Page 207 of Sing with Me

“We’re selling one.”

“Nonetheless, it’s a lot of work for someone who is still walking with a cane three years after his stroke.” Skye speared a shrimp with a fork.

“He looked tired today.”

Skye nodded. “Have you prayed about it?”

“Yes, but I need to pray more,” Diehl said. “I have something in mind but I’m not sure whether that’s the best way to go.”

“Don’t tell me what it is. Let’s hear the options first.”

“Options?”

“I’m a businesswoman too. If you want to bounce ideas off me, I can be a third opinion.”

Slowly, Diehl smiled. “I’m in love with you.”

“Options?” Skye steered him back to the topic.

“Just between us?”

“The only person I can tell is God. I hope that’s the same if I ask you for your opinion about my career or company. Like the Jerome situation.”

“Yeah.” Diehl’s eyes brightened. “As mentioned, we’re down to three subsidiaries. Brin is handling Brooks Renovations. I’ll take Brooks Properties home to St. Simon’s. In one year, Riley will run Brooks Transportation. Until she moves to Atlanta, I don’t know whether it’s a good idea to leave Dad in Atlanta until the transition.”

“Wait. What did you just say about Brooks Properties?” Skye asked.

“You heard me. If Brin can run Books Renovations from her Brunswick office—and work at home most of the time—why can’t I?”

“So you fell in love with island life.” Skye chuckled. “That happened to me a long time ago. That’s why I never left.”

“I fell in love with you.”

“Don’t make me cry, Diehl. I’m happy to hear that we might be together again, but the question is always when. God’s timing is perfect.” Skye blinked. “We both have work to do. Tell me about your dad.”

“Ah, like I said, he looked tired and worn out today. I don’t think he’s a hundred percent since the stroke. I know he’s walking and talking and looking all fine, but I’m thinking of the physical stamina he needs to run the company.”

“You need to be there with him. It’s the right thing to do. He’s your dad. He needs your help.”

“Until we sell Brooks Manufacturing,” Diehl said.

“Or until Riley goes to Atlanta.”

“Eleven months.”

Skye nodded. “It’s not like it’s eleven years.”

“That reminds me of my dad’s story. He told me today that he fell in love with Mom at first sight but they didn’t see each other again for ten years. It was such a difficult thing for him that he blocked that out of his memory.”

“Ten years?” Skye asked. “What did they do in the intervening time?”

“They married other people and got divorced only a few years into their marriages. Neither had children. Then one day, during a fundraiser at their alma mater, they ran into each other. Both were single again and had been for at least five or six years. They remembered each other, and started to correspond again.”

“Correspond?”

“Letters. No emails back then.”

“You know, he kept all her letters,” Diehl said. “I asked Mom this evening at dinner whether she kept his letters too. Unfortunately, she said she lost them in one of the many Brooks Cottages renovations.”

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