Page 19 of Summer Refresh

“How about a burger at the Purple Guppy?”

Her stomach growled its approval. “And onion rings? They make the best.”

“Of course.”

He was a man after her own stomach. Maybe there were some good qualities to the guy—even if he had devastated her sister.

The ride to the Purple Guppy was quiet. She glanced around, wondering who would see her in Kent’s cart and once more start gossiping about them going to dinner together. Not that there was anything to their dinner. It was strictly for business purposes.

Luckily for her, not many people were out and about. Most were probably at home or grabbing a bite to eat.

Every now and then, her gaze would stray to the left and land on Kent. He’d grown even more handsome over the years, and he’d certainly filled out. Then, realizing she was staring, she glanced away.

Her gaze landed on a utility pole. There was a colorful poster on it announcing Bluestar’s Concert on the Beach Summer Spectacular. It was the same weekend as the Carrington wedding. Instead of having another two-day event, they’d decided to cut it back to one day. She hadn’t decided if she’d be attending or not.

The cart slowed down. With it being later in the evening, there was parking right in front of the restaurant. And they were seated immediately.

She glanced around at the purple, black, and white decor. But it was the large aquariums that caught and held her attention. She loved watching the colorful fish swimming through the elaborately decorated tanks.

“It doesn’t matter how many times I come in here,” she said, “I always find something new that I hadn’t noticed before. Like that orange fish painted on the wall. I swear that wasn’t there the last time I was here.”

He smiled as he checked out the fish she was pointing to. “Do you always notice things like that?”

She nodded. “I really like their decor. It’s fun. And their food is even better.”

The server arrived at their table with two glasses of water. “Do you need more time to look at the menu?”

They simultaneously said no. They ended up with the same order: burgers and onion rings.

After the server walked off to place their order, a silence settled over their table. Earlier that day they’d both been so busy painting and working that their conversation was mostly based on their work. But now she wasn’t sure what to talk to him about. She honestly didn’t know that much about him.

“Do you come here often?” she asked.

He leaned back. “Not that much. I normally order pizza. I like it because there’s leftovers for the next day or two.”

She picked up a display card in the center of the table. It had a picture of what looked to be a delicious chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. “Mm… Maybe we should get this for dessert.” She turned the card around for him to see. “We could share it.”

Kent shook his head. “I don’t like chocolate.”

“Are you serious?” She didn’t know anyone who didn’t like chocolate—well, at least until now.

He nodded. “I know I’m strange.”

“Not strange. Just different.”

The awkward silence quickly returned. He certainly wasn’t a big conversationalist. Maybe she just needed to tackle the elephant in the room. It wasn’t like she hadn’t wanted to bring up the subject of her sister earlier that day. It just never seemed like the right time.

“So what happened between you and my sister? One minute you guys were spending every weekend together and then nothing.” She wanted to say that he’d skipped out on her sister the evening of their cousin’s wedding. It had been the talk at the reception. And by morning, the gossip mill in Bluestar had spread it all over town.

He looked at her. His eyes were unreadable. “I wondered how long it’d be until you brought up the subject again.”

“And how did I do?”

“Actually, you held out longer than I thought you would.”

She noticed he was avoiding answering her question. And she had to ask herself why. It had happened a long time ago. Why hadn’t her sister or Kent cleared the air and explained what had happened between them.

“So what’s the answer?” She couldn’t just let it go now that they were working together.

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