When Nina appeared at his door shortly after two, Hunter was ready for her. He’d pushed aside every other thought he’d rather be thinking about Megan to focus exclusively on his work for the last two hours. After another thorough scrub of the diner numbers, he was more convinced than ever that the investment was a bad idea. Despite that, he was pushing forward with the plan to acquire it anyway because that was what his grandfather wanted him to do.
Their conversation about risk had resonated with him in more ways than one. From a business standpoint, sometimes it made sense to take on a new project that had potential to pay off in the future. Not everything had to yield immediate results to be considered worthwhile.
The same could be said for his personal life. He was willing to risk everything—his heart, his well-being, his mental health—for this chance with Megan and would do whatever it took to make it work. Despite all her warnings, she was a risk well worth taking.
“Come in.” He stood when Nina stepped into his office. “Have a seat.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water?”
“I’m good. I’ve already OD’d on coffee today.”
Hunter walked around the desk to shut the door and then returned to his seat behind the desk. “Thanks for coming over.”
“No problem. I wanted to talk to you anyway.”
“About?”
She tilted her head and offered a smile. “What do you think?”
“So my family isn’t the only one that feels the need to be overly involved.”
“No, the Abbotts don’t have the market cornered on interfering, although I imagine their sheer numbers can be somewhat intimidating.”
“Somewhat,” he said, laughing.
“All I’m going to say is that she matters very much to me, and underneath that hard exterior she shows the world is a woman who feels things deeply and hurts easily.”
“I know that. You should know I love her, and I’d never hurt her. I only want to make her happy.”
Nina blinked and shook her head as she laughed. “Okay, I didn’t see that coming.”
“Neither did I, but there you have it. I love her. I’ve loved her for quite some time, and being with her the last few days has only proven what I’ve known all along. We belong together. I’m working on convincing her of that, but I have no plans to give up.”
“She’s apt to make it difficult.”
He shrugged. “I won’t give up on her.”
“Does she know?”
“That I love her? Not yet, but she will before too much longer. I don’t believe in guessing games. I believe in absolutes—black and white. And I absolutely love her.”
“I’m sorry.” Nina sniffed and dabbed at her eyes. “I don’t mean to bawl all over you, but she’s my baby sister.”
“I understand. I have a few of those myself.”
“Yes, you do. I’m so glad to know you’ll be looking out for her when I can’t.”
“I will. You have my word on that. Even if she tells me to go to hell, I’ll still look out for her.”
“She’s not going to tell you to go to hell. She’s been walking around with a big dopey grin on her face for days now. I’ve never seen her like that before, and it’s because of you.”
Hunter couldn’t believe how happy it made him to hear Nina say that. A knot of fear he’d been carrying around in his gut seemed to loosen somewhat at that news.
“Why do you look so relieved?”
“I guess I’ve worried about this being sort of one-sided. I mean, she was so into my brother for such a long time—”
“She wasn’t into him the way you think she was. He was her fantasy. As long as she had her mind set on him, or the idea of him, she could stay removed from real entanglements. You’re the first real risk she’s taken since we lost our folks, and I hope you know what a big deal that is for her.”
“I do. I get it, and I’m being careful with her. I promise.”
“That’s all I could ever hope for.” Laughing, she pulled a tissue from her purse. “I honestly didn’t come here to cry all over you.”
“It’s more than fine,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m glad we had a chance to talk before you leave.”
“Speaking of me leaving … That’s going to be hard on her.”
“I’ll be right there for her. Whatever she needs. She won’t be alone.”
“I think I might be a little bit in love with you, Hunter.”
He laughed—hard. “If only I could hear those words from your sister.”
“You will. Give her time. She knows you’re special.”
“She’s mad at me right now because I suggested we might need to make some changes at the diner.”
“Because it’s a money pit,” Nina said knowingly.
“That’s one way to put it.”
“I’m surprised you’re still interested after reviewing the information I sent over. No one would ever accuse you of being reckless.”
“I’ll be honest with you, Nina. If it were up to me and me alone, we’d pass. But my grandfather has convinced me to give it a try, and I’m willing to do that because he asked me to.”
