missing his point. “Keep it. Come on by opening night. First glass of wine is on the house for local business owners.”
Darcy crumpled the slip of paper in his fist. “Thanks, but I’ll be working, keeping my customers happy so they don’t all end up at your wine bar.”
Wayne laughed. “Hey, you’re a funny guy. I can see we’re going to be friends.” He started to go inside then paused. “Not a lot of parking around here, is there? Mostly just lining the street.”
“It’s not usually a problem at night. There’s an overflow lot farther down, next to the dog park.”
“I don’t want people to have to walk too far, especially if it’s raining.” He tipped his head, a calculating gleam in his eye. “You’ve got parking behind the pub, don’t you?”
“It’s a small lot.” And it was his. He’d bought the land, had it paved and marked, and he maintained it for his customers. “It fills quickly with pub customers.”
“Right.” Wayne cocked a finger and pointed it at Darcy. “Gotcha.”
Darcy stepped away. “I’ll let you go. I’m sure, like me, you have plenty to do.”
He walked back to the pub fuming. The man’s friendly-like-a-shark demeanor was annoying. What really got Darcy’s goat was Wayne’s shifty and calculating account of the way he’d come to Summerside for a tax dodge and was deliberately going after a rich clientele.
Really? Darcy brought himself up short. Wasn’t that how successful businessmen operated? Not him, of course. He wasn’t cutthroat. He liked to make a living doing a job he enjoyed and seeing his customers happy.
Maybe that wasn’t enough anymore. For the first time, he had to admit, he was a tad worried.
* * *
THIRTY-SIX YEARS OLD. She was practically Methuselah. Emma splashed cold water on her face after work, resisting the urge to flop on the couch and watch trashy reality TV. In spite of her fatigue, she really didn’t want to miss her birthday party.
Going to the new wine bar in Summerside was Alana’s idea. Emma didn’t feel right about patronizing Darcy’s competition. Not that he had anything to worry about. The pub did a roaring business, if his constant presence there when they were married was anything to go by. Besides, Darcy wasn’t worried. He never worried about anything.
She, on the other hand, worried about everything. And she had good reason to. What had possessed her to begin a master’s degree and continue to work while she was pregnant? The hospital was okay with her taking time off for the birth—that was part of maternity leave. But university continued regardless of major life events like having a baby. She had three exams at the end of the month and a major term paper due the same week the baby was due.
Add in that she was as big as a house and tired to boot and life was catching up with her. All she wanted to do was crawl beneath the covers and go to sleep for a week. Instead she had to put on makeup and something nice to wear and go out to a wine bar on opening night. She couldn’t drink. It would be crowded and noisy. What was Alana thinking?
She sighed. Alana was no doubt thinking Emma and her friends would love the wine bar. Her sister had gone to a lot of trouble to make Emma’s birthday special. Tracey had let it slip there was a cake, prearranged with the owner to be delivered to their table while the jazz pianist played a cool rendition of the birthday song.
As wonderful as it sounded, it all felt like too much. Too many people, too much noise, too much entertainment. There would be a million people there besides her small group of friends and her sister.
But she couldn’t let Alana down. They’d grown close again in the past six months, spending regular evenings together, just the two of them. Alana seemed as committed as Emma was to repairing their relationship. They even went grocery shopping together. Emma loved the time they spent by themselves, plus it meant she didn’t have to lie to Dave about Alana going to work.
When she’d talked to Alana earlier in the week her sister had hinted at some news. She wouldn’t go into detail over the phone, and Emma couldn’t tell if she was excited or anxious because she was whispering so Dave didn’t hear her.
Emma dried off and went into her bedroom to dress. Darcy’s card stood on her dresser along with the