Avery slammed his office door, having left Jill across the street. He fell into his leather chair and stared at his computer not seeing anything but the memory of Cat when he’d held her in his arms.

Why had he done it?

A few tears brimming those stunning green eyes and he’d folded like a map.

The misery and grief in her gaze had him meeting Jill at Second Chance Books and rescinding his offer. Jill’s approving smile made him feel like an ass for putting in an offer in the first place. In that moment he knew she would have turned down his cash buyout anyway. His offer had been an immature, petty thing to do. Just because he had a problem any time Cat was in close proximity didn’t give him the right to put barriers in the way of her dreams.

Now he had to figure out how he was going to deal with having her right across the street day in and day out.

Nights too.

Knowing Cat, she’d give the business her all, and that meant she’d basically be living in the place. It’s what he did, and their work ethic was one of the many things they had in common.

They’d both lost their mothers and had a huge hand in raising their siblings, though Catriona’s situation had been far worse than his. For one, he didn’t have six siblings, however Drew probably counted for more than one with his outlandish behavior. While his mother had chosen to leave him, it wasn’t so in Cat’s circumstance, with her mother dying from leukemia. The whole town had grieved for Nicola Wilde. She’d touched everyone’s heart and it was a tragedy that she’d died so young and so painfully.

He raked a hand through his hair and pulled up the browser on his computer. He had work to do. He didn’t have time to think about Cat.

The Pump House wouldn’t open for another hour, but he could already hear his employees getting everything ready for the lunch crowd.

He’d have to look at hiring more people if the lunch crowd continued to grow. When he’d first bought the place, they’d only opened at four in the afternoon, but with the lucrative changes he’d made, opening earlier had been wise. The addition to the menu from just bar food to pub food had been another good decision.

He’d hired Leif Saahko, a strapping Scandinavian, who’d been a sous chef on the cruise ships that traveled to Alaska all summer long. Leif arrived in Valdez and decided not make the return voyage, which had been pure luck on Avery’s part when he’d picked him up hitchhiking along the Glen Highway.

Since Leif had no plans and no money, other than wanting to see all that Alaska could show him, Avery had offered to try him out as a chef for his new venture. The town of Heartbreak and Avery’s bottom line had benefited from Leif’s spontaneous decision to get off the boat those many years ago, and their friendship had grown.

“Hey, Dawson, you have got to try these.” Leif entered his office with a quick knock on the door. He carried in a plate of appetizers, sidling into the cramped room sideways to allow for his large bulk. Topping off at six feet seven inches, at first glance he was an imposing man with his shaved head, barrel of a chest made of bone-crushing muscle, and love for food. Most gave Leif a wide berth. But like a lot of men Avery had met over the years, the large ones tended to be more teddy bear than grizzly. In his experience, it was the short, thin, wiry ones you had to watch out for as they tended to have the personality of wolverines.

Leif set the plate on Avery’s desk, and the scent of salmon drifted to his nose.

“Smoked salmon?” Saliva rushed into Avery’s mouth. He loved seafood, and Leif was a master with anything that came from the ocean.

“Smoked salmon on goat cheese with a drizzle of homemade blackberry jam presented on sourdough crostini. You’re going to love them.”

He picked up one of the little appetizers and ate it in one bite. “Holy shit, Leif.”

“Right?” Leif smiled knowingly. “They’re going to sell like hot cakes.”

“These are so good. How soon can you get them on the menu, and can you develop a sandwich too?”

“Already on it. We should be able to serve them this weekend.”

“You’re a genius.”

Leif rubbed his belly. “And the body of a god to prove it.”

They shared a laugh.

“We need to hire a new dishwasher,” Leif said. “Beth broke her leg skiing and will be out for at least two months. Plus, I could really use two dishwashers. She could barely keep up with how busy we’ve been of late.”

Avery already knew this was coming and had stopped in at Beth’s parent’s house to check in on her and reassure her that he would hold her job. Soon he might have to hire a production manager as the brewery side of the business had taken off as well, with him placing in the latest US brewery contest.

“I have an idea, but I need to swing it by Drew.” The kid needed a job. He did the odd things for his dad in the summer, and shoveled snow in the winter, but he was almost sixteen and would be driving soon. As crazy as Drew drove a snow machine, Avery hated to see what he’d do behind the wheel of a car. Filling his time with school and work would help to keep him out of trouble. And trouble went hand-in-hand with Drew. He’d thought of employing him before, but due to alcohol being served in the pub, he couldn’t work on the floor. But he could wash dishes.

“The sooner you have someone the better, or you will lose Honoree if I ask her to cover another dishwashing shift,” Leif said. “That girl is amazing with food, cleaning up, not so much. Besides, she scares me a little.”

“You’re not the only one,” Avery agreed.

Honoree was a tyrant in the kitchen and ran it very efficiently, letting Leif be the creative genius he was, and Avery was surprised something hadn’t sparked between the two. Everyone else who entered the kitchen could feel the singe.

There were certain things Honoree wouldn’t tolerate. Being asked to wash dishes was definitely one of them.

“I’ll call Drew as soon as school lets out and see if he can come in tonight,” Avery said.

“Thanks, boss man.” Leif moved to leave, but Avery stopped him, holding up the empty plate.

“Any chance I can get some more?”

Leif laughed and took the plate. “You got it. Didn’t have breakfast again, did you?”

“Guilty.” Of that and so much more. He’d been on his way to Pulse for coffee and a danish when he’d seen Catriona’s car parked outside Dawson Realty and Development, right alongside Jill’s. He would have been better off if he hadn’t swerved in and caused a scene, his actions bringing sadness to Cat’s sparkling green eyes. He should probably apologize, but how?

“Hey, Leif…”

“Yeah?”

“If you really screwed something up with a woman and needed to apologize, but you didn’t want her to take it the wrong way, what would you do?”

“What do you mean the wrong way?”

“I don’t want her thinking there’s something between us.”

“Is there? Something between you?”

“Hell no.” He’d made sure of that.

“And you don’t want there to be anything between you?”

Did he?

Of course, he didn’t. Geez, where was his head and why the hell had he brought this up to Leif? What was wrong with him?

“Well, if it were me, and I’d cocked it up with a woman, I’d bring her food. Stay away from flowers and chocolate because they always speak of romance. I’d suggest maybe a sandwich.”

Hmm, a sandwich sounded friendly enough. “Good idea, thanks Leif.”

“Not a prob, and when you take Catriona a sandwich, don’t forget a side of my rosemary fries.” Leif’s laugh boomed out of his chest as he left the room.

Damn small towns. They knew too much of his business.