Page 80 of Finding Forever

Beth didn’t look as though she saw his logic. “If you’d told Natalie and I what you wanted to do, we would have taken your offer into consideration. What if Natalie has another contingency account, or the council gives her more funding? You could use the money from the sewer line and everything else for other things.” Beth’s voice gentled. “Do you see why it’s important to ask first before spending your own money?”

Dave looked down at his hands. He did. He didn’t particularly like it, but he understood.

All his life, caring for people had meant doing something useful. Fixing the broken step before Carol noticed it. Paying for Mark’s car repair when his son was short of money. Turning up at Hank’s house with tools instead of asking whether he needed help.

Providing was easy.

Standing beside someone while they worked out a problem together was harder. “I wasn’t trying to take anything away from you,” he said.

“I know.”

“And the faucets…” Dave hesitated. “Those weren’t really about the center.”

Beth’s expression changed.

“I bought them because you loved them.”

A faint flush warmed her cheeks. “That was incredibly sweet,” she said quietly. “And still something you should have told me.”

Dave gave a reluctant smile. “I’m getting that impression.”

Beth’s mouth curved and some of the tension between them eased.

He reached across the desk and held out his hand. After a moment, Beth placed hers in it. “I’ll talk to you next time.”

“Before you spend thousands of dollars?” Beth asked.

“Before I spend any money.” He rubbed his thumb across her fingers. “It’s going to take some getting used to.”

“I know.”

Dave looked at the woman sitting opposite him and understood something he should probably have realized sooner. Beth didn’t need someone to rescue her.

She wanted someone beside her.

And if he wanted to be that man, he’d have to learn that helping didn’t always mean fixing everything before she knew it was broken.

Sometimes it meant pulling up a chair, showing her the problem, and asking what they were going to do about it.

Together.

Chapter 39

Four days before the grand opening, Beth discovered there were limits to how many people could ask her questions at the same time.

She was standing in the middle of the main events room when a man carrying a framed landscape approached from one direction, Rachel hurried toward her from another, and somewhere behind them Dave called her name.

“Beth?”

She turned.

Dave was holding two clipboards and pointing toward the front entrance. “The furniture truck is here.”

“Already?”

“You told them ten.”

Beth checked her watch. It was ten-fifteen. For some reason, she’d been convinced it was barely nine-thirty. “Right. Of course I did.”