Out the corner of her eye she noticed Amy’s expression turn to horror. Emily smirked to herself. It was exactly the sort of question Amy had fired at all of her past boyfriends so it seemed only fair that Emily gave her a taste of her own medicine. And anyway, she was genuinely curious. Amy had pretty high standards when it came to the earning potential of her partners. If Harry bucked the trend of being a high-flier, as Emily suspected, it would be even more evidence that Amy was finally properly in love rather than treating her relationships like a business partnership.

“Construction, actually,” Harry explained. “My firm specializes in sprucing up properties. We mainly modernize old houses before selling them.”

“I could’ve done with knowing you a couple years back,” Emily joked, remembering the hard work of getting the inn into shape. “Do you enjoy the work?” she added, although really she wanted to be nosy and find out how much he earned.

“I do, but I’ve been doing it for a while now and I’m getting itchy feet,” Harry said. “I’m hoping to change jobs. I want to be my own employer, open a business.”

Emily was impressed with his ambition. She couldn’t imagine Amy being happy with a construction worker, but she could certainly see her settling down with an entrepreneur.

“What kind of business?” Daniel asked, curious.

“Well, the dream is to open a restaurant,” Harry said. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment, though. In a place like Sunset Harbor a lot of the business can be seasonal. But things are just starting to change. There are more tourists, and I think we could handle another one.”

Emily’s eyes glittered as she glanced over at Daniel. “Competition,” she joked.

Harry was midway through a mouthful of hot dog. His eyebrows rose as he chewed more hurriedly. He swallowed. “You’re opening a restaurant, too?” he asked, surprised.

Emily dipped the end of her hot dog in a mound of ketchup. “We already serve food at the inn for guests, and the speakeasy is open to the public. But we’re planning to further expand over the summer and have a larger restaurant that serves high-end evening meals, open to the public rather than just guests. Our friends the Bradshaws own the fish restaurant in town so they’re going to give us some advice. I could put you in touch with them if you’d like.”

Harry looked thrilled. “That would be amazing. Thanks.” Then he looked over at Amy. “I didn’t realize your friends would be my business rivals.”

Emily laughed. “Nonsense. I was only joking. We all help each other out here! And now is definitely a good time to open more eateries.”

“You think the town can handle more?” Harry asked, looking genuinely interested in Emily’s take on the subject.

She felt proud to be in a position to be offering advice to others now, when not that long ago she’d been the one needing expertise. “I do,” she said. “And we don’t have to compete. We could work together to make the good folk of Sunset Harbor want to eat out more than once a month! The people around here can be quite humble and dining out a lot seems flashy to them. Together we could turn that around.”

Harry looked more and more interested. Emily felt herself warming to him. He seemed to have real spirit, a sparkle in his eye, a hunger to experience more and reach for the stars. She could see what Amy saw in him – other than his film star good looks and the builder’s physique she presumed he had hidden beneath his shirt. Amy was beaming with pride next to him.

“Here’s an idea,” Daniel said, suddenly alight with enthusiasm. “Maybe you could run our restaurant instead of us employing a manager. Get some experience under your belt for when you decide to go it alone.”