Chapter 10 #2
“You should definitely try. God has given you a talent, Lily Hart, and it’s your job to do your best with it—like Arnie said today, don’t bury it.
And sure, things may not turn out the way you envision.
They may not even turn out the way you want.
But His ways are infinitely better, and when we give our talents back to Him, then it’s so fun to watch and see what He will do. ”
Tara smiled at her, and it sank into Lily, along with her words. Tara held out her arms and Lily stepped into the embrace. “Thank you.”
“And one more thing. Regarding that article.” Tara pulled away and looked into Lily’s eyes. “There’s no bad press that can’t be overcome with a little brilliant marketing. And if I recall, you have a best friend who just happens to know a lot about marketing.”
Sadie.
“Oh my goodness.” Smiling, Lily smacked her own forehead. Yes, Sadie would know what to do.
This game wasn’t lost yet.
* * *
You’ll never know if she is feeling the same way if you don’t just man up and kiss her.
For five days, Brandon’s words had played on repeat in Declan’s head.
Especially seeing the rekindled fire in Lily. On Monday, he’d come into the fudge shop to find a new woman there. One with a new spark, a new confidence, a new determination in her eyes.
In truth, it made her even more beautiful.
Man up. Kiss her.
“Earth to Declan.” Mom’s voice broke through the haze and snapped him right back to his parents’ table, where his family was gathered on this Thursday evening. It was Mom’s night off from the diner, so instead she’d spent the evening whipping up an eggplant lasagna that was to die for.
He’d probably gained a few pounds during his stay on Jonathon Island.
“Sorry, what?” Declan stabbed a crouton on his salad with a bit too much force, sending it streaking across the white tabletop.
“Your mother was asking how business was going.” A bit of sauce dripped down Dad’s chin, and Mom reached over to swipe it off with a napkin.
“Yeah, Decky.” Isaac leaned back in his chair, lifting the front two legs off the ground. “How is business going since that Hart girl somehow managed to spin the article in her favor?”
“Is that true?” Mom’s gray eyebrows disappeared under her wispy bangs. “How’d she do that? And has it affected your numbers?”
“My numbers have held steady.” It was the truth, if not all of it. Because yes, Lily had found a way to spin Mr. Mercer’s advertising, embracing his criticism and invoking a scarcity mindset around her most unique flavors. Get this flavor before it’s gone had become her favorite saying.
Not that she’d said it to Declan himself. She hadn’t been rude, but ever since the article came out, their easy camaraderie had slipped back into a cordial professionalism. Mostly, she just left the room if they found themselves alone together.
And he hadn’t a clue how to get it back. Or if he should.
But Brandon’s words…they still wouldn’t let go of him.
Or maybe Declan didn’t want to let go of them .
Mom set her fork down and leaned forward as if inspecting him. “You should be furious, or at least working furiously to beat her. The festival is in less than a week and a half! Do you know who is beating who?”
He dabbed his mouth with a cloth napkin. “No, I haven’t seen the latest numbers.” But his sense told him Lily was ahead.
“It’s clear he’s losing, Mom.” Isaac tossed his napkin right into the mess of leftover sauce on his mostly empty plate. His brother’s lips twisted into a smirk.
“Shut up, Isaac.”
“And this is why you shouldn’t have trusted him with saving Grandma’s house.”
What was the matter with this kid? “Oh, like she should have trusted you —the guy who busses dishes down at Mom’s diner? Hello, how old are you? Twenty-two? I’d graduated summa cum laude by then?—”
“Declan!” Mom said.
And maybe he should have held back, but someone had to say it. And nobody else would. “No, come on, Mom. Look at him. He’s done nothing with his life. A twelve-year-old in a twenty-two-year-old’s body, playing video games every off hour.”
“You’re just jealous,” Isaac said, lifting a shoulder.
“Of what, exactly? That you get to freeload off Mom and Dad? That you aren’t the disappointment in the family even though you’ve worked for years to do everything right after the one thing you did wrong?
” Declan pushed back from his chair, the legs scraping against the wood floor.
“Sure, Isaac. I’m jealous. Or maybe it’s you that’s jealous of me because nobody even thought to ask you for a solution to saving Grandma’s house.
They had to call me in all the way from Chicago. ”
His chest heaved with the exertion of finally speaking his mind.
