Page 41 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

“This town is pretty great,” Matt said. “Lots of inspiration. This space is good too. It could work for me.” He put his hand on the small of Mia’s back.

Whoa, there. Sure, she had a remembered attraction to Matt, even had a small spark today. But this was too much too fast. “Care to walk with us?” she blurted to Cody as she scampered toward the door. “There’s more tour to give.”

Mia wasn’t sure how to interpret the look on Cody’s face, but his eyes matched the water in Lake Huron right before a storm. She needed him by her side for this one. Maybe he could help her decide if Matt was coming on too strong. Plus, Matt’s business could make or break her deal with the town. She didn’t know how to play this. She sent a plea through her eyes.

“I’ve got some time to spare.” Cody’s grunt did not inspire confidence, but at least he’d caught her message.

They visited a few more places, strolling up and down the main drag. Conversation flowed between Mia and Matt, Cody following behind. But with him as a buffer, Mia was able to relax.

“Mama!” A purple fuzzball propelled itself into her legs. Her daughter grinned up at her. “We walk.”

A few steps farther up the sidewalk, her mom held Finn’s hand. “Hello,” she called.

Finn tugged on his grandma. Mia could practically feel him saying “hurry up”.

“We were getting a little stir crazy.” Her mom looked like she’d stepped out of an L.L.Bean catalog in her jeans and French sailor top. “I thought a walk would do us some good.” In a lower voice she added, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your business meeting.” She raised an eyebrow in Matt’s direction.

“It’s fine,” Mia said. She turned to the others. “Matt, I’d like you to meet my mom, Elise Jonathon, and this purple thing.” She hefted Maggie into her arms. “This is my daughter, and that handsome lad is my son, Finn.” Finn ducked under Cody’s arm and smiled at Matt. “Everyone, this is my friend, Matt.”

Matt shook her mom’s hand and then greeted both kids.

“Want to join us for a few minutes?” Mia raised an eyebrow at her mom.

“Sure. We’re game.” Elise set Maggie down to walk on her own for a while. The group moved up the street, Mia playing tour guide and pointing out various things to Matt. Cody swung Finn up onto his shoulders and sang a silly song with Maggie. After a while, the kids got restless.

“I’ll take them back to your place,” Elise said. “Take your time. See you later.”

They ended their walk back at the gallery space. Mia noticed Cody’s bike tucked next to the building. “Should we all ride over to Island House Inn? That way, Matt, you can drop off your bag.”

“I actually needed to do some work on the gallery,” Cody said.

Her heart spasmed. He couldn’t be going yet. “Cody, you’re welcome to come with us,” she blurted.

Cody glanced between Mia and Matt then nodded once. “Guess I wouldn’t mind a bit more fresh air.” After a silent ride back down Main Street, they pulled up to Island House, a modest, thirty-five room hotel. On the veranda wrapping around the front, rocking chairs waited for visitors.

Mia and Cody waited outside while Matt went to check in.

“Mia,” Cody said, voice so low she almost missed it. “Are you okay? You seem uncomfortable around Matt.”

“I guess I just don’t know how to act around him anymore.” She fidgeted with the gears on her bike. “I feel so small-town, and I want to impress him for the sake of Jonathon Island. I really think an art gallery would be good for tourism.”

“Just be yourself, that’s good enough.”

Cody’s words spread a warmth through her as Matt walked out of the hotel.

“Let’s bike up to the restaurant we passed earlier,” Matt said.

Mia found herself agreeing to his proposal.

As they biked back the way they had come, Matt outlined a possible timeline for moving on island.

Matt moving to town. That was a good thing, right?

When Mia had told him an old friend from college was the owner of Goldfinch Galleries, Cody had pictured someone…eccentric, maybe even ugly. And, yeah, that was probably wishful thinking, but Cody hadn’t expected this. Not a shoo-in for bachelor of the year.

Sure, Matt was nice enough, including Cody in the conversation, asking intelligent questions about the island, and even about Cody himself. Matt had even been nice to Mia’s kids, taking Maggie’s hand now and then and squatting down to talk to Finn man to man before they’d parted ways earlier. Mia had seemed uncomfortable with him at first, which was why Cody had stuck with them even though he had an insanely long list of to-dos for the day. Turned out she was acting that way because she had the wild notion that she wasn’t good enough for Matt.

Yeah. Something about Matt still rubbed Cody the wrong way.

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