Chapter 4
Chapter Four
T his plan had to work.
Because Mia was staking everything on it.
She looked around at the members of the town council seated at the table in the conference room of the Tourism Bureau. She knew them all, of course. The island was small enough that people who lived here permanently all knew each other.
Dani had called a day after their chat by the water and said the town was willing to work with the bank to pay off her mortgage. Hallelujah. Today they were meeting to hammer out the details.
Martha Kelley, owner of Martha’s on Main, stood up at the end of the table. She brushed a gray-streaked hair behind her ear. “Let’s get this thing started.”
They all quieted down.
“I think you all know that I have reservations about this plan,” Martha said.
Mia wanted to sink under the table. Dani shot her an apologetic look. She hadn’t mentioned that the council wasn’t a hundred percent on board.
“Martha, we all agreed this was a good idea,” Tara Chamberlain said. As the pastor’s wife, Tara was often called the “island mom.” Her silver-blonde hair brushed her shoulders as she turned her head to look each one in the eye. “Mia has skills we need to make this work. And she’s willing to put in the hours.”
Around the table, Patrick Kelley, brother-in-law to Martha—although they were more like enemies—and Historical Society president, Janine Dirks, nodded along with what Tara said.
Dani had also invited Cody. Although he wasn’t officially on the town council, she’d told Mia that she wanted him to know how much work there was to do on the houses. He and Mia would work together on some of those details in the coming weeks. She glanced at him now. He sat at the back of the room, a neutral expression on his face. She turned back to the discussion.
Martha crossed her arms. “Fine. But we need some ground rules. How much is this town willing to shell out for this project?”
Everyone began talking at once. Finally, Mia’s dad boomed over them all.
“People. Enough of this.” He stood up, his crisp dress shirt a contrast to the casual outfits everyone else wore. The room quieted as everyone looked at him. “Mia needs clear guidelines on how to do this job.”
Wow, Dad. Thanks for that. Mia shrank even further into her chair.
“I think we need to set up a goal for her to reach in order to move forward with plans.” Dad used a raised finger to punctuate his point.
A general murmur of assent arose.
Mia glanced across the table. Cody sat back in his chair, face serene. He walked a pen through his fingers. Looking up, he caught her gaze and smiled. Then he winked.
Good old Code. Always on her side.
After almost two hours of grueling debate, they’d settled on the details.
“Okay, to recap,” Tara said, reading off a legal pad, “for the next two weeks, we will gather applications from people who want to move here. Mia, you will take point on that. The applications will come to the email already set up on the town website. Then you can spend a week narrowing those down to a manageable number. Let’s see if Mia and Dani can set up phone and video interviews for the first week of June. I suggest as many of us as possible attend those interviews.” She tapped a pen on the paper as she listed each item. “Near the beginning of June, we will have an on-island event where everyone can come and tour the island.”
“Who knows, they might not like us,” Janine said.
“Or we won’t like them,” Patrick grumbled.
“Hush.” Martha gave her brother-in-law a glare. “Of course they will like us.” She dusted her hands together. “Final decisions about who we will approve will be made as a group. Hopefully, we can make our final decisions by mid-June, then they can start moving in. Cody, will you have everything ready by then?”
Cody snapped to attention. “I’ll know more after I go through the houses, but I don’t foresee a problem.”
“Okay. I’ve got to get back to the restaurant.” Martha stood again. “If Mia can fill fourteen houses and fourteen businesses, we’ll pay off her mortgage. If not?” She shrugged then gathered her purse from the table and left the room, the door banging behind her.
Um. What? Mia hadn’t thought the deal was contingent on a certain number of filled houses.
No pressure there.
She looked around the room. Everyone beamed at her. Except Cody. A line appeared between his eyebrows. Did he think she couldn’t do it? She stiffened her spine.
She’d save her kids’ home. Just watch her.
The rest of the meeting broke up a few minutes later.
Call me. Dani had motioned to her as Patrick cornered her behind the table.
Mia walked out of the conference room and down the tiny hallway. The opposite end of the building opened up into a large room housing the Jonathon Island Museum. She pushed out of the front door and into the morning sunshine.
“Mia, wait,” Cody called from behind her. He caught up and tugged a ball cap over his hair. “How are you?”
She scrubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t know why Dad put Martha and Patrick on a team together. A recipe for arguments, if you ask me.”
