She shuffled the papers into a pile and set them on her lap. “Thanks to the material you provided, she kept herself occupied at the shop. After I closed, we went back to the cottage, and while I fixed dinner she explored the yard—but I kept her in sight from the kitchen window. She not only ate her whole meal, she asked for more. After we cleaned up and came back here, she was ready for bed.”

Jack gaped at her. “She ate all her dinner?”

“Yes.”

“What did you feed her?”

“Spaghetti. Tasha gave me a fabulous recipe for sauce.”

Recipe?

“You mean—you cook? The sauce wasn’t from a jar?” The kind he used, on the rare occasion he fixed dinner for himself at the apartment.

“No, it wasn’t from a jar, and yes, I cook—a little. Thanks to Tasha.” She stood and settled the stack of papers in the crook of her arm. “I should go.”

Yeah, she should—and he should let her. A fast exit dovetailed with his safety plan.

Instead, he found himself motioning toward the papers. “What’s all that?”

Bad move.

The longer she stayed, the more trouble he could get into.

But he could handle a slight delay.

Maybe.

Her brow creased. “It’s for a project I’m working on. I was going to talk to you about it—but it’s getting late.”

“I’m wide awake. Will it take long?”

“No. But I’m not as awake as you are—and I want to be able to put forth a convincing argument.” The corners of her lips rose, but indecision clouded her irises.

“Now you have me intrigued.”

She regarded him for several seconds. Exhaled. “If you want to sit for a few minutes, I guess we can talk about it tonight. I’ll leave the choice up to you.”

He should let her go. Pick this up in daylight—or by phone.

Again, he throttled the voice of logic and claimed the closest chair. “Let’s do it tonight.”

After a moment, she retook her seat on the couch. “Have you heard anything about the masterclass festival being planned in town for June?”

“The what?” He usually picked up on news during his patrols, but this nugget of intel had escaped him.

“I’ll take that as a no.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, much like Hannah did when she was nervous. “Let me try to give you the condensed version.”

He listened without interrupting while she filled him in—and as the scale of the task she’d taken on began to register, he frowned. Impressive as her idea was, it would require a huge amount of time and energy to pull off—and she already had multiple jobs. Plus, she was new in town and still learning about both Hope Harbor and its residents. She didn’t have the connections to pull this off, despite her admirable intent.