“Nope. I have it on good authority that you’re an amazing person.”
“Have you been talking to Peter?”
“And Katie, Diana, Barbara, and their sister, Penny. Mabel even told me what you did at The Welcome Center after you arrived in Sapphire Bay.”
“Oh.”
He glanced at Andrea and grinned. The blush on her cheeks was endearing. “My only concern is that I won’t live up to your expectations.”
“Are you serious? You work in New York City, have a job that most people would envy, and know more than a thing or two about owning a successful business. What isn’t to like?”
“My brain doesn’t function in the morning without a cup of coffee. I snore and I’m allergic to cats.”
“Unless you plan on sleeping on my sofa, none of that matters.”
David turned into another street. “That’s one of the things I like about you. You don’t worry about the small stuff.”
“That’s because I’ve had other things to worry about.”
He could have kicked himself. She’d lived through an abusive marriage and his biggest concerns were drinking too much coffee and snoring. “I’m sorry. That was thoughtless.”
Andrea sighed. “No, it wasn’t. It was me. What do you do when you get stressed or worried?”
“I go for a run. If that doesn’t help, I bury myself under a mountain of work and hope my problem vanishes.”
“Does it?”
“Hardly ever, but I live in hope. I was engaged to someone a few years ago. We broke up when I thought she was seeing someone else.”
“That must have been hard.”
“It was worse when I discovered I’d made a mistake. But, by then, Cissy was dating someone else and she didn’t want anything to do with me. At the time, I thought breaking up with her had cost me my only chance at happiness.”
Andrea’s eyebrows rose. “Why?”
“I was thirty-eight years old. Finding someone to date is difficult when most people my age are already in a relationship.”
“Having a partner doesn’t always make you happy. How do you feel now?”
He hadn’t thought about how he felt in a long time. “Content. Does that make me sound like a boring, middle-aged man who’s going slightly gray?”
That made Andrea laugh. “No. It makes you sound like someone who’s comfortable with who they are and where they are in their life.”
Some of that had to do with the woman sitting beside him, but he didn’t want to scare her away by saying anything. “If you look to your right, you’ll see the building we’re transforming into BioTech’s new research facility.”
“The old go-kart track? How on earth will you do that?”
“With a lot of help from an incredible team of architects and an even better construction company. Have you been inside the building?”
“Only for Halloween. Andy and Charlie’s school organized a fundraising party for their students straight after the go-kart track closed. The rooms were full of cobwebs, smashed crates, and too many pieces of rope dangling from the rafters.”
David parked the truck in front of the main doors. “It doesn’t look quite so spooky now. A commercial cleaning crew has removed all the trash. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you see.”
“If you say so.”
“Oh, ye of little faith.”
Andrea stepped out of the truck. “I have faith, but I prefer to know exactly what I’m dealing with. And, believe me, this building’s almost beyond redemption.”
