“Hey, there. Sorry to interrupt. I thought I might catch you before you went to lunch. I just dropped something off for your grandfather. Truthfully, I could have mailed it, but I wanted an excuse to say hello.”

“Hi! How are you?”

He smiled. “I’m good. Really good. Any chance you might want to grab some lunch?”

“I’d love to…I was about to call the restaurant, actually. We can just go down there, if that works.”

“Works for me.”

A few minutes later they were seated by the window and once they put their orders in, David continued to surprise her.

“So, I have some news. I’m not just visiting. I’ve moved back to Nantucket.”

“For good?” Paula couldn’t believe it.

“Yes. I rented a condo downtown and I’m going to rent an office at my dad’s law firm.”

“What will you be doing?”

“Well, I was miserable in Kansas City, and I had a lot of time on my hands to research possible business ideas. I approached it like it was a consulting gig for one of my clients and I’m pretty excited about what I came up with. I’m going to do consulting still, but focus on Nantucket and Boston and New York clients, and I’m also going to develop a series of educational trainings that hotels can use for new employees. There’s a real need for it and it lines up with my area of expertise. It’s also something I can do from anywhere.”

Paula was impressed. “David, that sounds really great. Your parents must be thrilled.”

“They are. Especially my dad. He likes the idea of having me in the office and just having me around. My mother seems enthusiastic but I’m not sure she really understands it the same way. But that’s okay. I’ll still be able to see her more often and that’s the main thing.”

“I think that’s wonderful.”

When their meals came, they chatted as they ate, and Paula caught him up on everyone that they knew and on Bella and Nick’s engagement.

“They seemed like a great couple. I’m glad they were able to find a way to be together.”

When they finished, David insisted on paying the check and walked her back to her office.

“So, there’s one more thing,” he said as she was about to walk through her door.

“What’s that?”

“Well, now that I’m back here and we’re not working together, how would you feel like getting dinner, possibly tomorrow night?”

She smiled. “I’d love that.”

“Good. Oh, and there’s also this…” He leaned over and kissed her lightly. And it was every bit as good as she’d imagined it would be. He grinned. “I’ve kind of wanted to do that for a while.”