This was going to be a challenge.
Bracing, he walked toward her. Stopped a few feet away. “Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” There was no welcome or warmth in her inflection.
“I’ve missed you.”
Her eyebrows rose. “That’s hard to believe. You practically live at the mill. I sometimes wondered whether you’d even notice if I left without telling you.”
“Aren’t you being a little overdramatic?” He kept his tone mild, tamping down the snark he resorted to far too often these days during their exchanges.
“I have drama on my mind at the moment.” She crossed her arms, watching him. “I auditioned for the Helping Hands musical last night.”
If she’d intended to throw him for a loop, she’d succeeded.
But if he overreacted, he could shoot himself in the foot.
“I heard a few people talking about the show at the mill.” He did his best to sound conversational rather than shocked. “What made you decide to get involved?”
“I like to sing, and I did a couple of musicals in high school. It would be nice to get to know more of the people in town. Make a few friends.”
“You already have friends.”
“More like acquaintances, and they’re all in Coos Bay. Hope Harbor is our home. You may not want to socialize with the locals, but I do. I always have.”
“It’s not smart to mix business and pleasure, Diane. Quite a few of the people in town work for me. If I get too friendly and have to let someone go, it would be awkward.”
“I don’t hire and fire, so that’s not an issue for me. And since I know next to nothing about the day-to-day operation of the mill, there’s no danger I’ll let any inside information slip.”
This conversation wasn’t going anything like he’d planned.
Time for a new tack.
“How’s the new job? I texted you about it earlier in the week, but you didn’t respond.”
“I said everything I had to say last Saturday.”
She wasn’t making this easy.
Maybe the flowers would help.
He held them out. “These are for you. I know they’re your favorite.”
After a slight hesitation, she took them. “Thank you.”
Silence.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. May as well cut to the chase. “I’d like you to come home.”
“Why?” She cradled the blooms against her chest.
“You’re my wife. We took a vow to stay together until death do us part. If there are issues, we should work through them.”
Her features tightened. “If?”
Blast.
Bad choice of words.
