Page 66 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

“Leave it here then, I guess. I’ll drag it in.”

The boxes hit the sidewalk with a thump. In less time than she’d thought possible, Luke and Martin moved off, leaving Mia alone on the sidewalk, surrounded by a dozen boxes of various sizes. Overhead, a crack of thunder warned of the coming storm.

She craned her neck into the building, checking on Finn and Maggie. They sat hunched over the iPad, its blue light reflecting on their faces, shading them in tones of cartoon. Her heart pinched, but she supposed another few minutes of children’s programming wouldn’t rot their brains too much. She just needed to get these boxes under shelter before the storm. A drop of rain hit her cheek.

Right. Double time.

Lifting a stack of the smallest boxes, she shouldered her way through the door and set them inside, out of the way.

She paused a moment to palm her cell phone, typed out a message to Cody.

Mia

Where are you? I could use some muscles.

She blushed, backspaced the sentence and wrote:

Mia

I thought we said 10 a.m?

She would call him, but texting was faster. And speed was definitely needed. As she stepped outside for a second load, raindrops began pattering on the boxes. A smell of petrichor filled the air—that particular scent of ozone, and dust, and water, and wet cement in the first moments of rain. She closed her eyes briefly and inhaled deeply. Then opened them to see the boxes getting wetter by the second.

No time for whimsy. If she didn’t focus on this work, some very expensive equipment might be ruined.

Another load of boxes later, there was still no text from Cody. Had something happened to him?

Her stomach clenched. She was alone. Always alone. Maybe she should call Dani to come and help.

Nah. If Dani wasn’t at work, it would take longer for her to get here than for her to do it herself.

Above her, the skies opened up. Cold rain sliced into her, soaking through her jacket.

She stared at the last three boxes, hands on her hips. She would have to drag them into the store. She didn’t have a two-wheeled dolly cart, and she sure couldn’t lift them. Putting her arms around the shortest one, she grasped the handles cut into the cardboard. She pulled back and felt it move an inch.

Now the wet dog scent of damp cardboard was all she could smell. The box scraped against the sidewalk as she scooted it toward the store.

She looked to the side. The top of the other box darkened with rainwater.

Her progress was halted by the lip of the doorjamb. Bending at the knees, she tried to lift the box the two inches to clear the jamb. No joy.

“Looks like you could use a hand.”

Her heart leaped, but the low rumbling voice did not belong to Cody. She peered around the box and found Matt standing on the other side. A sharp pain bit into her somewhere near her heart. Matt’s square jaw, covered with the slightest amount of stubble, his piercing blue eyes and dark wavy hair should have made her heart pitter-patter. But all the rugged appeal in the world still didn’t make him Cody.

Which wasn’t quite fair to Matt, who’d never done anything wrong but be the wrong man. First, not Troy, and now, not Cody.

“Thanks. Cody said he’d be here, but…” She shrugged and gestured at the sidewalk, empty of anything except ginormous boxes and the growing puddles. “If you grab that handle, I’ll take this one.”

Moving slowly so the compromised cardboard wouldn’t tear and drop the expensive cargo on the unrelenting concrete, they moved the box into the shop and to the left of the front door.

“We can leave that here for now,” Mia said.

Another crack of lightning strobed the store, and the lights blinked out. In the corner, Maggie whimpered.

I know how you feel, little one.

But she couldn’t show her fear to the kids. “One more box, kiddos, and then we can go home.”

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