Page 79 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

“What’s in the bag?” Cody held her gaze as tightly as he held her hand. His thumb caressed the knuckle of her pointer finger.

“Um.” Yeah, real intelligent. She slipped her hand out of his and unslung the heavy tote from her shoulder. “I thought it might be cold out here on the water, so I brought hot chocolate and a blanket. Plus a few snacks.”

He rubbed his hands together in exaggerated glee. “Snacks!” The kids laughed.

“Snacks!” Finn echoed. “I’m hungry now.”

“Finn, you are a bottomless pit. Do you think we can make it five minutes on the boat before you eat all the snacks?” She put her hand on her hip. “You need to learn a little patience. No snacks until we can see the lighthouse.”

“Imagine what he’ll be like as a teenager.” Cody shot her a wink, and suddenly she didn’t think she would need the hot chocolate. Her insides already felt warm and gooey.

“But Mom.” Finn’s whine managed to make the word into three syllables.

“Finn, you gotta respect your mom’s rules,” Cody said. “No snacks until we can see the lighthouse. Which means we better get going. I want hot chocolate.” He revved the engine as Mia untied the mooring line from the cleat on the dock. Soon, they eased their way out into the open water.

The late afternoon sun glinted off the water, making rainbows out of the spray coming off the boat’s wake. Cody stuck close to the island shoreline. Her chest expanded and lifted. Braving the straits of Mackinac would have been too much. Finn and Maggie spun around and around in the two seats at the back of the boat. Their giggles carried over the sound of the motor.

“Thanks for your support back there.” Mia laid a hand on Cody’s shoulder.

“Eh. It was nothing.” Cody glanced her way before turning back to the water. “Finn just needed to be encouraged to obey.”

The gooey feeling got warmer. “Not nothing. I’m used to enforcing the rules on my own. Having backup felt…nice.”

He pretended to tip an imaginary cap to her. “By the way, I’ll be signing the title of this boat over to you.”

“What? Why? No way.”

“It’s the right thing to do. It belonged to Troy. Now it should belong to you and the kids.”

“I don’t want it.” She crossed her arms. “Troy would want you to have it. You worked on it almost as much as he did.”

He pulled a face. “What am I going to do with another boat? I can barely keep the one that I already have.”

She faced forward. The wind from their speed brushed her face and tossed her hair. The clean scent of water and sky filled her. “I don’t know. Sell it maybe. Use the money to buy yourself an engine that actually works.”

He grunted in response.

“It’s good to see you captaining a boat again,” she said.

“As you know, I almost had a breakdown out here.”

She glanced at him, saw the whitening of his knuckles as he gripped the wheel. “It’s not surprising, given what you went through.” Mia tugged a stray hair out of her eye. “You’re out here now though.”

“Yeah, Pastor Arnie and I went out again.” He shot a look her way. “It was the morning I was late to help you.”

Oh.

“With his help, and a lot of prayer, I was able to wrestle down a few demons.” He rubbed at the back of his neck.

“I’m proud of you. Will you tell me the story sometime?”

“Definitely.” He slowed the boat. “How about you? Are you doing okay? Being out here, I mean.”

She breathed in, the air going deep into her lungs. Her heart rate was steady. When Cody wasn’t grinning at her, anyway. “It’s funny. I thought this would be so hard, but it turns out that being out here with you is the most natural thing in the world.” She reached out and put her hand on top of his.

Cody swung the boat to the left around an out cropping of rocks.

“Lighthouse!” Finn’s cry made her jump, pulling away from Cody. “I see the lighthouse.”

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