Page 50 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

“You’re staying at the Quinn ranch?” she asked. “My friend Sadie’s grandma lives next door. Do you know Henrietta Hudson? She’s the absolute sweetest.”

Asher glanced at Dani, back to Lily. “Hetty’s why I’m here, actually.”

Dani leaned on the counter. “I caught him trying to sneak into Doug’s without being noticed, and we got to chatting and he mentioned he was in town to grab a little something for Henrietta’s birthday.” She eyed him with a smile. “Isn’t that sweet?”

The poor guy reddened. “Just being neighborly,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Oh, but Henrietta does love sweets,” Lily said. “She used to own the bakery here in town, you know.”

“That’s why I brought him here, to the best place I know to come for sweets.” Dani winked at Lily. “Oh, but—sorry, Asher—before you guys fight over him as a customer, I’ve got two exciting things to tell you, and then I’m off.”

“Sounds fun!” Lily said.

Forget fun. Hopefully the news would profit their businesses.

Ahem.Hisbusiness.

“I’ll just come back later.”

Before Dani could protest, the guy slipped out the door again, hands tucked in his worn jeans.

Dani frowned but turned back to Declan and Lily. “Okay, first, I got you both a job for this weekend.”

“What kind of job?” Declan asked.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest. “What Mr. Rude-Pants means to say is, yay! That’s so exciting.”

Dani laughed. “No, no, that’s fair. Feel free to say no, Declan, but it would give Lily a significant lead over you, so I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“Noted.”

“There’s a wedding happening on Saturday. So yes, in two days. Caleb Kennedy over at Island House Inn called me asking if I knew of anyone who could do some last-minute dessert catering. Apparently, this couple booked mainland vendors for almost everything, and their dessert caterer had an emergency and can’t make it. Their main caterer doesn’t have the capacity to add desserts to their order, so”—she waggled her eyebrows—“of course I suggested you guys. The only catch is they want both ice cream and fudge for about fifty people. Is that something you guys can do?”

“I can.” Lily smirked at Declan—the same look she’d worn far too often lately when she thought she’d bested him.

Well, two could play at that game. “I can too. The fudge, that is.”

“I’ll make both fudgeandice cream.”

Oh, brother.

“Awesome,” Dani said. “Okay, one more thing. As you know, the upcoming festival is a small part of my strategy to shine light on Jonathon Island again. To start getting back into people’s social feeds, to drum up excitement for next season, when we’ll have part of the hotel open for business.”

Declan nodded. “Right.”

“I reached out to a newspaper in Detroit and told them all about it. They’re going to send a reporter out next week—Wednesday, in fact—to interview our shop owners and publish a piece about the re-emergence of our little island. A piece of Michigan, reborn.”

“Dani, that’s fantastic,” Lily said.

“I’m really thrilled. The reporter—Kent Mercer—said the piece has the kind of appeal that might get picked up for syndication.” She paused, as if for dramatic effect. “Especially when I told him about the Fudge Wars.”

“Oh no, you didn’t,” Declan said.

“Really, Dani?” Lily’s expression probably betrayed his own.

“Oh, come on. You have to admit there’s an interesting story here. A family feud more than fifty years in the making, and the newest generation fighting for the Main Street shop?”

“We’d like to forget that war,” Declan said as he finger-quoted the words, glancing at Lily.

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