“The sense of disaster always lurking around the corner. I think that’s part of the reason you left. Fixated on the downside of staying. Never saw the positive. You shot down a good many of my ideas in high school.”

She cocked her head. “Do you blame me?”

“To be fair, no. But that’s why we need each other. I need someone to keep me throttled back, and you need someone to push you out of first gear.”

“I’m not stuck in first gear.”

“You went to New York. Points for you. Then you landed a job and stayed in the same place for over twelve years. Why didn’t you move around?”

“I liked it.”

He raised a brow. “You didn’t have any other offers?”

“Sure, but I kept getting promoted.”

“Did you get any richer?”

“Not exactly. But few people in the restaurant business get rich.”

“You found a safe place, and you stayed.” He held up his hands.

She’d found a new family, and she’d refused to let them down like she had Matthew and Dani.

“It wasn’t wasted time,” he continued. “You built a fantastic reputation. You’re a better chef for it.”

“You’re saying I was too scared to venture out.”

“Not scared. But you’re like Ruth. You find something that works, and then you stick with it until the bitter end.”

Somewhere an arrow hit a bull’s-eye. “If this is your idea of a sales job . . .”

“We could make this happen.”

Even if it was only to prove him wrong, she would need to see his business plan, discuss his financing, inspect the building . . .

He grinned. “I can hear your mind turning.”

She finished off her beer.

“I’ll take that as a maybe,” he said.

“I didn’t say yes.”

“You didn’t say no.”

She stared into her empty beer mug, reminding herself that cracking the door to this was dangerous. If she said yes to Matthew, she’d live the rest of her life right here. “Do you have anything in writing I can look at?”

His grin broadened. “I sure do.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN DANI

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DANI

Saturday, January 22, 2022, 10:00 a.m.

The text soured an already overcast day. Dani hated the grays, which drained all the color from the world and not only ruined her view of the Currituck Sound from her sunporch but always dampened her mood. Color signaled life and vitality and transformed the two dimensional into three.

She typed back a response. No worries. I’ll figure something else out. One way or another, she’d find a ride into Norfolk.

Dani looked toward Ruth’s seascape, which hung on the wall facing her desk. She had never seen this painting before but guessed Ruth had created it shortly before the big storm. She had mingled and then transferred her frustrations, emotions, and talents onto the canvas.