Cody shrugged. “He probably knew that no one could accuse him of favoritism.”
“True.” She’d give him that much. She looked down the street. Her heart wrenched. So many businesses still looked forlorn. The old Great Lakes Memorabilia shop had a broken window, and so did a few others. Peeling paint and listing window boxes decorated others. The dark and empty storefronts echoed the emptiness of the streets. Well, she would change that.
“Will you be able to meet this quota?” Cody stood at her shoulder, gaze steady on her.
“I don’t have much choice.” She pulled herself to full height. “I’ll make it work. This is the miracle I’ve been hoping for. My only shot at keeping my home.”
Cody opened his mouth. Closed it. Then, “I know you can do it, Mia. You’ll figure it out. I can come by in a little bit to check out that door.”
“That’d be great. Thanks. See ya later.”
After a brisk walk home and collecting her kids from Constance’s house, Mia sat at her dining room table. Finn played with a truck at her feet, and Maggie sat next to her scribbling in a coloring book. She looked down at the list that she was making.
Develop social media profiles.
Create a website for applications.
Advertise?
Take photos of prospective businesses and houses.
Network?
Mia didn’t know how to do some of those things. How was she supposed to network with businesses when she didn’t even know who might be interested? But she did have a few contacts left from her art college days and the business school connected with that college. She could start there. She jotted down a few notes before composing a paragraph to send as an email. She could also send the info to a few realtors she knew from when she first got her license.
“Mama, what color dis?” Maggie held up a reddish crayon.
“Let me see.” When Maggie passed over the crayon, Mia took the opportunity to give her warm little hand a squeeze. “It says, plum.” She handed the crayon back.
“What pwum?”
“It’s a little fruit. It grows on trees.”
“We have a pwum tee?”
“Nope. Sorry, baby. We don’t have any fruit trees.” She and Troy had hoped to plant fruit trees, but everything else was always more urgent. Now it looked possible that there never would be any fruit trees for them.
Mia turned back to her list. She would need Dani to provide her with the house addresses that were being included in the incentive program. Then she’d need someone with keys to let her in so she could update the real estate listings as needed.
A knock at the door interrupted her concentration. She hurried down the hall, the kids trailing behind. The door held fast as she tugged at it. She braced her feet and tugged again. It flew open and out of her hand, the doorknob hitting the wall with a smack.
“I can see why you needed me.” Cody stood framed in the doorway, the bright sunshine highlighting gold flecks in his blond hair poking out from under a Detroit Tigers cap. His teasing smile hovered on his lips a moment before he spoke again. Then his eyes darted away. “Good thing I know what to do about a sticky door. But I’m gonna need a helper. You don’t happen to have anyone who is four years old here, do you?”
Biting back a smile, Mia played along. “I don’t know,” she said. “There is Finn, but I don’t think he’s four yet.”
“I am too four!” Finn stuck his head between her legs, knocking her off balance.
“Whoa there.” Cody reached out a hand and grasped her upper arm to steady her. He let go then bent down to Finn. “Which is it? Are you two or are you four?”
Finn pushed his way through Mia’s legs. “I’m four. But on my next birthday, I’ll be five.”
“Good. You’re just the person I need to help me.” Cody raised an eyebrow at Mia. “If it’s okay with your mom.”
“Of course it is. I trust you. Are you okay if I go back to working, or do you need me to stay and help?” She pointed a thumb over her shoulder toward the dining room where she’d left her list.
“We can do it, Mama.” Finn flexed his arm and patted his bicep. “We’re strong,” he growled. “Right, Cody?”
Cody laughed and flexed too. And wow…had his muscles always looked like that? He’d been such a lanky kid in high school. Troy had been the football star. But it made sense—Cody was a fisherman, after all. And now a handyman doing all sorts of manual labor. Of course he had muscles.
But those muscles, combined with his tan skin and that teasing glint in his eyes…
“Mia?” Cody asked, blinking at her.
Oh, goodness. He’d caught her staring at his muscles. “What?” Mia leaned against the doorway, pretending nonchalance while also gripping it tight with her fingertips.
He gave her a strange look. “I said we’ve got this. You okay?”
“Mm-hmm. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. You just look a little pale.”
“Do I? Must just be the stress. I’ve gotta get back to work. A website won’t create itself.”
“Okay.” He smiled at her, and it was a quick shot to her chest.
