“I know you didn’t. But just the same. I’d like to do this for you.”

Something akin to discomfort settled in my gut again. Not full-on discomfort. More like a distant cousin. A niggling. A tiny seed of a thought that, spurred by our earlier nanosecond of connection, was beginning to take root. I’d like to do this . . . for you, Simon had said. For me.

“Hey, can I ask you a question about Jamie?” I blurted out.

Simon paused, one foot already in his car. “Sure,” he said.

It was impulsive. But somehow in my messed-up brain, it felt like mentioning Jamie would make the weirdness in my gut disappear. “I, um, do you know of any restaurants he likes? He’s been working so much, I thought I might take him dinner this week. Surprise him, you know?”

Simon nodded. “I’m sure he’d appreciate that. Let me think a second.” He shrugged out of his suit coat, which had to have been hot in the early August heat, and laid it across the backseat of his car. “Oh, I’ve got it. There’s this Vietnamese place over on Franklin Street. I don’t remember the name, but I could look it up for you. I don’t think Jamie’s ever been there, but a client recommended it to me the other day.”

“And you think Jamie would like it?”

“Yes. Absolutely. All Jamie talked about when he first got home from his mission was pho. I bet he’d love it if you took him some.” Jamie had served in Anaheim, primarily among the Vietnamese who lived in the area. Funny we’d never talked about the food. I guess not liking sushi didn’t necessarily mean a distaste for Asian cuisine in general.

“That is an amazing idea.”

“Good. I can text you the name of the place if you want.”

“Yes, please. That would be awesome.”

“Will do,” he said. He waved one last time as he pulled out of the parking lot, the loose gravel crunching under his tires.

I watched him drive away but wished I hadn’t. I wished I’d turned and gone back inside without giving him a second thought. Instead, he was getting a second, third, and fourth thought. It wasn’t good. I stood in the center of the sidewalk just outside the inn’s office entrance and forced Karen into my mind, imagining her and Simon together. I didn’t know anything about her, but it was easy to picture her as beautiful and intelligent and totally worthy of a Hamilton brother’s affection.