I smiled at the beautiful woman. “It’s nice to meet you.”
She smiled. “You too.”
“Do you have a moment to sit?” he asked.
“Sure. What can I do for you?”
Michael looked at me as I pulled a chair out to join them. “I wanted to let you know I have all the blueprints and models. I’m ready to take over the formal build plans when you’re ready.”
I took in a shallow breath and looked at my hands. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Just send the bill to my accountant.”
We sat there a moment before he spoke again. “I know this is none of my business, and if I hadn’t gotten to know Nick like I do, I would stay out of it. But if it were Kristin and I in your situation, I’d hope someone would give us a nudge. So consider this your nudge. He’d been looking for internships in the Seattle area, but nothing was available for him. He planned to tell you after the presentation. We’d actually talked about it the day before.”
If Michael knew all this, he probably knew how he was. It was okay to check on him, right? “Is he okay?”
He shrugged. “It was pretty bad the first day. And now, I guess he’s as well as can be expected when your world implodes.”
I rubbed my eyes. A headache was forming that would surely keep me up tonight. “I need to go talk to him.”
“Yeah, you do. But you’re gonna have to wait a while.”
I frowned. “Why? Where is he?”
“San Diego.”
I blinked at him as the sorrow set in. Did he turn to Evan when I broke us? I brought my closed fist to my mouth to stifle a sob from escaping. Clearing my throat, I took a deep breath and raised my head. “I guess that’s it then.”
“Not necessarily. I still think you need to talk to him.” Michael wrapped his arm around his fiancée.
“Enjoy your dinner.”
“Thank you,” he said.
As I walked back to the kitchen, I stopped Mark and told him to comp their dinner at the end of the evening. It’s the least I could do to thank him.
I had some thinking to do.
CHAPTER31
NICK
I saton the beach in Oceanside, looking at the late afternoon sun. It was beautiful here, and warmer than Portland in January. Living here would be easy to adjust to, and the sun on my face infused me with warmth I hadn’t felt in well over a week.
My interview had gone well, considering I hadn’t had much sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, Preston’s face flooded my mind. Memories of everything we’d been through and the stupid mistake I’d made.
I forced a smile when Evan sat down beside me on the sand. His long legs were bent at the knees and his shaggy hair was a mess in the breeze.
“You need a haircut,” I teased, reaching over to ruffle his light brown hair with golden highlights. They were natural from all the time he spent in the sun.
He leaned toward me and laughed. “Yeah, probably so.” He raked his hand through them, then winked at me. “But it’s good for picking up.”
I smiled, but didn’t want to talk about that, so I let it go and averted my gaze back to the water. My heart was heavy, and Evan would understand. We’d suffered through it together once, but maybe it wasn’t fair of me to bring up another man to him.
“I’m surprised you called. I’m glad you did—but still surprised.”
I ran my fingers through the soft sand and nodded. “Yeah, me too. We were always friends. And I guess I just needed…I know it’s not fair to you. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
I released a weighted sigh.
