A few minutes later, she led him into my office, just as I was hanging up the phone. She paused in the doorway long enough to give me an appraising nod and two thumbs up. “I’m going to head out now,”she said. “I think we’ve accomplished all we can for the night. I’ll check on Ida, but then I’m out.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

April smiled at Jamie. “It was nice to meet you.”

He nodded. “You too.” He turned his attention back to me.

I was nervous. Too nervous. It had been so long since I’d actually done any real dating. I felt completely out of practice.

“Quiet place,” he said.

“Unusually so right now. The inn’s been closed the past couple of weeks.”

“Really? What for?”

I filled him in on Thornton’s death and my less-than-conventional start to my new job. Terrible first-date material, but at least I wasn’t stuttering. Or drooling.

“And you had no idea until you got here?”

“Not at all. We open back up tomorrow. Hopefully things will settle into a normal routine soon. The past few days have been totally crazy.”

We stood in the middle of my office for several seconds just staring at each other. He looked good. Dark jeans. A navy-blue polo. Hair kind of on-purpose messy.

“You look really great, Lane.”

I liked the way he said my name. “Thank you. I feel a little worse for wear after my very long day, but I’ll take it.”

He held up the bags and motioned to the sitting area off to the side. “Should we eat over here?”

“Yeah, this is perfect.”

He unloaded the bags of food, handing me a water bottle, a napkin, and a set of chopsticks. Already, I started to feel a little more relaxed. Jamie had a very easy way about him, and it quickly spilled over to me. I settled into my chair. “So I’m going to warn you,” I said, pointing my chopsticks in his direction. “I’m somewhat of a sushi connoisseur. There was this place in Berkeley that was so fantastic. It’s turned me into a big-time snob because nothing is ever as good.”

He gave me a sideways glance. “You know I didn’t make the sushi, right? I just picked it up.”

“Yes, but you ordered it,” I said with a grin. “I’m just saying. I hope you chose wisely.”

“The pressure is on, then, huh?” He handed me a tray, and I pried off the lid. The roll was gorgeous. It looked like a shrimp tempura roll but fancier, topped with slivers of avocado and mango, dressed with tiny caviar and drizzled with shrimp sauce.

It took only a few bites for me to decide I was gloriously happy about my sushi. “This is amazing,” I said. “What is it?”