“Now, Declan,” Mom tsked. “That’s not fair. Your brother lived part of high school through the pandemic. It’s just taking him a little longer to get up to speed. And we called you because you’re the one with the expertise we needed.”
His brother slow clapped. “Nice speech, bro. But you forgot what I said about expectations. And also what I said about Lily Hart?—”
“What about Lily Hart?” Mom’s fully loaded fork lowered to her plate as she looked between them.
“Nothing.” Declan gathered up his plate and moved to wash it in the sink.
“Decky still has a thing for her.”
“Is that true?” Mom repeated.
The plate clattered from Declan’s hands into the sink. Thankfully it didn’t shatter. He picked it up again and scrubbed it with the brush, the bristles scraping against the ceramic surface.
“Declan, do you have a thing again for Lily Hart?”
A thing . Like that could adequately describe what he felt for the most vivacious, amazing woman he’d ever met. He turned back to face his family. “So what if I do?”
“So what if you…Declan!” Mom glanced at Dad, then back at Declan. “That girl nearly ruined this family.”
“Yeah,” Isaac said. “And she’s not even that hot.”
“Seriously, Isaac?” Declan started toward his brother, ready to grab him by the collar, rough him up. “I said shut up?—”
Dad slammed a fist on the table. “That’s enough, you two.”
Declan halted, and his hands lowered into fists at his side. Isaac’s eyes laughed at him. Why had Declan even bothered trying to talk sense into anyone in this family?
“Now, let’s sit down and talk through this like adults,” Dad said, pointing to Declan’s chair. “And you can tell us how you were just joking with your mother because you would never be so stupid as to fall for a Hart a second time.”
He was an adult. Twenty-eight years old. And yet, right now in this moment, he felt eighteen again.
Declan’s phone shattered the silence, buzzing against the granite countertop. Reaching for it, he noticed Lily’s name on the screen. She never called—only texted. His heart thudded in his chest. “Hello?” A whooshing noise filled the background, and a woman yelped. “Lily?” A pause. “Lily? You okay?”
“Sorry.” She came onto the line. “Declan, I wouldn’t have called you but Cody’s with Mia having dinner on the mainland, and I couldn’t get ahold of my dad and I didn’t know what else to do.”
Her panicked voice shot immediate worry through him too. But that wouldn’t help her.
His family stared at him with wide eyes, but Declan ignored them, striding toward the front door and grabbing his keys on his way out. “What’s going on?”
“Just come to the shop. I was here working late and cleaning up and there’s a minor leak situation going on.”
Uh-oh. “Where?” Declan headed for his old bicycle leaning against the side of his parents’ house.
“Kitchen. Right underneath the sink.” Another yelp.
“I’m coming.” He hopped on the bike and started pedaling, one hand gripping the phone, one on the handlebars. “Can you shut off the water valve?”
“I tried, but it’s stuck. Please, hurry.” Then the line went dead.
Declan flew down the road. Lily had needed someone, and she’d called him. Sure, she’d tried her family first, but that was normal, right? Her calling him had to mean something.
Maybe just that finally, she trusted him.
He left his bike lying sideways behind the store and burst through the alley door. Lily was on her hands and knees in a huge puddle of water, her head stuck inside the bottom kitchen sink cabinet. Water had inched across the kitchen floor and was heading toward the pantry.
“Lil?” He headed for her, steadying himself as he nearly slipped. Whoa.
She sat back on her heels holding a thick roll of duct tape. Her hair was plastered to her forehead and neck, her soaked blue shirt clinging to her. “Oh, thank goodness.”
He squatted down. Lily’s pink toolbox sat on the other side of her. “What happened exactly?” The pipe under the sink appeared to be wrapped with several towels and the tape, but water continued to drip. Lily’s temporary fix wouldn’t last long.
“Um, well.” She pushed her hair back. How was it possible for her to look so incredibly attractive even sopping wet?
“Hold that thought.” Clearing his throat, he rummaged in her toolbox for a flathead screwdriver. Then he examined the valves. Seemed easy enough. “Okay, go ahead.”
He inserted the screwdriver into the hot water isolation valve and turned it clockwise one quarter—it turned easily.
“I was working late and noticed a small drip under the sink and thought, hey, I’m a grown woman. I can fix that.”
He held back a smile. “Did you now?”
She slapped his arm, and he fumbled the screwdriver.
