Page 38 of Where Sea Meets Sky

“What brings you back to town so soon?” Her expression fell as if she’d suddenly had a bad thought. “I hope everything’s all right with your family.”

He was touched by her concern. “Oh, sure, they’re all doing fine. Up to their elbows in schemes as usual, probably.”

She laughed his comment off as a joke, and he grinned when he heard her laugh. He liked her laugh—it was significantly higher-pitched than her voice, and he found that cute.

He sat down at the counter beside her and gestured to her computer screen. “What have you been working on?”

She shook her head. “Not working, just looking. Here, see?” She turned her laptop toward him and showed him the housing website she was on. “I’ve been looking at cottages and duplexes here in town.”

“Really?” He leaned forward, interested. The thought of her choosing to stay in town felt like Christmas. He glanced at her and saw that she was looking at him instead of the computer screen. “These look really nice.”

“They do, don’t they? I’m not making any decisions officially—it’s more of a daydream at this point. I’m just toying with the idea of making my stay here permanent.”

He nodded, internally crossing all his fingers and toes that it would stop being a daydream and become a reality.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she teased gently. “What brings you back into town?”

“Oh, sorry.” He grinned. He felt so giddy about running into her unexpectedly that he was finding it hard to think straight. “Well, it has to do with those conversations we were having before I left. I’ve been starting to wonder if the fast-paced life I’ve been leading is really what I want. When I went back to thatjob in Colorado, it didn’t take me long at all to realize that I don’t want to live that way anymore. And on top of it, I really missed Rosewood Beach.” He glanced at her, and they shared a moment of eye contact.

“I’m glad you’re able to come back to town,” she said slowly, as if she was having trouble finding her words. “Did you have to quit your job?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’m lucky. We figured out a way for me to be able to work remotely about ninety percent of the time. My foreman and I swapped a few of our duties, and the team is going to submit photos of their work to the online portal my company uses. Sounds like it’s easier for everyone, so that way they don’t have to wait for me to physically walk over to their part of the site to approve things.”

“That’s fantastic!” She smiled warmly at him. “I’m really glad to hear that, Ryan.”

They shared a smile, and the silence went on for so long that he began to feel as though he could hear his heart beating in his ears.

“I have a question for you now,” he said finally. “I’m really happy to see you, Faith. I’d thought that maybe when I got back into town you would have left already, and I’m really glad that’s not the case.”

“That’s not a question, those are statements,” she teased.

“I’m getting to that.” He grinned. “I was wondering if perhaps you might like to meet up sometime. Now that we’re both here in town.”

She inhaled, blinking, but she looked excited. “Uh, yes. Yes, I would like that.” She grinned back at him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan saw the waitress return to his table with his food, looking around for him in confusion. He chuckled.

“I guess I’d better get back to my table,” he said, standing up. “My food’s here, and I don’t want to keep distracting you from your daydreaming.” Before he left her, however, he wanted to lock in the details of meeting up with her. He hadn’t referred to it as a date yet, although he was hoping that she wanted it to be one as much as he did. “How about Friday night? I’ll take you out to dinner somewhere.”

Her cheeks flushed and her eyes were bright. “Yes. Sounds great.”

“Let me get your number quick,” he said, pulling out his phone. “So we can discuss details.”

She pulled her phone from her purse and they exchanged phone numbers.

“Great.” He smiled at her, tucking his phone back into his pocket. “I’ll see you Friday night.”

“Friday night.” She smiled back.

He turned around and went back to his table, tempted to grab his food and go right back to the counter to sit next to her. But he didn’t want to interrupt the plans she’d made, and he didn’t want to scare her off by appearing over-eager.

Friday night,he told himself as he stuck his fork into the crispy potato pancakes.I can’t wait.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Julia placed her hands on her hips and let out a long sigh, staring at the slab of venison on the counter like it was some kind of monster.

I can do this,she thought.I can. How hard can it be, really?

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