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  “You’re a good uncle, Clay.”

  “He’s a good kid.”

  “I’ll walk to the car with you.”

  The rain began to fall faster and they hastened their steps to the parking lot. Clay left Lucy at the back door rather than have her run with him through the rain to his car.

  “We can say good-bye right here,” he said as they ducked under the inn’s overhang.

  “I’ll talk to you soon.” She reached up and kissed him on the lips. “Have fun with Logan.”

  “I will.” Clay took off across the lot. His quick step turned into a jog just as the downpour began.

  Lucy stood near the door, her arms folded over her chest as if to ward off the chill, and watched the Jeep as it emerged from the back of the lot and swung past the porch. Clay raised his hand in a wave and soon disappeared behind the trees that grew along the drive. She missed him the minute he was gone, and the realization startled her.

  The rain dripped through the overhang and ran down her back in cold streams. By the time she turned and went inside, her shirt was soaked. It took a hot shower, an old sweatshirt, and a cup of tea to warm her again.

  She worked in her office until two, when she stopped to have lunch with her mother. Then, the rain having stopped, she drove to Scoop to talk to Steffie about offering tokens to the Magellan guests. That she could get a dish of world-class ice cream while she was there was purely incidental.

  There wasn’t much of a crowd when she arrived, so after she ordered, at Stef’s urging, the flavor of the week—jelly-bean fudge—she had a few minutes to talk to Steffie about her proposal.

  “Vanessa told me about your idea,” Steffie said. “I was hoping you’d ask me to be part of it, too.”

  “I’m delighted that you’re in,” Lucy replied. “I was thinking maybe we could offer tokens for a free cone. Robert and Susanna would, of course, pay you for however many tokens they decide to go with.”

  “I’ll go one better. I’ll make an ice-cream flavor just for them. After all, Wade and Clay are talking about making a special beer.”

  “Something special, an ice cream never seen before …?”

  “Well, never seen before at Scoop. You know they say that there’s nothing new under the sun, but yes. Something very special that I’ll come up with just for them.” Stef handed Lucy her dish. “Tell me something about the bride.”

  “Like what?” Lucy helped herself to napkins.

  “Like, what colors does she like?”

  “I know she wants lots of pink roses. Medium pink, not pale. She specified that.” Lucy took herself to a table and sat. “Oh, and she’s pretty sophisticated.”

  “I’ll have to think about it.”

  Stef went into the back room, where she concocted her flavors, and Lucy picked at her ice cream with a plastic spoon. The door opened and a couple in their fifties entered the shop and went directly to the ice-cream cases. They chattered about the various flavors.

  “I never heard of some of these,” the woman said. “What do you suppose is in walnut surprise?”

  “You mean besides walnuts?” her companion replied.

  “Dried cherries and rum.” Steffie emerged from the back room, a mischievous grin on her face. “We don’t sell it to anyone under eighteen,” she deadpanned. “I’ll have to see your driver’s license if you want a taste.”

  Lucy took her iPhone out of her bag to check messages. There were three new texts. One was from Clay, so she opened that first.

  Miss you already.

  She sighed and wished for once in her life that things could be easy. She’d never shied away from work or asked anyone who worked for her to take on something she herself would shirk from. But this … this falling-in-love business …

  Had she really just thought falling in love?

  “Lucy, I’ve got it!” Stef called to her as she served the couple. “Balsamic strawberry!”

  Lucy thought about it for a moment. “It’s perfect. It’s sophisticated and it’s pink.”

  “And the strawberries, of course, will be local,” Stef continued. “Though I’ll either have to freeze them as soon as they’re picked, or make the ice cream a few weeks early and freeze it, since berry season will have passed by the end of June. Damn. We’ll miss the season by about two or three weeks.”

  “Stef, you really are good at this. Are you sure I can’t talk you into coming back to L.A. with me and opening up a shop there and making special ice creams for all my events?”

  “Not a chance. I know where I belong. I have everything I could ever want right here.” Stef flashed her thousand-watt smile, obviously pleased at having come up with the perfect flavor in record time. “Now all I have to do is find a name for my creation.”

