Page 162 of At First Catch

Barely.

My uneasiness sharpens.

Me

That bad?

Nolan

How I expect all investor meetings to go.

Oh.

My fingers hover over the screen.

There are a dozen questions I could ask, but none of them feel right over text. So I grab the food and walk toward him.

His phone is still in his hand when my footsteps reach the dock. He turns when he hears the boards creak. The tension in his face eases the second he sees me.

“You drove here?” he asks when I reach him.

“Someone has to make sure you eat.”

It never occurs to me not to come. Taking care of people is almost muscle memory now. Sometimes I wonder when it stopped feeling like a choice.

A subtle change flickers across his face. That look he gets whenever I do something ordinary and he reacts as though I’ve handed him more than he knows how to accept. I step close enough for our shoulders to brush. Some of the stiffness leaves his body.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

My brows lift.

“That sounds fake.”

A tired laugh escapes him.

There he is.

Only for a second, but I’ll take it.

I set the takeout bags on the bench beside us, then lean against the railing.

The marina glows around us beneath the fading light. Warm wind moves across the bay, carrying the smell of saltwater and fuel and whatever someone is grilling farther down the dock.

Usually, Nolan looks like he belongs here so completely that it’s impossible to separate the man from the place.

Tonight he looks like he’s carrying every square foot of it on his back.

“What happened?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

He looks across the marina before answering.

“They want to expand.”

The heaviness in his voice tells me this isn’t the good kind of expansion.

“What does that mean?”