Riley came around the corner from the office then to confirm how many openers we needed on Saturday mornings.

With my eyes darting outside, I answered and then looked over the tablet screen where she’d been finalizing the schedule. “Looks like you’ve got it,” I said. “Any other questions for me?”

“Yeah. Who’s out on the deck?”

I shot a look toward Chloe. Even though I had no idea whether I had anything to smile about, I couldn’t help a half grin when I said, “My wife.”

“Why don’t you let me finish up tonight. Go sit with your wife. You look like you’ve been through some kind of war zone.”

I laughed because that was an apt description of how I’d felt all weekend.

“You comfortable with everything?” I asked.

“I am. You comfortable with me doing it?”

“Hundred percent.” I pointed out the last couple of cleaning tasks behind the bar to her. “Thanks, Riley.”

At the glass door to the giant deck that doubled our dining capacity for more than half the year, I paused, my eyes locking on Chloe. She was in profile, her hair thrown up as haphazardly as I’d seen it. She wore cutoff shorts that allowed me to feast my eyes on those sexy slender legs of hers, an old, stretched out T-shirt that I could swear had Mickey Mouse on it, and old rubber flip-flops. My insides went liquid at the sight of this gorgeous woman. I couldn’t deny that I had equal parts fear and hope taking root. Surely if she meant to end things officially, she wouldn’t do it here in public.

As I pushed out the door, the movement must have caught her eye. She turned and met my gaze. I studied her face, trying to ascertain whether this conversation would be happy or devastating, but she gave nothing away. Not so much as a smile until I pulled out the chair next to her and nodded to it in question. Then the corners of her lips tipped upward in a faint polite smile that could’ve been for any random server or stranger. Not so much for her husband.

My uneasiness increased as I sat down.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi,” she replied on an exhale. She averted her eyes as I drank in her features, noticing they were makeup free—and so pretty.

“Did you order something?”

“Just this.” She held up her water. “I told them I was waiting for you to get off work. Can we walk toward the water?”

“Of course.”

The tension between us was not the good kind. We were acting like two people on a blind date instead of a married couple, and it had my concern level ratcheting up sky-high.