Her eyes were the prettiest shade of green. He had never seen eyes quite like hers before.

He nodded. “I do.”

“I’m not going to pretend to know half as much as you do, but I also want it to succeed,” she said. “I’ve been reading books, and I hired Ken, and I just want everyone to work well together.”

“I agree with that. I think it’s exciting that you hired an expert,” he said, lying through his teeth.

Ken seemed like an idiot, and Chip had hoped that he’d never have to meet him. However, if his penance for the way he’d treated Claire was to tolerate this guy, he would do it.

The waitress stopped by and immediately started gushing about Claire’s bracelets.

“Those bangles are stunning!” she said, gently touching the shining metal. “Where did you get them?”

Claire clasped her hands together and looked down admiringly at her wrist. “Thank you! They were made by an artist here on the island. I was over in Olga at that art store. Do you know the one?”

She nodded. “The Artworks, yeah. One of my friends sells her paintings there.”

Claire was busy slipping one of the bracelets off of her wrist to hand to the waitress. “Her name is inscribed on the inside there. She’s so talented.”

The waitress studied the dainty, silver bracelet, as did Chip. It had tiny, intricate designs in the metal which blended into the hammered surface.

“Gah, I love it,” the waitress said, handing it back to Claire.

Claire shook her head. “No, you keep it.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, a look of surprise crossing her face.

Claire nodded. “Yes, please. I bought too many, as you can see.”

“Well, thank you!” The waitress beamed, slipping the bracelet onto her wrist. “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you the special for today.”

Chip sat back, dazed by this interaction. Perhaps he had been outside of the feminine world for too long. It had been nearly two years since he broke up with his last girlfriend. Or rather, she had broken up with him.

Regardless, Claire’s generosity was still unusual to him. There was no way that his ex-girlfriend would have given away a bracelet like that.

Or given away anything, for that matter.

“Oh, that does sound good,” Claire said, looking at Chip.

He hadn’t been listening, so he had to respond with, “Should we order it?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

They were treated to an appetizer of fresh clams, and at Claire’s insistence, Chip talked through the aspects of his report. She listened intently as he discussed profit margins, lead time trends, group allocation, and other general principles of hotel revenue management.

Surprisingly, Claire was able to follow most of it, asking appropriate questions and clarifying terms she didn’t know.