  “What’s wrong with ‘balsamic strawberry’?”

  “Nothing, except it’s not special enough. It should reflect the person for whom we’re making it.”

  The couple at the counter paid for their cones and took a table a few away from Lucy.

  “O Susanna!” Steffie shouted gleefully.

  Lucy looked around to see if anyone responded.

  “Lucy! That’s it!” Stef all but danced across the small shop.

  “That’s what?”

  “ ‘O Susanna.’ That’s what I’m going to call the ice cream.”

  “O Susanna,” Lucy repeated, a smile spreading across her face. Of course. What could be more perfect? “Stef, you really are a genius.”

  “I have my moments,” Steffie said modestly.

  “It’s inspired. I can’t wait to tell Robert and Susanna. They’re going to love it.” Lucy ate the last bite of her ice cream, dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a napkin, and grabbed her bag. There were several other items she’d wanted to discuss with Susanna, but the ice-cream shop wasn’t the place, and besides, her list was on her desk. She couldn’t wait to get back to her office, pull out her notes, and make that call. “Thanks, Stef.”

  “Let me know what they think of it,” Stef called as Lucy headed out the door.

  “I will.”

  The song—“O Susanna”—was in her head all the way to the inn, but as earworms went, she decided, it wasn’t so bad. It was a song she’d learned as a child but hadn’t thought of in years. Leave it to Steffie to come up with something like that. Lucy hadn’t been kidding when she’d said she wished she could take Stef back to L.A. with her. What fun it would be to be able to offer brides their own ice-cream flavor to be served at their wedding reception.

  Then again, no.

  What would St. Dennis be without Scoop and places like Bling, Cuppachino, Book ’Em, Lola’s Café, Sips, Cupcake? They were all part of what made their town unique. Like the Inn at Sinclair’s Point, she reminded herself, each lent its own special something to the flavor of the community.

  And today’s flavor, apparently, was O Susanna.

  Chapter 20

  IF Madeline was surprised to find Lucy’s note on her desk on Monday morning asking to meet after Lucy returned from her meeting with Olivia at Petals and Posies, she gave no sign.

  “I hope you won’t mind giving me a hand with some of the things on my to-do list for the Magellan wedding,” Lucy started by saying. “Dan tells me you’re wonderfully organized and great with details.”

  “Thank you.” The young woman looked pleased at the compliment. “My mom always said the devil was in the details.”

  “Very true.” Lucy handed Madeline a file. “I’m the same way. So I hope you’ll understand why my lists have lists.”

  Madeline laughed, opened the file, and scanned the typed pages. “You weren’t kidding.”

  “Sadly, no. This wedding is going to be a mega-production. There will be so much going on that week, my head threatens to explode every time I think about it.”

  “Wow, I heard this was going to be involved, but I had no idea it was going to be this involved.”

  “Which explains why I need your help. Are you in?”


  “Are you kidding? Other than the fact that it is my job, and Dan’s my boss, would I pass up the chance to work with you?” She rolled her eyes. “I am definitely in. Where do I start?”

  “Let’s go over the entire week’s worth of events and see where you can best assist.”

  “Fine with me. I’ll do whatever you need …”

  Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been worried that Madeline might not be happy that someone else was coming onto her turf and taking over what some might think should be her job. The meeting lasted over two hours, with Lucy explaining each detail and Madeline taking notes. By noon, they had a game plan.

  “I can’t thank you enough for pitching in,” Lucy told her. “I know you have a few events of your own scheduled.”

  “All under control,” Madeline assured her as she swept her notes into the file and headed back to her own office.

  “If you have any questions, or have any problems, let me know right away,” Lucy called after her.

  “Will do.” Madeline’s cheery voice trailed down the hall.

