Page 25 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

Cody snorted. “Gotta have a woman for that.”

“No, actually, you don’t. In fact, I made that face plenty when Dani and I were first getting to know each other. But if it’s not a woman…”

“No. You were right the first time. It was a woman, but not in a romantic way. I mean Mia and the kids and I just had a picnic. It was great. For a while. We had sandwiches and hung around near the water.” They passed by a house on Cody’s fix-it list. Grass was getting long. He added mowing to his list.

“Uh huh.” Liam was still frowning.

“She laughed and had a good time.” He hadn’t imagined that, right? “She even said it was a good idea. But then, I don’t know. I must have said or done something wrong, because all of a sudden it was time to pack up the kids and go home.” He ran a hand over his face.

Liam’s face had cleared. “Women,” he said. “They are unknowable. But usually there’s a clue. What happened right before that?”

He thought back. “The kids and I were horsing around, and then I offered to help her with some projects she has going on.”

“Did she want your help?”

“I guess not.” They turned off Jonathon Boulevard and started walking down Main. Down the way, he could see that Good Day Coffee had hung a new, bright blue awning. It added a cheery vibe to the rundown appearance of the rest of the street.

“Well, there you go. She’s a strong, independent woman, and she wants to make it on her own.”

“I know she’s strong and independent. I don’t want to take that away from her. I just want her to know that she doesn’t have to do everything on her own all the time.” He wanted to be there for her, especially now that Troy couldn’t.

“You want to be the big, strong rescuer.”

“No.” Or, maybe it was yes. Didn’t all guys want that? “Okay, but it’s not just that. It’s just…” Cody tugged at his ball cap.

“Just what?”

“Our relationship is super complicated.” A piece of trash drifted over his foot, and he bent to pick it up.

“I hate to break it to you, but all relationships are complicated, man.” Liam put his hands up in a what-are-you-going-to-do gesture.

“Complicated like, I’ve been half in love with her since middle school but then she married my best friend who then died on my boat complicated?” Yeah, he hadn’t meant to say all of that, but now his chest was lighter. Freer.

Liam grinned at him. “Okay. You’ve probably got everyone beat on that level of complication. But it’s not a competition, so I suggest you simplify things a bit in the future. You like her. She tolerates you. Sounds like the foundation for something great.”

Cody laughed at Liam’s teasing. “I guess. I’m just trying to help her out. You know, honoring Troy’s memory.”

“Seriously though, I’ve seen the two of you together, there’s some chemistry there. Look. I don’t know much about love—we’ve already established that. But I think you need to stop thinking about yourself as her husband’s best friend and just try to be her friend.” Liam shrugged. “She probably senses you are trying to be a rescuer, and she doesn’t need that right now, but I’d bet she could use a friend.”

A friend. Right. He could do that. After all, they’d been friends a long time. Since before Troy moved to the island. “Thanks for the pep talk.” He paused on the sidewalk in front of his property.

“Anytime.” Liam clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, have you had time to look up that fishing gear for me?”

Shoot! “Aw. I’m sorry. I got busy and?—”

Liam squeezed his shoulder. “No worries. I know you’ve got a lot going on.”

“I’ll get it to you tonight. I have to search for that engine part anyway.” And try his hardest to figure out how to be just a friend to Mia.

Chapter Five

Could someone please remind her why she’d thought taking this job was a good idea?

Mia sat in Dani’s office, the two of them surrounded by piles of papers. Mia’s eye strayed to the poster of a hillside in Tuscany Dani had on her wall. Taking an extended vacation there sounded pretty good right about now.

“I can’t believe we had this much response in such a short time, Mia.” Dani’s words broke through her thoughts, and she shifted her gaze back to the papers in front of her. Each stack represented a business owner who had seen her call for applications and were eager to move to Jonathon Island. Dani had printed the applications off the online portal, and now the two of them were sorting through the piles on Dani’s desk.

“I can’t believe it either.” Mia reached up and retied the bandanna she’d wrapped around her hair this morning. Hopefully it covered the fact that she hadn’t had time to wash her hair during her five-minute shower this morning.

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