Page 35 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

“Exactly! And now I feel guilty that he had to spend hours helping me on Saturday night. Now we’ve got an unbalanced score. He’s one ahead of me. And believe me, I need all the advantages I can get.”

She sighed as she rounded the southern bend of the island, trees flanking her on one side, the water on the other. A bicyclist passed—Pastor Arnie, Tara’s husband, still dressed in slacks and a short-sleeved button-down. Maybe he was headed to visit a parishioner in her parents’ neighborhood.

“You have plenty of advantage—like a lifetime of experience.”

Lily waved and continued her jaunt. “I don’t know. Declan’s really good at business stuff. He’s got an MBA. He’s spent most of the last week tucked away in the fudge shop office, clacking away on his laptop. Whereas I…”

“Have been making fudge?”

“That is going to waste. I thought about opening shop today, but the day got away from me.”

“I’m sure it’ll fly off the shelves once you’re open.”

The Grand Hotel came into view. Just beyond it, nestled in a grove of trees, stood the island’s famous gazebo, originally built for a movie set. A group of thirty or more people gathered there, mingling—the business association.

Lily sighed. “Or I could fail at this, Sadie. Big fail. And then what?”

“Then you just come back to Florida. Find another dead-end job you hate without an ounce of creativity and see how it sucks away your soul little by little,” Sadie said, her tone full of sarcasm. “Oh wait, I’m talking to you, not me, huh?”

“Haha, I’m being serious here.”

“I kind of am too.” Sadie sighed. “Look, Lil, we talked about this. You need to ask those around you for help. In fact, what about asking Declan for advice on the business stuff? He’s certainly qualified.”

“Girl, have you heard nothing I’ve said about the scales of justice already being tilted in his favor?”

“It’s ridiculous to think you owe him anything for being a decent human being.”

Funny. Declan had said the same thing. Still. “I just don’t want to be in his debt.”

“Then do something for him. Show him how to make fudge.”

“And lose the only advantage I have over him?”

“I give up, Lily. You say you want to repay him for his kindness, but it doesn’t sound like he needs anything else from you.”

Ouch. “I guess that’s true.” As Lily approached the business owners’ gathering, soft classical music and chatter met her ears. A breeze lifted the ends of her skirt—the one she’d put on just for this occasion—and she inhaled a deep breath.

“Just because you show him the process doesn’t mean his fudge will beat yours. You’re a creative genius. You don’t have to share any of your secrets with him. Just the basics.” Her friend paused. “Youcanstick to just the basics, right?”

“Stop. Of course. But I’m not falling for him again. Ever.”

“And why not? I know he hurt you in the past, Lily, and it was absolutely wrong of him and his family to blame you for his grandfather’s death?—”

“Itwaswrong.” How was Lily supposed to have known that Barry Kelley—recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and asleep in his bed—would wander out alone that night? That he’d somehow find his way onto the ferry, cross to the mainland, and be involved in a fatal pedestrian hit-and-run?

Except ithadbeen her fault that Declan had been with her when he was supposed to be watching Grandpa. “It was wrong of them to blame me, but I was wrong too.”

“You were young. And in love?—”

“Crush. I had a crush. Nothing more.”

Silence. “Never mind that you fled the island, your entire life and everything afterward?—”

“So did he.”

And she hadn’t really let that settle until now. That night had derailed both of them.

And now they were back.

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