“Look, I know we don’t know each other, and I know I have no idea what your job was or what it entailed, but they sound like assholes. Idiot assholes,” I said.

She didn’t meet my eyes, but she smiled at that. “He was kind of an asshole.”

“See? Didn’t that make you feel better to say?”

“A little,” she admitted.

“And now you can take some time off,” I continued. “Travel. Do something different. It’ll be like a blessing in disguise.”

She gave a sharp laugh at that. “Take some time off? No way. I already started working on my résumé on the flight over here. I’ll be applying to jobs as soon as I wake up in the morning. The job market sucks right now, so it might take me a while to find something. Looking for a job is even more work than actually working.”

Uptight. I knew it. This girl was in one of the most beautiful mountain towns in the world and she didn’t care at all. She could have been anywhere right now—in some bland high rise in a faceless city, or cooped up at a desk in the back of a musty library. Her surroundings were nothing because all she cared about was her career. I’d never related to anyone less. She’d come to Key Ridge to plan her next step. I’d come here because I never planned my next step. Giles had only asked me a few weeks ago, and I’d come here on impulse. I had no idea what would come after and that was fine by me.

“Sounds like you got it all figured out,” I said.

Frankie pressed her mouth into a thin line. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I shrugged. “That you’ve got your plan for your life and that’s that. You’re inflexible, rigid.” Her mouth parted to protest, but I continued. “You’re completely fine busting your ass at a nine-to-five to make someone else rich who doesn’t give a shit about you. You have this nice little routine that you’re dying to get back to. I get it, I do. I might not agree, but I know a lot of people can’t handle instability.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting stability,” she argued.

“Sure, I guess.” I knew my words were getting under her skin and I relished it. “Some people don’t have an adventurous bone in their body, and that’s okay.”

Now she looked offended. “I came here, didn’t I? I dropped everything and got on a flight without a second thought.”

I dipped my chin and gave her a pitying look. “And what are you going to do now that you’re here? Sit in front of a computer screen and find the next job to suck your soul away.”

“Burger and fries.” The bartender interrupted us to hand me a brown paper bag with grease soaking the bottom.

“Well, Frankie. It was lovely to meet you, but I have a date with this burger and my couch to get to.”