Page 36 of Lovewell Lane

“So did Mrs. Fields move on? Did she find new love?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is Shellman pleased with himself? Did the giant corporate black hole fill his heart?”

“Doubtful. But the jury is out. He sounds like a real-life Disney villain.”

“And why pick Shellman? You’re changing your whole last name to anything you want and you pickthat?”

“My thoughts exactly. At least it wasn’t McLovin.”

“Wait didn’t you say the streets were all named after pet names? What street are you on?”

“They’re supposed to be things that reminded McLovin of his wife. Mine is Lovewell Lane.”

“And isn’t Derek’s shop on the same street?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“It issomeant to be. You’re going to break the curse! You’ll save the town with the power of yourloveMargo. That is so sweet,” Scarlet gushed.

“Please stop before I vomit.” I put my phone on speaker and set it down to carry my containers of silverware over to the drawer where they would live. “There is a Honey Festival happening in the summer. You should come, that way you can see how painfully obvious it is that Derek and I are not a thing.”

“I’ll be there. If only to witness true love in person,” Scarlet said dreamily.

“Your sappiness is making me physically ill. I’ll call you later, I’ve got to go.”

“Love you. Say hi to Derek and Tessa for me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Love you, bye.”

I rested both hands on the metal prep counter in front of me and leaned over to rest my head against the cool material. Scarlet’s teasing actually gave me a headache. I think the thing that bothered me the most was I couldn’t think of an actual reason why I wouldn’t date Derek. He had no real flaws apart from being blunt, which I was starting to appreciate. Usually, finding flaws in men was as easy as breathing for me.

A knock at the door made me stand up again. Please don’t let it be Derek. I’d had enough thinking about him for one day, and I hadn’t even seen him.

I rounded the corner to find Lila instead. Opening the door for her, I propped it on the doorstop and backed up so she could come inside. We hadn’t seen each other since our shopping trip where she took me to a Restaurant Depot and the thrift store where I found my painting.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hi. How is Sienna holding up?” I dropped off some bread and flowers for her at the Lakeside Inn the day after her daughter, Sienna got sick, but Lila wasn’t there at the time.

“She’s much better. Thank you for the flowers by the way. It meant a lot. I wanted to stop by the diner, I know I promised to last week. I’m so sorry. I’ve just been so caught up with Sienna, and then work fell behind because I took a few days off, and—”

“It’s okay,” I interrupted. “Your daughter comes first. I’ve been sorting silverware and printing menus. No big deal.”

She nodded and gave me a pained smile. “Everyone’s been talking about your grand opening.”

“That sounds like a good sign.”

“It is. Even out-of-town guests this morning asked me about it.”

I walked into the dining room and gave her space to look around. “I don’t have anything hung up on the walls yet, but the mayor is hooking me up with some vintage posters and news articles from back when Honeyfield was first founded. It should look nice.”

“It’s great,” Lila said. Then she turned to me with a genuine smile. “You’re doing a great job.”

My heart tightened in my chest. “Thank you. Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

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