“I understand. Elmer is hard to resist, and I’m not his grandchild.”
“Exactly. He has a way of bending us to his will with a smile and a wink.”
“He’s adorable.”
“We love him madly, and he knows it.” Hunter cleared his throat and dove into the tricky part of the meeting. “Here’s the thing though. I can’t, in good conscience, offer to buy you out of the diner in light of what the financials and the inspection yielded.”
“Oh,” she said, deflating.
“What I am willing to do is assume the remaining mortgage and put my grandfather’s investment into making the necessary upgrades. That would relieve you of the debt and leave you free and clear of the place, but you wouldn’t make anything on the sale. I’d totally understand if that doesn’t work for you, but it’s the best I can do under the circumstances.”
“Done.”
Hunter stared at her, shocked. He’d expected her to quibble about walking away without profiting on the business she’d put so much effort into. “Really?”
“Yes! You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted out of that place. It’s been a drain on us financially, emotionally, even romantically because all Brett and I do is fight over it. We used a big chunk of my share of the insurance money from my parents to buy it, thinking it would be a nice job for me as well as a source of extra income. Except that’s not what happened at all. I work all the time, and we can’t seem to get ahead no matter what we do. I only stuck with it for as long as I did because of Megan.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’d never admit it, but she loves it there. She loves the people and the routine and the family we’ve found for ourselves among the customers we see every day.”
Hunter already figured as much from things Megan had said. It made sense that the diner customers would be like a family to the sisters who’d lost their parents at such a young age. The patrons filled a void for them, one that Megan would feel acutely if the diner were to shut down. He was more determined than ever to make sure that didn’t happen.
“She mentioned her writing to me.”
“Did she? That’s significant. She doesn’t talk about it much.”
“I want to encourage her to pursue it, but I’m not sure how.”
“You’ll be the new owner of the diner. Help her with the management so she has time to devote to her passions.”
“Plural? She has others?”
Nina laughed. “You, silly.”
For the first time in recent memory, Hunter felt his face turn bright red, which was rather embarrassing for a man of his age.
“You might just be completely perfect for her, and you’ve been right across the street all this time. It’s amazing.”
“To me as well.”
Nina stood and reached out to shake his hand.
Hunter did her one better by coming around the desk to hug her.
“Thank you for this,” she said, returning his embrace. “For all of it.”
“Trust me when I tell you it’s entirely my pleasure.”
“La la la, too much information.”
He laughed.
“We’ll have to sign stuff, I assume?”
“I’ll ask my cousin Grayson to draw up the paperwork right away. We’ll get it done before you leave.”
“Thank you again, Hunter. You’re saving my life in more ways than you know.”
“Have fun in France. We’ll take care of things here.”
“I feel much better about going than I did before.”
“We may even come to visit.”
“That’d be great. We’d love it.”
She left him with a wave, and Hunter sat back in his chair, chewing on the end of his pencil and thinking about taking Megan to France. Wouldn’t that be something? He who hadn’t taken a real vacation in years was suddenly coming in late to work—or not coming in at all—“forgetting” to shave and planning a trip overseas. He’d heard about life changing on a dime, but other than Caleb’s tragic death, it had never happened to him.
Until that first life-changing night with Megan, his routine had been utterly boring and completely predictable, just the way he’d thought he liked it. But she’d made him want more. She made him want to bust out of his staid existence and shake things up like he never had before.
With that in mind, he left a message for his grandfather detailing the meeting with Nina, sent an e-mail to his father and siblings about the purchase of the diner, shut down his computer, turned off the light on his desk and closed his office door behind him.
“I’m taking the rest of the day off,” he said to Mary, whose eyes bugged in surprise.
Before she could formulate a reply, he was headed down the stairs. He burst into the warm autumn sunshine, giving thanks for the clean getaway from the office. Leaving dust in his wake, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed for Megan’s house, hoping he’d find her home but willing to wait for her if she wasn’t there. He’d wait forever for her, if that’s what it took.