her eyes were soft with emotions that made a weird lump rise in his throat. “Dreams change. Lives change. We have to do our best to adapt. What we think we want or need isn’t always the best thing for us.”
“Are you saying you don’t think Alexandra should have opened the restaurant?”
“Oh, no. Not at all! She has been working for this since she came back from culinary training in Europe more than a decade ago. She had many chances to have her own restaurant but none of them seemed right for her until now. I just hope...” Her voice trailed off. “I hope it makes her happy.”
He had to wonder if others could see the loneliness that seemed to twine around her like an ugly scarf she couldn’t untie.
“I get the feeling Alex thinks the name of the restaurant is particularly self-descriptive,” Claire said after a moment. “Brazen. She likes to think she’s tough, bold.”
“You think otherwise.”
Claire was quiet for a moment while silverware and glasses clinked and the conversation murmured around them. “She just might be the most vulnerable person I know, with the biggest heart. Even that bold, brave girl in first grade had a soft spot for someone she perceived as weaker than she was.”
If he wasn’t careful, he was going to end up falling very, very hard for that particular bold, brave girl. The same girl who couldn’t seem to go five minutes without telling him all the reasons they couldn’t be together.
To avoid spending too much time thinking about that depressing reality, he said, “I understand you’re the person I need to talk to about volunteering to help out with the Giving Hope Day in a few weeks.”
The change of subject worked just as he hoped. Claire’s soft, pretty features lit up. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “Oh, can I put a man with your skills to work!”
She launched into an explanation of some of the projects on tap that year while the efficient servers cleared away dessert. He listened to her with half an ear while he tried to puzzle out the mystery of Alexandra and his growing feelings for her.
She was the only woman who had evoked even a glimmer of interest in him since Kelli died. If his interest were only a glimmer, he could deal, but this was becoming a tidal wave of hunger and, yes, tenderness.
He was beginning to care deeply for her. Meanwhile, she sent him sweet little notes to make him smile and she kissed him with her whole heart, all while insisting they couldn’t have a relationship.
What was a guy supposed to do with that?
He had a few ideas—and a few plans—but he was very much afraid he was spinning his wheels. Stubbornness was another of her traits.
He sipped at his wine, wondering why it suddenly had an edge of bitterness to it.
* * *
THE DIGITAL READOUT on her dashboard clock read one-fifteen when she finally drove down Currant Creek Valley Road toward home.
Her neighbors slept, their lights out and their window shades closed against the beauty of the May night. They were missing this perfect night, she thought.
How long had she been a night owl? Forever, maybe. Even when she was a kid, she remembered waking up in the room she shared with Maura and sneaking downstairs to watch a scary movie on TV at a rare time when she didn’t have to share the remote and the viewing choices with five siblings.
Her mom used to say she couldn’t sleep because she was too afraid she was going to miss something.
That had been another thing she had shared with her father. No matter how low she turned the television set, even when she was sitting right in front of it with the sound almost off, he would still sometimes hear and come downstairs in his plaid pajamas.
He never yelled at her to go to bed, even on school nights. Sometimes he would pop a batch of popcorn or she would come up with some kind of elaborate snack and they would nosh while they watched the end.
Riley or Maura would sometimes join them but Maura always preferred having a book in her hand to watching television and Ri often fell asleep midmovie, something he still tended to do.
Maybe that’s why she loved this quiet time, when most of the world slept. It reminded her of a happy period in her childhood when she felt important and cherished and safe.
She pulled up in front of her house and