“I lived there. My friends are there. My agent—”
“I get it. She lives there, too. But why do you have to stay there? You enjoy cooking the meals for our guests and helping us with the other things we need. You’ve even said writing is easier from Sapphire Bay.”
Katie stopped in front of the dumpster. “What if I stay here and my relationship with Peter fizzles out to nothing? I would have given up my life in Los Angeles for a broken heart.”
“At least you’d know that it wasn’t meant to be. On the count of three, we’ll lift the cabinet and throw it into the dumpster. Are you ready?”
After repositioning her hands, Katie nodded.
“One, two,three.”
With more muscle power than she thought she had, Katie hoisted the cabinet into the air. The satisfying clunk as it hit something else made her smile. “How do you do this each day? My arms feel like they’re about to fall off.”
“You get used to it. It wasn’t until after we worked on the inn that I realized how strong I’d become. And, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with having your heart broken. It means you’ve trusted someone enough to make them matter to you. That’s not a bad thing.”
“It is if you prefer to live a happy life.”
Penny stuck her hands on her hips. “Can you honestly tell me your life would be happy without Peter?”
“I was happy before I met him,” Katie said stubbornly.
“No, you weren’t. You were miserable. When you weren’t working at the restaurant or writing, you spent most of your time complaining about not having a publishing contract. Now look at you. You’ve published your first six children’s novels and lots of people have bought your books. That’s a whole lot of reasons why moving back to Sapphire Bay was the best thing you’ve ever done.”
Katie looked at the truck pulling into the driveway and waved at Wyatt. “Moving home was the best thing that’s happened to you, too.”
The look that Penny sent her was bittersweet. “Don’t be fooled by what you see now. I had my fair share of boyfriend block, too, but everything worked out in the end.”
“Well, whatever you did to fix it was worth it.” With one last look at the cottage, Katie handed her gloves to Penny. “Thanks for listening to me. I’d better go home and do some more writing.”
“Good luck. Diana called me an hour ago and said the water pipes are making a strange gurgling noise. The plumber should be there sometime this afternoon.”
“As long as the pipes don’t explode, we’ll be fine.” At least, she hoped they were. “Are you and Wyatt coming to the inn for dinner tonight?”
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world. It isn’t often we have a barbecue in the middle of winter.”
Katie smiled. “It’s Dad’s way of living dangerously. See you later.” As she made her way toward her truck, she thought about Peter. He was changing his life around to spend more time with her. If he was so sure about his feelings, why was she holding back so much?
CHAPTER16
Acid burned in Peter’s stomach as he listened to David O’Dowd, his clinical director, tell him the results of their investigation into the stolen report.
“The intern position has been terminated and we’re reviewing our policy around hiring college graduates.” David handed him a folder. “This is the assessment the security team completed. The good news is that they didn’t identify any other potential security breaches.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“That we had to do it in the first place. The person responsible for leaking the report passed the police and credit check. There was absolutely nothing in their application form to suggest they would be susceptible to bribes. Even their colleagues were shocked they’d stolen information that was supposed to be confidential.”
“We can’t afford to make the same mistake again.”
David nodded. “We’ll do everything we can to make our processes watertight. But I can’t guarantee no one will ever be able to do the same thing again. We can have all the security features available to mankind, but if someone is intent on stealing information, it’s impossible to stop them.”
David was right, but that didn’t make any difference to how Peter felt when he thought about the person who’d stolen the report.
“On a brighter note, we had extremely positive results from the new coding we added to the prosthetic software. It’s making even the smallest movement more precise for our clients.” David referred to the notes on his phone. “All trial participants have uploaded the enhancement and ninety-two percent noticed a significant improvement in their mobility.”
Peter refocused his brain. If he dwelled on what had happened with the stolen report, he wouldn’t make the most of being here. “That’s fantastic. Email me the details and I’ll add them to the presentation I’m making to some potential funders.”
“You’ll have them straight after our meeting. Are you sure you want to go back to Montana? This is a crucial time for the next phase of the project.”
