Page 69 of Lovewell Lane

“I need you to save an entire town of people.”

“Meteor or supervillain?”

“Lack of marketing.”

“Ah,” she laughed. “Just my specialty. I thought you said the diner was doing great?”

I sat down on my chair and propped my feet up on my desk. The office was so small that I had to sit diagonally to fit in the room with my legs straightened out, but it made me feel powerful all the same.

“It is. Which, unfortunately, means I’ve earned street cred and have now been tasked with saving the Honey Festival.”

“God, why does everything in that town have to be so cute? We can’t let theHoneyFestival fail.”

“I know, so get that beautiful mind of yours to work. Tell me what I need to do,” I said.

We stayed on our call for the next two hours before Mike knocked on my office door. I opened it for him.

“Hey,” he said. “So, we’re done out here. Anything we should do before we go home?”

“No, go, head out.”

“You sure you don’t need anything?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said while waving my hand. “I’m all good. Go home and get some rest. Thank you.”

I closed the door and held the phone back up to my ear to hear Scarlet giggling. “What?”

“It’s so weird hearing you be the voice of authority. You sound so… reliable.”

“I’m reliable,” I scoffed.

“I know,” Scarlet said with a softer voice. “I’m really proud of you. You’re doing a great job.”

Her words reminded me of Derek. Which reminded me that I hadn’t told Scarlet about all of the weird events lately with Derek.

“Thanks, Scar,” I paused, trying to think of a way to bring him up.

“So, is there anything else going on that I should know about?” My best friend was so beautiful and smart.

“Derek and I kind of went on a date,” I blurted.

“What? When? I thought things had fizzled out. You were focusing on the diner!”

“And I still am. Basically, his dad set us up on a dinner date with neither of us knowing about it.”

“Oh my God, just like Parent Trap!”

“Finally, someone gets it! Yes, exactly like Parent Trap. Anyway, we both talked very maturely about the kiss and everything, and we decided it would be best to focus on ourselves. At least, that's what I got out of it.”

“Okay, and?”

“And then we had a really great time. Like, it wasn’t technically a date anymore, but it was fun. He took me lightning bug catching in an empty strawberry field and it was so romantic, and sweet, and we got rained on, but it still was a great time. Holy shit. I soooo have feelings for him.”

“You’re just now figuring that out?”

“Then he drove me back home and we said goodnight. He stared right at my mouth for what felt like hours before turning around and going right back inside.”

“No way! No kiss?”

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