Holy cow. What was happening? Did she actually find Cody—her oldest friend—attractive?
But that would be…
No.
“Okay, bye.” Heart pounding in her chest, Mia spun on her heel to get back to her notes.
Cody and Finn’s voices carried down the hall. “I’ll need you to hold the door still, buddy.” Cody’s deeper voice contrasting with Finn’s higher, excited tone.
“Like this?”
“Yep. Just like that. I’m going to run this planer across the sticky spot in the wood, and I need the door to stay just like this.”
Over the sound of metal moving across wood, she heard Finn. “Am I a good helper?”
Her heart squeezed at Finn’s little voice—the boy who didn’t remember his daddy. The boy who longed for a strong male influence in his life, for approval. Her serious boy, who always wanted to do everything right.
“You are the best helper I’ve had all day.”
Oh, man. Her heart couldn’t take the swelling at the praise he’d given her son. Praise that probably meant more to him because a man gave it—not just his mom, but a capable guy Finn looked up to.
“Mia, do you want me to replace this shutter?” Cody called down the hall.
Her palm throbbed at the memory of the scrape she’d gotten fighting off the “monster”. “That would be amazing. Thank you.” She’d just left the shutter lying in the muddy grass after the drama of that stormy night earlier in the week. “I think Troy had some long black screws left over. They’re in the shed.”
She listened as Cody called for Finn to lead the way to the shed. For a moment, she thought about joining them. Maybe catching another glimpse of Cody’s muscles. But she pushed the desire away. If she was going to save this house, she needed to focus on the work in front of her.
* * *
Aside from getting the fishing business off the ground, helping Mia was the best way he knew to honor Troy’s memory.
Cody tightened the last screw on the shutter. He’d gone around the house, making sure each one was secure. Finn had grown bored after they’d finished the door, and now he was playing in the muddy grass. Cody gathered up his tools and headed toward the front of the house. A movement inside the dining room window caught his eye and he paused. At the dining room table, Mia sat with her head buried in her hands.
Looked like she needed some outdoor time too.
“C’mon, Finn,” he said. “Let’s put these things away and then talk to your mom about some lunch.”
“Lunch!” Finn scrambled up from the ground, knees dirty from the damp soil. Cody’s heart pinched. If he could make life better for Mia and her kids, he would. He just needed to step up his game. He handed Finn a hammer to carry, and they made their way into the house.
“We’ve come to take you girls on a picnic,” Cody said. The dark wood on the walls of the dining room absorbed all the light. Mia definitely needed some sunshine. “I’ll buy us sandwiches from Martha’s on Main.”
“Seriously? A picnic?” She hit a key on her computer and then closed the lid. “I don’t think so, Code.”
“C’mon. Where’s your sense of adventure? It’ll be fun.”
“It’ll be muddy is what it’ll be. It just rained again.” She crossed her arms and arched her brow at him.
He mimicked her pose. “Bah. Mud, shmud. The clouds are clearing off. The sun is sparkling on the water. Down by the shore it will be beautiful. Who cares about a little mud?”
“I care about the mud.” She thumbed her chest. “I’m the one doing laundry later.”
“Fair point. What if I promise to help?”
“You do laundry?”
“I’ve even been known to cook for myself. A bachelor’s lot.” He winked at her. “C’mon, Mia. It’ll be fun. What happened to the spontaneous girl I used to know?”
“She grew up. Got married. Had kids. Not, of course, in that order.” Mia ducked her chin.
Aw.
“Hey.” Cody touched her hand and drew back just as quickly. “You know you’re forgiven for that, right? Last I checked, the blood of Jesus covers that too.”
“Yeah. But sometimes it just gets to me, you know?”
“Trust me. I know about guilt.” His chest tightened, and he drew in a long breath to loosen it. Then he tossed her a grin. “You know what’s a good cure for guilt?” She shook her head. He nodded his once. “Picnics.”
A laugh bubbled out of her. “Fine. You win. We’ll go on the muddiest picnic known to man.”
“What, you don’t think they have picnics in pigpens?”
She just rolled her eyes at him. “Kids! Get your rubber boots on and your jackets. We’re going on an adventure. I’ll grab some juice boxes and chips.”
A few minutes later, after wrestling Maggie into her jacket while Mia helped Finn step into his tall rubber boots, they set off down the street. Cody reached for the insulated bag Mia carried full of juice and chips.
