Page 84 of Meet Me at the Fudge Shop

“No—no—no!” She ran inside, the cold water flicking up her bare legs and her sandals sliding on the wet tiles. The bottom few inches of everything—walls, workbenches, tables—had all been wicking water.

“Whathappened?” Declan’s voice came from behind her.

“I don’t know. I just got here.”

Oh no. It looked like a leaky pipe in the ceiling—positioned almost directly over her boxes of fudge—was the culprit this time. She just stared at the place where pieces of the soggy ceiling plaster had collapsed all over her boxes of fudge.

“My fudge…” She held out her hand, braced it on a marble top.

“Hey. It’s going to be okay. Let me turn the water off.” Declan disappeared in the direction of the shop’s main shutoff valve.

Lily couldn’t move, the cold water chilling her feet, her heart.

Her fudge, destroyed.

She didn’t want to look, but she had to know. Inhaling a sharp breath, she moved toward her neatly stacked boxes. Not only had the top boxes been crushed by the falling ceiling, but the ones that hadn’t wicked water up from the floor had been sprayed from the side.

Declan was wrong. It wouldn’t be okay.

He returned carrying a mop and bucket, his forehead furrowed. “We should have had Cody look at all the pipes when the last one busted. He said that most might need replacing due to the age of the building.” He stopped and looked at her. “Oh no. All of your fudge.” Leaning the mop against the counter, he strode over to her. “Is any of it salvageable?”

“Maybe a few boxes in the middle.” She cleared some of the rubble off the top boxes and finally got to a box that wasn’t crushed but was still soaking wet. Opened it. A mushy mess of chocolate and flowers greeted her. She couldn’t breathe. “It’s all ruined.”

“Oh, no, Lil.” Declan wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I’m so sorry.”

Wait. She straightened. Looked around. “Where’s your fudge?”

Declan dropped his arm from her waist, took a step back. Scratched behind his ear. “In the back storeroom.”

“Oh.”Convenient. She bit back the word and swiped a tear.

Frowning, he cupped her elbow. “Since we were using the same boxes, I wanted to be sure we didn’t get our offerings confused, so that’s where I told Isaac to put it.”

“Isaac?”

“Yeah, he came and helped me out last night. He even closed up so I could come see you.” He sighed. “What can I do?”

“There’s nothingtodo.” She pulled the large trash can over from the corner and opened the fudge boxes one by one. “Almost all of my fudge is ruined, and the festival begins in a few hours.”

It was over. She’d lost.

Declan looked at the clock. “Make more. You still have time, and I’ll help.”

“There’s no way.” Lily lifted her hands. “Besides—look at this place. We can’t make fudge in here.”

“We can use the tables out front. Maybe the water won’t have reached that far.” Declan dried his hands on a nearby towel. “Come on, Lil. You’re the one who’s always able to pivot. To roll with things.”

“I just don’t know how this time.”

“We can mop the floors, sanitize. There’s no reason you can’t make batches of fudge this morning—the shop won’t be open to the public anyway.” He reached for her hand.

She sighed, let him take it. He squeezed, and the look in his eyes stole her breath. This seemed bad—like end-of-her-little-world bad. But Declan was here, and he wasn’t leaving or gloating. He was pitching in, trying to help her find a solution. Choosing to stay.

Lily flung herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest. “Thank you.”

He kissed the top of her head before pulling back, then cupped her face with his hands. “You’ve worked too hard to give up now. In fact, your ability to never surrender is one thing I love about you.”

She placed her hands on top of his. “Love?” And now was so not the time to be having this conversation—because hi, they still stood in several inches of water and her fudge was ruined and the kitchen was a wreck—but the one-word question just slipped out.

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