“I want that job, but I want it to be in New York.”
“Is that an option?” Mary asked.
“No. It’s an in-office job. No remote work.”
“So, you’d move to Washington?” Harper asked.
“I don’t know,” Dot replied.
“So, this is more complicated than just what you and Danny will do?” Mary hit the nail on the head.
“Yes.”
“Perhaps you’re making it more complicated than it needs to be,” Mary said as she signaled the waiter for the bill.
“Well, things get easier, especially if Danny is dating other women,” Dot said.
“You don’t know that he’s dating other women,” Harper interjected.
“I saw what I saw.”
“Maybe you’re telling yourself that’s what you saw without even asking him about it,” Mary said. “Like you’re trying to talk yourself out of being in love with him and looking for an easy way out.”
“Ouch.” Dot felt hurt.
Mary reached over and took Dot’s hand. “You don’t have to have everything planned out, you know.”
“But I must have some sort of plan. I need a job. I have bills to pay. I need to get my life going.” Dot was spiraling.
“Shall we go home and get some sleep. See how things look in the morning?” Mary started to put on her coat and the waiter came over to help her into it.
“Thank you, you’re such a gentleman.” She bestowed a smile on him and rested her hand gently on his shoulder, making his day.
Harper pushed them toward the door. “Let’s get out of here before he asks for your number.”
As they left, Dot glanced down the street at Cocoa and Cabernet, where she’d seen Danny and his date. The restaurant was closed for the night. The lights were off, and it was dark.
Like her mood.
Chapter 65
Mary woke sleepily and slowly stretched her arms high over her head in the big four-poster bed with its high thread count linens. She was reluctant to open her eyes, savoring the dream she’d gotten to live in her first weekend away with Jake.
Just minutes before, she’d heard him leave their room in the Sunny Side Inn in Egg Harbor that Jake had heard about from a colleague. Rolling over to place a hand on his pillow, her palm landed on a piece of paper. She picked it up and read, “Coffee run. Don’t move.” She rolled back over, holding the note to her chest.
“Keeping this one,” she said. She wore Jake’s white T-shirt from the night before, and she pulled the collar up over her nose and breathed in his scent.
The night before, Mary and Jake had arrived for a weekend away. He had taken the weekend off from work, which was a rarity. But he had to be on duty later that month for the annual apple harvest and festival in town and wanted to take Mary up to Door County to show her another part of Wisconsin before she returned to New York.
“Trust me, it’s one of America’s best-kept secrets.”
“That’s setting the bar pretty high,” she said.
“High bars keep things interesting.”
“Do you think I’m interesting?” She teased him constantly, flirting with one raised brow.
“Let’s say you’ve held my attention longer than most. Think you can keep that up?”