Mason was reading something on his phone, and he lowered it and gave Sierra’s hand a firm shake. “Nice to meet you,” he said, sounding on autopilot.

“Likewise,” she replied. The tension in the air was thick, and she didn’t think it was only because of their mom’s grave situation, though that would be more than enough to make anyone unfriendly and pensive.

“Were you two out on a date?” Gabe asked as Mason went back to his phone.

“Sierra’s my boss,” Cole said emphatically. “She owns Dunn & Lowell Remodeling.”

Gabe nodded, raising his brows as if surprised to learn what she did for a living, which Sierra was used to. There was a hint of admiration in his expression as well, which she wasn’t used to.

Mason shoved his phone in his pocket and directed his attention—his somehow commanding, hard-to-ignore attention—at her.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about your company, not just from Cole,” Mason said, and she couldn’t help liking him a little. “We considered getting a bid from you when we renovated our eastside store, but Cole said you specialize in historical renovation.”

“We do, but we’ll take on just about any kind of remodeling project.” She glanced at Cole, wondering why he’d shut down their chances for what sounded like a decent bit of business.

“It was a few months ago, when we were already juggling the theater reno, the Preston project, and the Meyers project,” Cole said to her.

“Ahh. In the middle of which we were also short-handed,” she recalled. It had been a stressful couple of months, for sure, but she still would’ve bent over backwards to see what she could do to win Mason’s business—whatever that was.

“We had a limited turnaround time for the store renovations,” Gabe said, smoothing things over for Cole.

Interesting dynamics between these three, and her mind raced with questions about Cole’s family and their relationships and the business that at least two brothers were apparently involved in.

“It would’ve been a challenge, but we’re good at handling challenges,” she said to Gabe and Mason, smiling to show she had no hard feelings. She had to literally bite down on her tongue to keep from saying she would love the opportunity to help them if they had remodeling needs in the future. The ER, with a mother whose fate was in question, was not the place or time to do business.

“Good to know,” Gabe said diplomatically. “So you two were at a business function tonight or…?”

Sierra stole a look at Cole, whose jaw was taut, eyes hard as he peered toward the doors that led to the emergency department.

“Her sister got married tonight. Sierra needed a plus one. You think we’ll hear something soon?” He glanced toward the doors again, leaving no question he didn’t want to talk about their fake date.