Page 71 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

“Seriously, Isaac?” Declan started toward his brother, ready to grab him by the collar, rough him up. “I said shut up?—”

Dad slammed a fist on the table. “That’s enough, you two.”

Declan halted, and his hands lowered into fists at his side. Isaac’s eyes laughed at him. Why had Declan even bothered trying to talk sense into anyone in this family?

“Now, let’s sit down and talk through this like adults,” Dad said, pointing to Declan’s chair. “And you can tell us how you were just joking with your mother because you would never be so stupid as to fall for a Hart a second time.”

Hewasan adult. Twenty-eight years old. And yet, right now in this moment, he felt eighteen again.

Declan’s phone shattered the silence, buzzing against the granite countertop. Reaching for it, he noticed Lily’s name on the screen. She never called—only texted. His heart thudded in his chest. “Hello?” A whooshing noise filled the background, and a woman yelped. “Lily?” A pause. “Lily? You okay?”

“Sorry.” She came onto the line. “Declan, I wouldn’t have called you but Cody’s with Mia having dinner on the mainland, and I couldn’t get ahold of my dad and I didn’t know what else to do.”

Her panicked voice shot immediate worry through him too. But that wouldn’t help her.

His family stared at him with wide eyes, but Declan ignored them, striding toward the front door and grabbing his keys on his way out. “What’s going on?”

“Just come to the shop. I was here working late and cleaning up and there’s a minor leak situation going on.”

Uh-oh. “Where?” Declan headed for his old bicycle leaning against the side of his parents’ house.

“Kitchen. Right underneath the sink.” Another yelp.

“I’m coming.” He hopped on the bike and started pedaling, one hand gripping the phone, one on the handlebars. “Can you shut off the water valve?”

“I tried, but it’s stuck. Please, hurry.” Then the line went dead.

Declan flew down the road. Lily had needed someone, and she’d called him. Sure, she’d tried her family first, but that was normal, right? Her calling him had to mean something.

Maybe just that finally, she trusted him.

He left his bike lying sideways behind the store and burst through the alley door. Lily was on her hands and knees in a huge puddle of water, her head stuck inside the bottom kitchen sink cabinet. Water had inched across the kitchen floor and was heading toward the pantry.

“Lil?” He headed for her, steadying himself as he nearly slipped. Whoa.

She sat back on her heels holding a thick roll of duct tape. Her hair was plastered to her forehead and neck, her soaked blue shirt clinging to her. “Oh, thank goodness.”

He squatted down. Lily’s pink toolbox sat on the other side of her. “What happened exactly?” The pipe under the sink appeared to be wrapped with several towels and the tape, but water continued to drip. Lily’s temporary fix wouldn’t last long.

“Um, well.” She pushed her hair back. How was it possible for her to look so incredibly attractive even sopping wet?

“Hold that thought.” Clearing his throat, he rummaged in her toolbox for a flathead screwdriver. Then he examined the valves. Seemed easy enough. “Okay, go ahead.”

He inserted the screwdriver into the hot water isolation valve and turned it clockwise one quarter—it turned easily.

“I was working late and noticed a small drip under the sink and thought, hey, I’m a grown woman. I can fix that.”

He held back a smile. “Did you now?”

She slapped his arm, and he fumbled the screwdriver.

Declan chuckled as he moved the screwdriver to the cold water valve, which didn’t turn so easily. “Guessing it didn’t go well?”

“Understatement. And when I called Cody, he said he wasn’t surprised a pipe busted since he’s pretty sure this place hasn’t been re-piped in a while. Apparently it’s been on his list of things to do for Seb. But you know. Cody’s been a little busy.”

“I’ll say.” His eyes met hers as he fumbled with the pipe valve. “He and Mia seem to be heading for happily ever after.”

He met her eyes.

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