Page 11 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

Then he’d turned away and called for her mom.

He didn’t have to say anything more for her to feel the disappointment falling like a wall between them.

Now she looked at Evie, the perfect daughter, marriedbeforegetting pregnant. “Dad will never see me the way he sees you. I’m a disappointment, and now…now I’m even more so. He told me to invest the insurance money, but I didn’t. There wasn’t much to begin with. And now it’s down to nothing.”

“Listen. You did what you had to after Troy’s death. I would have taken the kids away on a trip too. And helping out his mom…You did the right thing.” Evie leaned forward. “You know that Dad loves you. And he loves Finn and Maggie, of course. This all sounds like a you problem.”

Her head began to pound. “Anyway. It’s all awkward. I don’t know how to make him proud of me again. And I don’t have the bandwidth for dealing with that right now.”

“And you won’t be able to until you sit down and have a real conversation with him,” Evie said and then readjusted her position on the couch. “Don’t bother to argue with me, I’m done doing the older sister thing. I wasn’t going to say you should ask him for help.”

“Okay…” Fine. She’d let it go. Evie would never be able to understand. “What then?”

“I was just remembering that conversation he and Dani were having the other night at dinner. The one with attracting new businesses to the island?”

Mia nodded. She vaguely recalled them talking about it while she cleaned spaghetti off Maggie’s face and kept Finn from continuing a kicking game he’d started with his cousin.

“Right. They’re giving away housing for a dollar. Pretty crazy.” She watched the steam off her tea swirl away and evaporate. “I wonder how that works exactly.”

“You’d have to ask Dani for details. Which is what I was going to suggest—that you talk to Dani. She seemed stressed the other night. Excited but overwhelmed, you know? Maybe she needs some help.”

Mia eyed her sister over the edge of her cup. “Ha. That’s funny. How would I help? I don’t have any marketable skills. Unless you count refereeing children and cleaning up messes.”

Evie laughed and rolled her eyes. “What about that realtor license Dad encouraged you to get right out of high school? You could put that to good use.”

“You mean the real estate license that has gotten dusty from unuse? That license?” At the time, it had seemed like a great way to hold down a job and work on her education at the same time. Part-time, weekend work.

Then Finn came along and changed everything.

Still. “I have kept renewing it…”

“So, dust it off and use it. Maybe it was a God thing. He kept prompting you to keep up with it for just this opportunity,” Evie said. “I don’t know if you will need it or not, all I’m saying is that you should call her.”

Later, after Evie had left, hermaybe it was a God thingstill echoing in Mia’s ears, Mia wrote “Call Dani” on her list of job ideas. She added another row of roses.

Then she wrapped herself in the blanket, listened to the storm roar, and wondered if, maybe, God hadn’t completely abandoned her.

At least, not yet.

With only a few weeks to get fourteen businesses and fourteen houses ready, he needed to work fast. No distractions.

Cody tightened the last screw and stepped back to check his work. The new light switch plates gleamed against the fresh coat of paint he’d applied. He’d picked up the keys from Dani a few days earlier and gone straight to work. Today, he was finishing up with a small storefront on the corner of Main and Ferry.

His phone buzzed with a text from Mia’s number.

Mia

Are you in town? We’re out for a walk. Maybe we’ll see you.

So much for no distractions.

Cody

I’m at Sampson’s. He texted back. See you soon.

He hadn’t been back to Mia’s since that night a few days ago. He’d checked in with her the next day, and she assured him she was fine.

He looked around the space. Floor-to-ceiling windows flanked the front door, bringing great views of Main Street. The building used to house Sampson’s Gallery, but it had stood empty for many years now. After cleaning up the accumulated dust and animal droppings, he’d refinished the wood floor and repainted the walls—three off-white and one a bright golden color. The finishing touches he’d made today were the icing on the cake.

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