Page 95 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

She put her hand on top of his. A hand sandwich. “I do love you. I love your spontaneity. I love your gentle spirit. I love your love of doorknobs.” She gave him a wink. “And it doesn’t hurt that you’re also very cute.”

“I was going for debonair.” He gestured at the clothes.

“That too.” She leaned toward him. “Cody?”

“Hmm?”

“You can kiss me now.”

He pulled his hands free and cupped them around her face. Slowly, he rubbed his thumbs over her cheekbones, sending a delicious shiver through her. He leaned toward her and met her lips. She saw his eyes crinkle in a smile for a second, but then hers slid closed. She pressed closer to him, and he moved his arms around to her back. He tightened his grip before moving one hand to cup the back of her head.

Cody’s embrace was like being wrapped in her favorite blanket, safe in her own living room, but it was also like lighting a thousand fireworks. Surely the people in Port Joseph could see the sparks all the way across Lake Huron.

“Mommy, are you kissing Cody?” Finn’s voice of absolute disgust broke the spell around them.

Mia kept her arms around Cody but pulled back to speak to Finn. “Yes. I am. Is that okay?”

“I guess.” He wrinkled his nose. “Can I have a hot chocolate?”

Cody released her. A terrible loss. “I actually wondered if you guys would like to take a walk with me,” he said. “I have something I want to show you.”

Finn stared at him out of the corner of his eye. “Can we take the wagon?”

“Sure, bud. Maybe we can get hot chocolate after.” He held a hand out to Mia. “How about it? Want to take a walk with me?”

Looking into his eyes, she knew that she would go anywhere as long as they were together.

Life didn’t get much better than this.

Once again, Cody and Mia and Mia’s kids walked the familiar path into town. This time though, Cody couldn’t stop grinning.

“What are you so happy about?” Mia bumped him with her shoulder. He looked down at her. Pale yellow sweater, slim jeans, a matching yellow bandanna in her hair, she was sunshine embodied. Behind them, in the wagon, Maggie’s purple bobble hat bounced to the rhythm of their steps. Finn pretended to be driving a race car, or maybe it was a boat with the growling and splashing noises he made.

“Can’t I just be happy to be walking with a beautiful woman and two great kids?” He tucked her hand into his.

“I suppose.” Her smile dimmed.

“I know that look. What’s up?”

“It’s just that I’m a little sad to be leaving this neighborhood.” She waved her arm in an “all this” gesture. “Don’t get me wrong, it was wonderful of my parents to allow me to move there, but their house is a little isolated up there on the northern tip of the island…and Lilac Lane feels more like home, you know?”

He nodded. With all the time he’d spent there the past few weeks, it had come to feel like home for him too.

“I just wish I knew when the bank was going to repossess it. They haven’t given me an exact date, so it’s hard for me to plan. I don’t want to move Finn and Maggie out until the very last minute. Maybe that’s selfish of me.”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t sound selfish to me. You want the best for your kids. That’s admirable. And you’re probably the least selfish person I’ve ever met.”

The pensive look faded from her face and was replaced by a toothy smile. He gave her hand a squeeze. “Okay, that was a switch. Now what are you so happy about?”

“I was just remembering a few weeks ago when I was walking this route alone. My life has changed so much since then.”

“For the better I hope.” Cody waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Definitely for the better.” She looped her arm into his and smiled up at him. Behind them, the kids were singing a song about the wheels on a bus.

Yeah. His had changed for the better also. Now that the burden of guilt about Troy’s death had rolled off his back, he felt a hundred pounds lighter. Of course, the ability to move forward with his fishing business helped too. Add in the newfound footing he and Mia had found, well it was almost enough to make a grown man break out into song.

The only cloud on his horizon was the one that wondered if he’d overstepped with his surprise.

---