“I think he might be.”
“That’d be cool. I always liked him. It’s been nice having him around again, even if I hate the reason.”
“Same. All right, carry on, pal. I’ll see you at five, I hope.”
“I’ll try to get there.”
“Sounds good.”
Mac zipped his coat against the frigid blast of air coming from the Salt Pond, which was frothy with whitecaps. In the summer, the pond was so packed with boats, you could barely see the other side. Now, there wasn’t a single boat to be found. Mac looked forward to this time of year, when the marina was all but shut down and he could focus on the construction business.
He worked hard all fall to get projects to the point where he and his guys could work inside during the coldest part of the winter. They had several renovations going and were finishing the inside of the wedding facility at the alpaca farm this winter.
Back in his truck, he read a text to their family group chat from Grant. Marion Martinez passed away.
“Aw, shit,” Mac said as he sent a text to Alex and Paul. So sorry to hear about your mom. She was a great lady who was always so much fun to be around. Let us know if there’s anything we can do for you.
He sent another text to Grant and Morgan, confirming their five o’clock meeting.
Looking forward to it, Morgan replied.
Same, Grant said.
Me, too. Invited Luke Harris to join us.
Great, Morgan said. See you then.
* * *
Morgan stashed his phone in the back pocket of his jeans and opened the electric panel that powered Sierra’s studio and her apartment upstairs. As he worked, he had to stifle a yawn, realizing he was getting far too old for a mostly sleepless night. Not that it hadn’t been worth every second of lost sleep. It’d been more than worth it.
Sierra was everything he’d spent his adult life looking for without even knowing it. She was fun, funny, smart, witty, sexy as fuck and easy to talk to. If he wasn’t careful, he might fall in love with her.
Would that be so terrible?
Not at all, but her whole life was here, and so he needed to figure out if he could handle living on the island full time. He looked forward to hearing what Mac and the others had to say about making the transition to full-time island life.
He quickly determined that Sierra’s building needed to be completely rewired because everything about her panel and setup was outdated and out of current code. She was lucky she hadn’t had a fire.
When he went to find her, he followed the sound of her voice to the lobby, where she was on the phone with one of her suppliers, placing an order.
She smiled at him. “Nope. That’s everything. Thank you.” After she ended the call, she made a check on her list. “I’m getting it done today. How’s it going back there?”
“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
“Give me the good.”
“Your building hasn’t burned down.”
“Jeez. If that’s the good news, what’s the bad?”
“You need a complete rewiring with all-new circuit breakers.”
Her throat bobbed when she swallowed hard. “How much will that cost?”
“About five thousand for materials. Labor is free.”
She winced. “You have to let me pay you something!”
