She wasn’t an expert on men or dating, but they had definitely shared a moment.

Of course the moment had been interrupted. But what if it hadn’t? Would he have kissed her? Would she have kissed him back? And what the hell would it have meant? She’d caught his stare a few times the day before, but she’d assumed it was simply gratitude about her offer to help Marissa that had his expression softening and his grumbling over her upgrades to subside.

Was there more to it than that?

All night, she’d driven herself to distraction wondering. Unfortunately, that morning, he’d been back to his old self, focused on the job.

“Okay, show me what you’ve been working on,” she said as Marissa set her own stuff down.

Marissa opened her account on Android Studio and typed in her access code and password. Immediately, her app in Kotlin language appeared on the screen.

Impressive. She’d thought the little girl would be using some kid-friendly coding program, not the highest-level-technology app-building system on the market. She moved her chair closer to examine Marissa’s work. “This is really good,” she said.

Marissa beamed. “Really?”

“Yeah. Like almost ready to go to market good,” Sarah said. She turned to look at Marissa. “Where did you learn to do this?”

“I took a few courses at school…but mostly I taught myself. A lot of reading and playing around with the program.”

“Well, you must be a fast learner. What are you, ten?”

“Almost,” she said.

“Honestly, I think other than a few bugs we might have to work out, this looks ready to test…” She hesitated. She’d wrongfully assumed that she’d need to coach and direct the kid. She had made a list of things to teach her the night before, but Marissa was far more advanced than Sarah had thought.

“So what should we work on?” Marissa asked.

Good question. She wanted to offer Marissa some value to this experience, not just pick her brain for the SmartTech app. “Um, what about updating your dad’s website?” She didn’t even need to visit it to know it could probably use some work. Wes didn’t strike her as someone who updated and maintained an online presence.

“What website?” Marissa asked, her tone conveying her own disdain.

“He doesn’t have a site?” Sarah needed to sit down. She pulled up a chair at her desk. “How is he getting business?” Was he taking out ads in the Blue Moon Bay Gazette or advertising on the bowling alley display screens?