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stove stood Kate
in a yellow T-shirt, navy blue shorts, and white flip flops. Her toenails were
painted a deep pink shade, and boy, they were sexy little tootsies.
    He almost wanted to
whistle. Those legs, tanned, long—phew, if he didn’t stop admiring them he’d
have to go back to the bathroom again.
    Kate must have sensed
he was standing behind her, because she turned and smiled. “I’m cooking some
bacon and eggs if you’re hungry.”
    “I’m famished.”
    “Sit down and help
yourself to coffee. And if you don’t like that I have tea around here
someplace.”
    “Coffee’s fine.” He
pulled out a chair and sat.
    Kate walked to the
table with a platter housing thick slices of bacon, fluffy scrambled eggs, and
a heap of whole wheat toast. “You sleep okay?” she asked. She sat down and put
a serving of bacon and eggs on her plate before sliding the platter toward him.
    “Pretty
good, considering I felt so shitty.”
    “Yeah, that was quite
the storm. At least the electricity’s back on.”
    “All I have to do is
fix the leak in my boat.”
    “You know anything
about that sort of thing?”
    He shook his head as
he took another slice of bacon. When had a simple thing like a slice of bacon
begun to taste so good?
    With the help of half
a slice of toast, she scooped some scrambled eggs on her fork. “So you from
around here?” she asked before popping them into her mouth.
    “
Boston
.”
    “What brought you
here to
Maine
?
You lose your job like loads of other people?” She poured more coffee for
herself as she waited for his answer.
    “Sort of, but I
wanted a change of pace. I wanted to try something different in my life.”
    “So you bought a boat,
but you don’t know anything about fixing them.”
    “Guess I’ve thrown
myself in the deep end but I’ll learn.”
    “Yep, we all have to
learn by doing hands-on stuff. My husband—ex-husband—and I knew nothing about
the restaurant business when we bought this place a few years ago.”
    Brock looked around
and remembered how nice the actual restaurant was, with its dark oak paneling,
sconce lights, white linen tablecloths, and to top it off, a lovely view of the
harbor. “Looks like it’s doing okay,” he observed.
    “Okay isn’t good
enough in the food industry.”
    “So are you running
it all by yourself?”
    Kate nodded. “Whether I like it or not.”
    “Then I take my hat
off to you.”
    “Guess it’s true what
they say about not being able to change the hand you’re dealt, just how you
play it.”
    “What happened
between you and your husband…if you don’t mind me asking?”
    She didn’t say
anything at first.
    He was sure she was
about to tell him to mind her own business, but instead she finished her
coffee, put the mug down, and answered him without hesitation.
    “If you were from
around these parts you’d know the answer to that. It’s the gossip of the harbor,
so if you’re going to be part of the community you might as well hear it from
me. He decided the lady who sold us our bakery items was a better catch than
me. Of course, she did keep pushing her free samples on him so I guess he
finally took her up on the offer.”
    Brock smiled. He
liked her sense of humor. Well, at least she was seeing the funny side of
something that must have hurt like hell. He’d always loved a woman who could
see something upbeat, even in tragedy.
    He leaned back in his
chair and took a sip of coffee. Damn, that tasted better than average. Either
this bakery saleswoman who seemed perfect was hiding some serious character
flaws, or the ex was stupid, blind, and a world-class idiot. “Ouch.”
    “Yeah,
big ouch. Needless to say I’ve canceled the
restaurant’s account with the bakery, which is a shame because the whole wheat
rolls were to die for.”
    This time he laughed
along with her. Brock liked his neighbor a lot already. She made him smile, and
made a killer breakfast, too. He’d make sure he kept on her good side. No loud
noises