Martha’s on Main stood just across the street from the shop where his mom used to make fudge. His heart pinched as they passed the empty storefront and walked over the cobblestone street. Just imagine how great it would be when someone made it into a thriving shop again.
In front of Martha’s, he handed Mia the insulated bag. “I’ll run in and see if they’ll make up some sandwiches to go.”
At his knee, Maggie tipped her face up to him. “Me go too.” He lifted her up into his arms.
“Sounds good to me.” In the street, Finn was banging his stick against the cobblestones and counting. Cody met Mia’s eye.
“Go ahead,” she said. “I don’t think we need to bring Sir Count and his stick into the restaurant. I’ll wait out here. Besides, I want to take a few photos of downtown for the new Jonathon Island social media pages.”
Inside, the high-backed booths were empty. Must have gotten here before the lunch rush. The smell of something peppery filled the air. Vera Graves, the gray-and-dark-haired waitress, stood behind the counter.
“Hey there, Vera.” He set Maggie on one of the stools lining the counter. “Can we get some sandwiches to go?”
“Sure, sugar.” Vera flipped open an order sheet. “What can I get for you?”
He put in the order then played Pat-A-Cake with Maggie until Vera brought him a paper sack bulging with food. “Thanks, Vera.”
Soon, he and Maggie stepped back into the sunlight. Mia stood a few steps away, watching Finn. Sunlight glinted off her soft curls. The look of pride on her face turned his heart over. Don’t worry, Troy, I’ll take care of them for you.
“I’ve got sustenance.” He held the paper bag aloft. Mia turned to him, her smile making his heart flop like a fish out of water.
They made their way through town to a small strip of land near the water, situated next to the ferry landing. While not really a park, the area had a picnic table used sometimes by people in the nearby businesses for lunch breaks. The sun glinted off the choppy waves, sending sparkles through the air. A light, fishy scent permeated the air, crisp in the spring afternoon. They claimed the picnic table and laid out their sandwiches.
“You were right,” Mia said around a bite of her sandwich. “This was a good idea. I needed a break from the computer screen.”
“I’m sorry, did you say I was right?” Cody opened his eyes wide, feigning shock.
“I’ll freely admit when you have a good idea, Codes.” Mia waved off his words with a flip of her hand, her mouth turned up in a half smile. She finished her sandwich, and they cleaned up the remains of the lunch. “I’m gonna snap a few more photos.” She pulled out her phone before spinning in a slow circle.
Cody took a minute to look around. What would make a good photo? The harbor lay to the left and the town to the right. With the muddy ground, their picnic space wasn’t too pretty, but there were some views of the town where each unique building held its own charm.
Jack came trotting past, disappearing between two buildings.
“Drat. He was too fast,” Mia said. “Jack would make a cute feature. I’ll have to keep an eye out for him.” She studied her phone for a minute, swiping at the screen. “Hey. I just had an idea. I’m gonna shoot a quick video for my first post.”
“Great idea.” Cody cleared up the paper wrappings from their sandwiches. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. Just be natural. And maybe make sure Maggie doesn’t wander off?” She dropped a quick kiss on the heads of her kids. “Mommy is going to make a movie. Everybody look cute.”
Maggie immediately began heading for the water. Suppressing an amused eyeroll, Cody swooped her up onto his shoulders.
A few paces away, Mia began filming and narrating.
“It’s a beautiful late spring day here on Jonathon Island. A place where you can find your dreams coming true.” She turned the camera and panned across the Marina. “As you can see, there are many things to attract you to our little island. Boating, fishing, a charming downtown without traffic congestion.”
Maggie held tight to Cody’s forehead as he bent down and picked up Finn. Turning the boy over, he held him by his ankles. The kids giggled. Mia began turning toward them. “Make a funny face,” he whispered as she fully faced them, narrating the whole time.
“And here, you can see another local attraction, Cody Hart. Say ‘hi’ Cody.”
Their eyes met. Hers danced with a merriment that shot electricity straight down to his toes.
He grinned. “Hi, Cody.”
“Hi, Cody,” Finn echoed.
“Hi, Cody,” Maggie said. She patted Cody on his head.
“Anyway. This is our home. We welcome you to come and check it out.” Mia fumbled her phone. Her cheeks pinked. She turned away from them. “I’ll, uh, just get this posted.”