Declan chuckled as he moved the screwdriver to the cold water valve, which didn’t turn so easily. “Guessing it didn’t go well?”
“Understatement. And when I called Cody, he said he wasn’t surprised a pipe busted since he’s pretty sure this place hasn’t been re-piped in a while. Apparently it’s been on his list of things to do for Seb. But you know. Cody’s been a little busy.”
“I’ll say.” His eyes met hers as he fumbled with the pipe valve. “He and Mia seem to be heading for happily ever after.”
He met her eyes.
She met his.
His entire body started to tingle.
He let out a grunt and the valve moved, the dripping of water through the towels tapering until it died. “There. It’s off.”
Lily stood. “I should have known you’d come riding in like a hero, Top Gun.”
“I’m always happy to come when you call, Lil.” Then he stood too, and his hand brushed hers in the process.
She blinked at him for a long moment before moving away quickly. But as she stepped backward, her sandal hydroplaned across the floor, sending her upper body backward. She twisted, trying to catch herself.
Declan stepped forward to steady her, his arm catching around her waist. Too bad he also hit the slick spot.
She crashed down on top of him with a hmmph .
“Are you okay?” The cold water soaked through his jeans, through his T-shirt. But all he cared about was his arm around her, her body in his arms.
She blinked down at him.
His gaze went to her lips. Just kiss her.
“Sorry.” She clambered upright. Her wet clothes clung to her every curve.
Shutting his eyes, Declan lay there in the puddle, trying to set his hammering heart right.
Lily nudged him with her foot. “Come on.”
He opened his eyes and found her standing over him, hand held out. Declan took it. Stood, but then Lily’s feet slipped again. This time, he held her steady. “I’ve got you.”
“Thanks.”
And aw, man, he couldn’t help himself. His fingers looped through her hair, loosened a lock that clung to her check, and tucked it behind her ear. “Are you okay?”
“You already asked me that.”
“But you didn’t answer me.”
She looked back at him with those crazy blue eyes. Those eyes he’d fallen for at eighteen. And that same forbidden longing crested inside him. Turned his legs weak. Stole any common sense he might have left.
Just kiss her.
“Lil?” His voice rasped. “ Are you? Okay, I mean?”
She nodded. Swallowed, her gaze locked on to his.
A heartbeat and then, his head dipped toward hers, his arms enfolding her. The kiss felt a little wild, unfettered, and as he deepened it, a moan escaped her, a soft little sigh of surrender.
And it set him on fire. He moved her back against the counter so they’d be in no danger of slipping again, and then his fingers plunged through her hair, the skin of her cheeks soft when he drew his thumbs across.
It was even better—even sweeter—than he remembered.
Lil…
Suddenly, Lily stilled. Pulled her head back. She blinked, her eyes alight with the kind of delight that could captivate a man. Mesmerize him. “We shouldn’t—we can’t…”
“Why not?” The words were out there before he could stop them. And maybe he should regret it, but he just couldn’t. Not when it meant Lily was here again, in his arms.
Just where she was always meant to be.
“Because.” Lily started to draw away, slip from his grip. He should let her go. Shake off the water. The kiss. Clean up. Instead, he gave her hand a little squeeze and she froze. Looked up at him.
“That’s not a reason, Lil.”
Her lips were still parted, a delightful shade of pink on her cheeks and her hair mussed in the most bewitching way that he had to stop himself from running his fingers through it one more time.
But then she leaned toward him again. Let her hands fall on his chest before they slowly—agonizingly—made the trip upward to wrap around his neck.
And then he hoisted her up onto the counter, wrapped his arms around her, tilted her slightly back, and found himself kissing her again.
Being kissed by her. The fascination of it—of Lily—thrilled his senses.
It didn’t matter that their wet clothes clung to them, the chill burning against the heat of his skin.
Didn’t matter that they didn’t have all the answers about how anything beyond this moment was going to work.
Kissing Lily Hart was coming home. Belonging. Where he was loved not for his successes but for himself.
He could drown in that.
The front door rattled open. “Lily? Are you here? I came as quickly as I could.”
Lily gasped and pushed at Declan’s chest. “Cody’s here.” Then she slipped from the counter, still standing in Declan’s embrace. “Back here,” she called to her brother.
Then Lily started to step away from Declan.
But before she could escape, he pressed his lips to her ear. “We are definitely going to talk about this later.”
Because the rules of the game had suddenly changed.