  The work divided—certainly not equally; there were some things that Lucy had to tend to herself—Lucy began to make the calls she needed to make and read a few emails while she was on hold for this call or that. She stopped for a quick lunch before heading into town to approach other merchants about the discount tokens Susanna wanted to give out to her guests. She figured if she could line all those up between today and tomorrow, she could arrange to have the tokens made by a company she’d used for something similar in L.A., and that would be one time-consuming thing off the list. Madeline suggested that instead of buying the mugs and T-shirts from the gift shop in town, she order them from the supplier herself and have them made with a picture of the inn on one side and the town’s slogan, “Discover St. Dennis,” along with the bride and groom’s names and the date of the wedding on the other. She offered to draw up the map of St. Dennis and arrange for the tote bags to be made locally. She knew someone who had a craft shop who could hand-make them.

  All of the merchants Lucy met with loved the idea of giving out tokens to the wedding guests that would bring them into the town and entice them to shop. Not surprisingly, no one turned Lucy down. Besides assuring that Susanna would have what she wanted for her guests’ gift bags, stopping into each of the shops gave Lucy the opportunity to reacquaint herself with some people she hadn’t seen in years as well as to meet the newcomers. By late afternoon, she’d been to every shop except Cupcake, which she’d saved for last.

  “Hey, Brooke,” Lucy called when she went inside the pretty pink shop with the striped awning and, oddly, a FOR RENT sign on the side door.

  “Be with you in a minute,” Brooke called from the back. A moment later, she emerged with a tray of freshly frosted cupcakes.

  “Hello, Lucy Sinclair.” Brooke smiled when she saw who her customer was.

  “What’s with the ‘For Rent’ sign out there?” Lucy asked. “You just opened a few months ago.”

  “Oh, that’s for upstairs. The last tenant used it as a photography studio.” Brooke placed the tray on the counter. “So what’s up? I doubt you stopped in just to ask about that sign.”

  “I’ve been stopping by some of the shops this afternoon …” Lucy began.

  “I heard. I was hoping you’d be stopping here as well.” Brooke lifted the tray in Lucy’s direction. “Cupcake?”

  “I really shouldn’t …” Lucy glanced at the beautiful confections.

  “Oh, of course you should.” Brooke set the tray on the counter. “Lemon supreme, mint chocolate, strawberry chiffon—”

  “Couldn’t you make this easy and just make something ordinary, like vanilla?”

  “My friend, in the right hands, vanilla is never ordinary.”

  Lucy picked the mint chocolate and took a bite. “Heaven. You’re too good at this. You should do a bang-up business come summer when all the tourists are in town.”

  “I hope so. I do pretty well with the restaurants and they all tell me that my fancy cupcakes sell really well as desserts, but they’re really labor-intensive, so it’s good to be able to make some that are simply frosted without all the flowers and such. I do keep a few of the fancy models for those times when someone rushes in and wants something special, but for the most part, the best sellers are just frosted with maybe a few sprinkles.”

  “I love the mint in the frosting,” Lucy told her. “It’s delicious.”

  “Thanks.” Brooke leaned on the counter. “There’s coffee over on the counter if you’d like a cup.”

  “I would love one. I didn’t realize it until you said the word, but coffee is exactly what I need right now.”

  “Help yourself. I’ll have one, too, and we can sit at that little table there by the window. I’m usually pretty slow at this time of the day.”

  “Great idea. I could use a break.”

  “Hey, Clay tells me that you’re coming to Jesse’s party on Saturday. You’ll get to see the old Enright place again.”

  “The party is definitely there? He left that part out. Now I’m really excited.”

  “I was trying to work up the nerve to ask Curtis about having the party there, but he offered before I asked. Of course I jumped at it. The only other option is my house, and it’s a little small for all the people I was inviting.”

  Brooke waited until Lucy had poured her coffee before pouring her own.

  “This is lovely to sit and visit and have such a delicious treat.” Lucy sat and shrugged out of the cardigan she’d tossed on before leaving the inn. “I could definitely get used to this.”

  “So could I.” Brooke sighed. “So, aren’t you going to ask me if I want to take part in the ‘shop St. Dennis’ movement you’re planning?”

  “It isn’t exactly a movement, and I can’t really take credit for the idea, though I think it’s terrific. I love that so many new people will get to experience our pretty town.”

