“No, I think she trusts me.”
She set her fork down. “But admit it, I’m doing a good job of it, aren’t I? It’s turning out nicely. And we’re getting close to finishing. Then I just need to make sure I have the opening play lined up… and I almost do. We’ll have a grand opening. Then we’ll open it up for other events.”
“It will be nice to have another larger venue for town events. We’ve mostly been using the large gazebo in the city park for events since the theater closed.”
“Why did it close?”
“I think repairs and upkeep got too expensive. The owner died, and his kids inherited it and had no interest in putting money into it.”
“And you didn’t want to try to fundraise money from the town to open it?”
He looked at her, his eyes hard and shuttered. “Nope. Not a chance. Not after the lighthouse.”
How many times was she going to have to change the subject tonight? Instead, she dug into her dinner as the silence grew between them.
They finished their meals with just a bit of small talk between them. He started to pay for both of them, but she insisted on paying her half.
When they stepped outside, the night sky greeted them, now speckled with stars and a bright moon hovering over the water, casting silvery light over the tops of the waves. She turned to him. “Thanks for inviting me to come along. It was nice having company for a meal.”
He nodded. “I’ll walk you home.”
“You don’t have to.”
“And yet, I do. That’s how I was raised.”
They fell into step again, and this time, he kept his stride shorter and slower as they walked down the boardwalk. They cut across to her apartment and walked up the steps of the porch.
“Well, good night, then. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Night.” He stepped back and started to turn, then stopped. “Hey, Tori. Thanks for joining me.” And with that, he trotted down the stairs and off down the sidewalk.
She slowly climbed the stairs to her apartment and unlocked the door. As she stepped inside, the now familiar apartment welcomed her.
It had been an… interesting… night. Gavin was an enigma. Sometimes grumpy, sometimes helpful, sometimes secretive.
But then, she had secrets of her own, didn’t she?
Gavin slowly walked back to his home. He passed a few other people, some who said hello, some who barely nodded. That had been his lot in this town since the whole lighthouse episode.
But that hadn’t really been his fault. His words had been twisted. The media could say whatever they wanted and some people blindly believed it.
He couldn’t change that. At least Miss Eleanor had stood up for him. And he appreciated that. He still remembered the day she strode into his shop.
“Gavin, those people are idiots. Don’t pay any attention to them.”
He’d looked up in surprise.
“Those people have a way of twisting things around. Try to ignore it all. I believe you.” Then she’d turned and walked out the door. Slowly, some of the people in the town had come around. But some of them? They still distrusted him.
But now, he always avoided the media. If he heard the paper was covering something, he wouldn’t show up. He knew all too well that some people in the media would just make things up to sell their news. It had happened to him twice now, and he’d learned his lesson the hard way.
He took a deep breath and shoved his thoughts away. He continued his leisurely pace, enjoying the warm evening breeze and the scent of the salty air.
His thoughts slipped back to dinner with Tori. He felt like she was holding back something about herself. But then, he was reserved too, so how could he blame her?
He had come to respect her work ethic. Things were really coming along nicely. And she wasalmostas detail-oriented as he was. At least she didn’t call him picky, like most people. She understood him.
He got to his house and went inside, flipping on the lamp near the door. The low light barely illuminated the room, but he was okay with that. He crossed to the fridge, pulled out a beer, then headed out to the deck. He sank onto a chair and took a swallow of the cold liquid.
