Getting her hopes up would be foolish, though. This wasn’t a romantic rendezvous. How cozy could a beach picnic get with a child in tow?

Spirits deflating, she sank into one of the folding chairs. “Hannah will like that.”

“Hannah won’t be there.”

What?

She vaulted to her feet again. “I thought you didn’t like to leave her alone.”

“I don’t. She and that boy Beth and Steve brought to the festival hit it off at the sandcastle session yesterday. They invited her to join them for a pizza party tonight. I planned to have a threesome for our celebration, but I didn’t want to tell her no. She could use a friend her own age.”

Oh.

He hadn’t intended for this to be a date.

Her spirits plummeted again.

On the bright side, though, a date by default was better than no date at all, right?

And one of these days, if she stayed the course, Jack would come around.

At least she hoped so.

Because as she’d realized over the past few weeks, she’d never stopped loving him. She may have convinced herself she’d moved on after he left, that she hadn’t cared as much as she thought she had, but that had been denial, pure and simple. Deep in her heart—even in her self-centered days—she’d recognized goodness and grace when it had crossed her path.

And after all that had happened during the intervening years, she not only appreciated it even more—she was finally worthy of it.

Perhaps in time, if she continued to earn his trust, Jack would recognize that.

“Christi?”

“Yes.” She refocused. “I’m here.”

“So what do you think?”

“I’m glad Hannah connected with Noah. Beth’s brought him to the shop on a couple of occasions. He seems like a nice boy.”

“I meant about the picnic.”

Did he sound a bit anxious? Like he was glad to have an opportunity to get her alone and hoped she’d say yes?

She rolled her eyes. You’d think she’d sat in on the acting masterclass Katherine Parker had taught, with all this melodramatic musing.

The wise course was to take his invitation at face value and see where it led.

“I could be persuaded—as long as you won’t be insulted if I doze off while we’re eating.” Like that would happen. The electricity in the air whenever they were together would keep sleep at bay. But better to be lighthearted about this or he might think she was reading more into the invite than he intended.

“No offense will be taken. Why don’t I swing by the cottage around six and pick you up?”

Two hours. That would give her breathing space to chill for a while and take care of a few important matters—like redoing her hair and touching up her makeup.

“That works. What can I bring?”