Local attraction, eh? He liked the sound of that. He spun in a circle, the kids squealing.
“Faster!” Finn put his arms out like an airplane. Cody spun around again then collapsed to the ground, cradling Finn and Maggie to him on the way down.
“You two are wearing me out.” Cody sprawled on the ground. Finn climbed to his feet and ran around, arms outstretched, making airplane noises. Maggie snuggled into Cody’s shoulder. “Come join us, Mia!” He snagged Finn and pulled him back with a mock growl.
“Join you on the ground? No thanks.” She turned back to him. “Besides, I have to get these things posted.”
“Let’s make a deal. If you come over here and play for a minute, I’ll help you with anything you want today.”
“You’ve already helped enough.”
“What can I say,” he said. “I like helping.”
“Thanks, but no thanks, Code.” She sat down on a bench nearby.
He didn’t know the first thing about social media. He preferred to work with his hands over spending time online. What had he been thinking, offering his help? Of course, Mia said no thanks. Cody lay in the cold grass, mud seeping into his shoulder, Maggie still snuggled up to him, the bobble of her fuzzy hat tickling his nose.
But then again, how could he not offer to help? The widow of his dead best friend was hurting, and he couldn’t stand by and watch.
Maybe she didn’t want any help from the guy who lived through the accident that stole her husband’s life.
Or maybe she blamed him, even just a little.
Kind of like he did himself every day.
Beside him, Mia got up from the bench and brushed herself off.
“Thank you for inviting us out here,” she said. “It was nice.”
Yeah, that was him. The nice guy. He clambered to his feet, Maggie sticking to him like a barnacle clinging to a boat’s hull. “We should do this again.”
“Sure,” she said. “Another time.” She reached for Maggie, and the little girl went into her arms. “C’mon, Mags. We’d better get home.”
Cody felt a sudden chill. He reached out a hand to Mia, but she’d already moved toward the remains of their picnic.
“Finn, time to get going.” Her call to Finn appeared as though it went in one ear and out the other as the boy continued playing airplane. “Finn!” Mia’s shoulders slumped.
“I’ll get him.” Cody ran the few steps to where Finn made his circles. “Time to go, bud. You heard your mom.”
“Will you walk us home?” The airplane stopped mid-flight and looked up at him. Cody looked to Mia and raised an eyebrow. She nodded. “Yep. I can walk you home.”
They retraced their steps from earlier, the fishy and wet scent of the harbor replaced by the loamy aroma of the damp lawns they passed. The silence drew long between them. Even the kids were quieter, though he suspected fatigue in their case. Mia carried Maggie the whole way while Finn scampered ahead.
This quiet was too much.
“I’ll keep you posted about the places I’m working on,” he said. “You can get some footage for your reels or whatever. Of the updates I make.”
“Thank you.” Her quiet reply kept him from saying anything more. The chatter of the kids the only sound on their walk.
They turned down Lilac Lane. He could see her house partway down the street. The gray Craftsman looked wholesome, surrounded by its white picket fence. He remembered replacing the shingles with Troy just three summers ago. It felt like a lifetime. A few branches had come down from the elm in the backyard. He’d have time this week to come and clean that up.
They passed Constance Franklin’s house. She was standing on her front step, sifting through some mail. “Hi, Grandma,” the kids called to her.
“Hi guys!” Her smile died as she saw Cody walking with them. He raised his hand to her, but she looked back to her stack of mail. A sharp ache buried itself in his chest.
“Is Grandma Harmon all settled in?” Mia paused at the end of the short sidewalk leading up to Constance’s front porch.
Constance’s face brightened again. “She’s doing remarkably well. Come by sometime to say hi.”
“Will do.” Mia gave a last wave and started on again. “Troy’s Grandma Harmon, Constance’s mom, fell and had to have a hip replaced. Since she doesn’t have any other family, Constance brought her here. I think it’s nice for her to have someone to share her house with again. It must get quiet there at night.”
They walked past the Franklins’ place.
“Hey, remember when Troy and I ran over that sugar maple with a four-wheeler?” In the corner of the yard clung the bent tree.
“I still can’t believe the tree stayed bent like that.” Mia moved her hand in an elongated, sideways s-pattern mimicking the shape of the tree. “I used to love sitting on that tree.”
He remembered. If he closed his eyes, he could see Mia sitting on that trunk holding court over him and Troy as they both vied for her attention, wrestling in the grass, telling fish stories, and goofing around.
