Page 22 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

Except there was no other way. The contract had already been drawn up. Whoever owned the fudge shop owned the house. And there was no way—with the fury flashing in her eyes—that Lily Hart would ever concede either. She’d battle him to the death.

A battle.

That was it. The answer to how he was going to best Lily Hart and save Grandma’s house—and to be honest, he wasn’t sure which would feel better.

“I’ve got an idea.” He waited until all eyes were on him. “What about a contest?”

ChapterFour

“Acontest?” As a slight wind blew off Lake Huron, Mia scooped up a handful of her brown curls and pulled them back into a messy ponytail. “What kind of contest?”

They walked along the boardwalk, the sky clear, blue, summer in the breeze.

“Yes, I’m intrigued too.” Dani Sullivan, Mia’s cousin, sipped her hot chocolate in a to-go cup. “What’s the big SOS you called tonight? I had to cancel a date with Liam.” But she winked, a teasing glint in her blue eyes. She’d lived on the island longer than either of them, since birth, and she’d never left.

Someone whizzed by on a bicycle, their bell dinging. Jack, the town terrier, trotted along beside them, tongue lolling. More crowded than usual tonight, half the town seemed to be out enjoying the beautiful summer weather. She’d forgotten how the sun wouldn’t set until later.

“I’m just glad Cody was able to watch my kids.” Mia was a bit younger than both of their twenty-eight years, and despite the fact her family had founded the island over two hundred years ago, she hadn’t moved here until she was in grade school.

“Seems like he’s bonding well with them,” Dani said. Then she grabbed Mia’s left hand and sighed. “Feels like there should be a little hardware here soon.”

Mia laughed and pulled her hand away.

Sweet. At least her friends had their lives figured out, and not completely derailed. “I called in the SOS to help me sort out this mess.”

“The Declan Kelley mess? Oh, honey, that’s way above our pay grade,” Dani said.

“No—I didn’t meanthat.Listen, Declan and the Kelleys are trying to push the Harts out of the fudge shop?—”

“Here we go again.” Dani sipped her coffee.

“Yeah, well, the Kelleys are starting it again. Apparently, they say our lease lapsed. And your dad is out of town, so he’s not here to sort it out.” She directed the statement to Mia. “And in the meantime, the council voted in their fudge shop to take the place of ours!”

“What do you want us to do?” Dani asked.

“I’m hoping you can exercise your power as tourism director and mastermind of this dollar-house scheme and get the council to rescind the approval.”

Dani made a face. “I am so sorry, Lily. Yes, I thought up the dollar-house plan, and got the Grand Hotel project going, but you know the council. They make their own decisions.”

Mia tucked her arm through Lily’s. “I’m just sorry I didn’t know about the lease situation before you packed up your life and moved back. I wish there were something more I could do, but until Dad gets somewhere with service—and chooses to check in—I think it might be a sit-and-wait situation. Even then, I don’t know if he has the power to undo it since he basically agreed to give the town council the right to select tenants for all unleased property on Main Street as part of the revitalization project.”

“Well, Mom had already emailed him. Apparently, she knew about the lease issue, and when I told her I was coming home, she shot off a note. But he was probably boarding his cruise about then, so…” She sighed. “Let’s hope that counts for a renewal notice.”

“Maybe. The law is a bit gray,” Mia said. “I looked over the paperwork, and even with my realtor’s license, I’m having a hard time knowing what’s technically right.”

Lily pulled away from Mia’s grasp, stopping in the middle of the boardwalk, the pebbled public beach behind her. “But you don’t think it’s right that they get the shop, do you? It’s been in my family for decades.” She looked past Mia to Dani. “This isn’t okay. They can’t just steal my shop from me.”

Dani squatted to pet Jack. “Maybe they have a reason.”

“Like wanting to own the entire town, not to mention win the Great Fudge Wars, finally.” She also bent to pet Jack, who rolled over to expose his belly. “I mean, when they open Kelley’s Classic Fudge, they already owned five restaurants on the island. Talk about greedy. And never mind that their fudge recipe tasted just aliiiitttletoo much like ours.”

Dani stood up. “Come on, Lily. You never believed that. You were always the one in high school talking about how stupid the feud was. I mean, you and Declan were even friends.”

Try more than friends.

Lily stepped off the boardwalk onto the beach, where a few families with young kids skipped rocks off the gently lapping lake. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked out across the expanse of sparkling blue. “That was before I knew better.”

Before she knew not to trust a Kelley.

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