She didn’t want to assume anything.
“Probable new client,” Ethan said with a smile.
Aaron nodded. “I look forward to building your tank.”
“Thanks.” Ethan stuck his hands in his pockets. “Well, I don’t want to interrupt your lunch any more than I already have. Just wanted to say hi.” He pointed at Undrea’s plate. “Is that the meatloaf? I’m getting that too.”
She nodded. “One of my favorites.”
He squinted. “Is that a side of anchovies? That doesn’t come with the meatloaf, does it?”
Undrea laughed. “Nope, special order.” She changed the subject quickly. “Get the peach cobbler, too. It’s amazing, which is why they’re known for it. You won’t be sorry.”
“Yeah? Okay, we will. Thanks.” He held her gaze for a long moment. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
She couldn’t bring herself to look away. “Enjoy your lunch.”
“Thanks.” Finally, still smiling, he slowly turned and went back to his table.
After a few beats, Aaron leaned in, voice low. “You seriously weren’t going to tell me our new client is Ethan Edmonds?”
She blinked and got her focus back on her own personal area. “I don’t know his last name. His fiancée, Nina Hascoe, is the one who set everything up.”
Aaron stared at her, open-mouthed. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
Aaron lowered his voice to a whisper. “Who Ethan Edmonds is?”
“He’s got money, I know that.”
“No kidding.” Aaron rolled his eyes. “Undrea, he’s like one of the richest people in the country. He just sold his software company, Blnk, for about two and a half billion dollars.”
She stared at Aaron. “Are you sure? How do you know all this?”
“For one thing, Google is your friend. For another, I don’t know, maybe look at social media every once in a while?”
“I hate social media. You know that. It’s part of why I hired Whitney. So she can run all that stuff.”
“Yes, I know how you feel about all that.” He shook his head as he picked up the second half of his sandwich. “Ethan Edmonds. How about that. I don’t think the floor is going to be a problem. I’d say whatever he wants, he can afford.”
She glanced over at Ethan’s table and caught him looking at her. He smiled, but she glanced away quickly. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”
Aaron swallowed his food before saying anything else. “You said that woman is his fiancée?”
“That’s how she introduced herself.”
“Funny, I feel like him getting engaged would be big news, and I don’t remember anything about that. But I mean, she’s clearly sitting there.”
“And living with him.”
“Big ring, huh?”
Undrea thought about that. “I…don’t actually remember.” She thought some more. “I didn’t notice, to be honest.”
“I find that hard to believe.” He gestured with a fry. “Not on your part, but because I’d imagine he’d get her a rock big enough not to be missed.”
Undrea nodded. “I agree with you but mostly because she seems like the type that would want a rock like that. Unmissable.”
“Funny, though.”
“What is?”
Aaron took a sip of his Coke. “That an engaged man would flirt that hard. But then again, I suppose a guy like Ethan Edmonds is used to having whatever woman he wants. Kind of weird to think the one he’s currently after is also my boss.”
“Whoa now,” Undrea said. “It’s not like that at all.”
“Right.”
“It’s not.”
“Which is why he came all the way over here to say hi? Because he couldn’t just wave?”
“He was just being friendly.”
Aaron nodded. “Sure, let’s go with that and not that it has anything to do with how sweet and pretty you are.”
“Aaron.” She dunked a fry in gravy and grinned. “I am pretty sweet, though.”
His gaze narrowed. “Just watch yourself, Undrea. I’d hate to see you get your heart broken.”
“Not going to happen, but I appreciate your concern.”
He shrugged and went back to his sandwich. She tried to focus on her meatloaf, but knowing Ethan was so close made it tough. She wanted to look at him and had to actively fight the urge to turn her head.
Mattie had warned her about this, but Undrea couldn’t exactly get up and walk out. She had to pay the bill, for one thing. For another, Ethan was a potential client. She didn’t want to do anything weird that might sour him on using her services.
Her business needed this job.
She exhaled and tried to get her mind on something else. “What’s on your agenda this afternoon?”
“Stock maintenance, coral rotations, supply inventory and I guess starting the sketches on the Edmonds job so we can begin estimating. How about you?”
“I’m going on a couple maintenance runs.”
“Roxy?”
She nodded. “Then the library.” They’d installed a tank there recently as part of a community project, and while the Ellinghams had paid for the equipment and supplies, Tanks A Lot donated the fish and the maintenance visits.
“I take it that means you approve my preliminary sketches.”
“For?”
He made a face at her. “The Parker job. They were on your desk.”
“Oh, right. Yes.” So much for not thinking about Ethan. “That drawing you did is perfect to start with.”
“You want me to work up some stock plans for Ethan, too?”
“Sure, if you want to. He wants everything. Fish, coral, inverts, you name it.”
“Live rock, then.”
“Definitely.”
“Okay. I’ll put three plans together for you to look over. And I think I’ll do a really high-end, one-of-a-kind plan too. Just in case he wants stuff no one else has.”
“Good. Although he doesn’t strike me as being that kind of guy.”
“No?”
“No.” Undrea glanced over at Ethan’s table. Nina seemed to be sending something back. “But the fiancée? Definitely. She’s used to a life of privilege, I can tell. You know the type. Always had money, doesn’t know how to function without it.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know the kind. I doubt Ethan would be like that though, because he didn’t grow up that way.”
“How do you know? Is this a social media thing again?”
Aaron laughed. “I read the interview Money magazine did with him. He grew up in a single-parent home, his mom worked three jobs to make sure he went to a STEM school, and he worked every summer himself.”
“Really?”
Aaron nodded. “First thing he did when he made some money, which was at seventeen, by the way, was pay off his mom’s house and buy her a new car. Said it was the first new one she ever had. When he hit it big, he immediately donated enough money to build a new science and technology wing on his old high school.”