  Brooke stared at her. “Our pretty town?”

  Lucy nodded and took another bite of cupcake.

  “I thought you considered yourself a West Coast-er these days,” Brooke said.

  Lucy stared at her for a moment. “I have lived out there for a long time, but when I’m here … I still feel part of it. St. Dennis is my hometown, after all.”

  “I’m happy to hear you say that.”

  Lucy put her cup down. “This is about Clay again, isn’t it.”

  “I saw your car there the other night,” Brooke said gently. “I know it’s going to just about kill him when you leave.”

  “I’ve never done anything to make him think I was staying here, Brooke. I’m not leading him on.…”

  “I don’t mean to imply that you are. I’m sorry if it came out that way.” Brooke touched Lucy’s arm. “I have a business, too, so I know how hard you have to work to become successful. And God knows, your business is a huge success. I always see your name mentioned in those upscale wedding magazines and sometimes in the celebrity weeklies. ‘So-and-so’s wedding planner was Shaefer and Sinclair.’ I know you must have busted your butt to achieve that level of success, so I get that part and I congratulate you for having made it.”

  “But …”

  “But my brother is in love with you … and as much as I applaud your success and appreciate that your life is somewhere else …”

  “I get it. I do. And for the record, I care about Clay a great deal—more than I ever thought I’d care about anyone—and I don’t know what to do about it. I have a lot of commitments and a lot of people depending on me. Right now I just want to get through the Magellan wedding. It means so much to Robert and Susanna, and frankly, it means a lot to the inn. Dan’s been working really hard to make the inn the premier destination wedding spot on the Chesapeake, and if we pull this off, coming on the heels of Dallas’s wedding, it will put the inn permanently on the map.”

  Brooke nodded. “I understand. But I also understand that Clay is so psyched for this
summer, for spending time with you. I know he’s hoping for some miracle and that you won’t leave. So what happens at the end of the summer, Lucy? What happens to Clay then?”

  “I don’t know, Brooke. I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it. This thing with Clay is so new …”

  “New?” Brooke raised an eyebrow. “Honey, Clay has never not loved you. ‘This thing’ has always been—”

  The door opened and Barbara Noonan from the bookstore came in.

  “Hi, Barb.” Brooke got up from the table to wait on her.

  “Hello, Brooke,” she said. “Lucy, I haven’t seen you in years, and here we are, twice in the same day.” To Brooke, she said, “My nieces are coming for dinner and I just realized I have no dessert. What can you tempt me with today?”

  “I strongly recommend the mint chocolate,” Lucy said as she rose from her seat. “Brooke, thanks for the coffee break and the conversation. We’ll get back to you on the tokens.”

  “Thanks, Luce. Take care.”

  Lucy pulled on her sweater and left the shop, a knot in her stomach. Brooke hadn’t told her anything she hadn’t already known. Of course she was aware that Clay cared for her. More and more, she was feeling the same way.

  She just didn’t know what to do about it.

  After having fallen asleep at her desk, Lucy awoke at two A.M. and walked through the silent inn to her room. She tossed off her clothes and crawled into bed and fell back to sleep within seconds. It wasn’t until around noon the following day that she realized that since telling Clay about her attack, she hadn’t had any of the nightmares that had plagued her for so many years.

  Her phone rang and she was happy to see Bonnie’s name on the caller ID. Hopefully, Bonnie was on her way back to L.A.

  “Hi,” she answered the call. “How’s Bob doing?”

  “Not good,” Bonnie replied, obviously upset. “Not good at all.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “They couldn’t operate on his leg last week because they couldn’t sedate him due to the head injury. They’re planning the surgery for Wednesday, and, Lucy, I can’t leave him while he’s going through this.” Bonnie began to cry into the phone. “I hate to ask you to do this because I know you’re over your head as it is, but I don’t have a choice.” Lucy heard her take a deep breath. “Could you take over the Ruskin wedding for me on Saturday? I know that Ava and Corrine have both been doing a great job, but this is a big-deal wedding and these people are going to want to see me or you at the helm.”