane bit the inside of his cheek, mentally kicking himself. When he chose Blueberry Bay for the newspaper, he thought he’d found the perfect hole in the market. But now that he was in town, he realized that the hole might have been there for a reason.
Dane wasn’t sure if it was just his writer’s research abilities or not, but the local stories he’d pulled up became duller the more he thought about them. He’d written about a new stop sign at a “busy” corner that was throwing off several locals, some whale sightings, and a horse that got loose and ran into the street for five minutes before he was caught.
Was that the most the town had to offer? Surely it wasn’t. He didn’t believe anyone would choose to live in such a dull place. But his writer knew the area way more than he did, so Dane had to trust him that this was truly the news of the area. It was either that or things that everyone already knew. In a town so small, could anything truly be surprising? How was he supposed to create news with a subpar writer and nothing going on?
He had to do something. He wasn’t one to wait around and have someone else solve his problems.
“It’s been nice chatting with you,” Dane said, getting to his feet. “I’ve got to get back to the office.”
“Nice chatting with you as well.” Michael shook Dane’s hand again. “Talk to you later.”
CHAPTERFOUR
Blueberry Bay was perfect, even better than the images Alissa had seen online. She wasn’t sure when check-in was at Literary Stays, so she’d come here to explore for a while. The B&B was technically located in Whale Harbor, a small town very close to Blueberry Bay, and although Alissa was sure she would explore that town at some point as well, there were plenty of beautiful views to keep her occupied in Blueberry Bay.
The main strip was along the water, lined with businesses, each one with a hand-painted sign out front. There was a small grocery store called Sandy’s, a souvenir stand, a plant store, a comfort food restaurant that she absolutely had to try, and more. Signs pointed to the path to the beach and the boardwalk, which she gladly strolled along, even with her luggage. Then, she looped around when she reached the end, going back onto the main strip. A blue-painted building with a red crab painted on its sign greeted her first, the scent of hot, delicious bread wafting toward her.
Her stomach growled. She had left Denver early and hadn’t wanted any of the overpriced, lackluster offerings at the airport. Now she was glad she’d saved up her appetite. The burly-looking men dressed in coveralls who were gathered at the picnic tables outside despite the cold seemed very satisfied with their meals.
Alissa walked inside, the warmth enveloping her.
“Welcome to The Crab!” the young woman behind the counter said with a smile. “Have you been here before?”
“I haven’t.” Alissa looked up at the chalkboard menu on the wall. “But I’m glad I passed by.”
“I’ll give you a second to look over the menu, then.”
Alissa’s stomach growled as she debated between several delicious options. A classic bacon, egg, and cheese, or the sandwich called the Dock, which had sausage, spicy red pepper jam, and eggs on a freshly made baguette?
“I’m ready,” Alissa said to the young woman. “I’ll try the Dock and a small coffee, please.”
“Excellent choice!” The young woman punched her order into the cash register and Alissa paid. “We’ll have that right up for you!”
Unlike the men outside, Alissa wasn’t going to sit in the cold. She chose a seat in the corner where she could see out onto the street beyond the picnic tables.
The pace here was pleasantly slow, even on a Monday. If she were still working atEpic, she would have spent the last hour pushing her way through her freezing cold commute and standing in line to get a cup of terrible coffee. Then she would have trudged upstairs to her office, only to sit in front of the computer screen, frustrated that words weren’t coming out.
