Page 28 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

Finn nodded, his face serious. “Don’t worry, Mommy.”

She leaned against the doorframe as they walked over to inspect the fence. Her heart squeezed as Finn slipped his hand into Cody’s. She rubbed at her chest before going back into the house to make sure Maggie hadn’t turned more of her paperwork into coloring pages.

She found her daughter curled up under the dining room table, fast asleep, the plum crayon stub clutched tightly in her palm. Mia glanced at the clock. No wonder Maggie was sleepy. It was an hour past her normal nap time. She’d been so distracted with the work and with Finn to notice.

Moving at a snail’s pace, she picked Maggie off the floor and cradled her to her chest before tucking her into her “big girl bed”. She smoothed the damp bangs from Maggie’s forehead then left the room on tiptoe. If she kept quiet enough for Maggie to sleep, she could get a good hour’s worth of work done uninterrupted.

Her phone rang, and she jumped before grabbing at it to answer. “Hello?”

“Why are you whispering?” Evie’s voice came on the line.

“I just put Maggie down, and I need her to sleep while I work.” Stepping around the creaky floorboard in the hall, Mia made her way to the dining room. “Cody has Finn outside fixing the fence, so I think I can make some real progress.”

“Cody is there again, eh?”

Seriously? Were Dani and Evie conspiring to gang up on her? “I don’t think I like the tone of your voice.” She shifted a few papers onto the floor.

“What tone? I don’t have a tone.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I saw your video.”

Mia held back a groan. Why hadn’t she edited that video? The truth was, it was a good shot, and the harbor looked so pretty that day. She couldn’t bring herself to cut out Finn’s laughter and Maggie’s bright smile. Cody was just icing on the cake. “It was just a picnic.”

“‘A local attraction,’ I believe you said.”

What had she been thinking? The words just slipped out. But then, his easy smile and the way he didn’t give her grief for saying that about him made her feel safe. Just like he always did.

But still. “Evie. C’mon. You know we’ve only ever been friends.” She looked at the sea of paper swamping her table, threatening to tow her under.

“What do you mean? You told me a few weeks ago you were thinking about dating again.”

She had said that. They’d had a long conversation after watchingSleepless in Seattle,where she’d admitted the barest possibility that she was lonely. But that was before she’d found out that she might lose her house. Now she needed to concentrate on keeping a roof over her kids’ heads. She didn’t have time for dating anyone. “Yeah, but it’s Cody.”

“I fail to see the problem. He’s single, you’re single. What’s the issue?”

“The issue is he was Troy’s best friend. How weird would it be to date my late husband’s best friend? Doesn’t that violate some code?” Although, to be fair, Cody washerfriend first.

No, she must have just been feeling a spark of getting back to her normal self. A feeling she hadn’t had in a long time. Maybe ever. At least as an adult.

After all, she’d been an unwed mother, married before she was twenty, then before she’d adjusted to that, Maggie was on the way. And just as she was getting used to the thought of two kids, her husband was killed in that tragic accident.

Besides, she didn’t have time for anything except sorting through these applicants. When she had agreed to do this job…check that—when she had begged for this job, she hadn’t anticipated this much response.

“Do you really think Troy would mind?” Evie sounded genuinely curious. “I would think he would be happy for you.”

She could never make her sister understand how Troy hovered between them every time she and Cody were together. Perhaps if his death had happened in a different way…“People would talk.”

“Psssht. Since when do you care what people think?”

“I guess I just feel like I need to hold myself to a higher standard, after coming home pregnant at nineteen. People judge me in a different way.”

“I get that, but you don’t have to punish yourself forever.”

The blood of Jesus covers that too.Cody’s words rattled through her head again.

“Besides, your voice got lighter in that video when you talked about him. I haven’t heard that from you in a long time. You sounded invested.”

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