Cody had been friends with Mia first when she came to the island, and then when Troy moved to the island in sixth grade, they’d all been best friends. He didn’t know when Mia had fallen for Troy, but after Troy asked her to the junior prom, well, that was that. For a long time he had kicked himself for not speaking up when they first started high school. He should have told Mia how he felt about her, but then it was too late. Anyone with eyeballs could see she and Troy were head over heels for each other.
So, he’d done the right thing and buried his feelings, going all in on supporting their relationship.
When Mia had gotten pregnant, there was no doubt about who the father was. He walked with Troy through his feelings of guilt. Then he stood as best man at their wedding.
At least, despite his many failings, Cody had done something right—he’d let Mia go.
Not that she or Troy ever knew it. And Cody had never admitted it to a soul.
Finn bobbed ahead of them, returning to them once in a while to comment on something he’d seen.
A few steps later, they reached the sidewalk up to Mia’s front step. Cody put one hand on the white picket fence. It wobbled. “I’ll come by and fix this,” he said.
“Thanks for walking us home.” Mia’s voice was subdued. She shifted Maggie on her hip. He longed to ask her what she was thinking, but she turned away from him and was walking toward the house. Maggie waved at him before burying her face in Mia’s neck. At the front step, Finn had pushed the door open.
“Thanks for the picnic,” he called to her retreating back. “Let’s do it again.”
She looked back over her shoulder, a slight smile on her lips. It didn’t make it all the way up her face to her eyes. “I’m going to be pretty busy with the job for Dani, but today was nice. I’m sorry, Code.” She turned back to him. “I know you mean well, but I just…It’s hard for me to accept help. I need to prove that I can take care of things on my own.” She shrugged as if each word wasn’t a knife to his heart. Then she went into the house and shut the door.
And, sure, she didn’t slam it shut, but Cody felt the impact.
He spun on his heel and headed back to his place. The walk would be twice as long without company.
“Cody!”
He glanced over his shoulder. Liam raised a hand in greeting from down the block as he jogged to catch up to him. Cody had helped him update a house near Mia’s on Lilac Lane when Liam had decided to move to the island. Liam had moved in a week or so ago.
“I was going to text you, but when I saw you walking, I thought I’d shout instead.” Liam clapped him on the shoulder.
“You caught me heading home.” And now he had company, but it wasn’t the same.
“What’s wrong, man?” Liam peered at him.
“What do you mean?” Cody turned and started walking. Liam fell into rhythm beside him.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you this solemn since, well, ever, really. Of course, I haven’t known you very long.” Liam raised an eyebrow. “If I didn’t know better, I’d guess woman trouble.”
Cody snorted. “Gotta have a woman for that.”
“No, actually, you don’t. In fact, I made that face plenty when Dani and I were first getting to know each other. But if it’s not a woman…”
“No. You were right the first time. It was a woman, but not in a romantic way. I mean Mia and the kids and I just had a picnic. It was great. For a while. We had sandwiches and hung around near the water.” They passed by a house on Cody’s fix-it list. Grass was getting long. He added mowing to his list.
“Uh huh.” Liam was still frowning.
“She laughed and had a good time.” He hadn’t imagined that, right? “She even said it was a good idea. But then, I don’t know. I must have said or done something wrong, because all of a sudden it was time to pack up the kids and go home.” He ran a hand over his face.
Liam’s face had cleared. “Women,” he said. “They are unknowable. But usually there’s a clue. What happened right before that?”
He thought back. “The kids and I were horsing around, and then I offered to help her with some projects she has going on.”
“Did she want your help?”
“I guess not.” They turned off Jonathon Boulevard and started walking down Main. Down the way, he could see that Good Day Coffee had hung a new, bright blue awning. It added a cheery vibe to the rundown appearance of the rest of the street.
“Well, there you go. She’s a strong, independent woman, and she wants to make it on her own.”
“I know she’s strong and independent. I don’t want to take that away from her. I just want her to know that she doesn’t have to do everything on her own all the time.” He wanted to be there for her, especially now that Troy couldn’t.
“You want to be the big, strong rescuer.”
“No.” Or, maybe it was yes. Didn’t all guys want that? “Okay, but it’s not just that. It’s just…” Cody tugged at his ball cap.
“Just what?”
“Our relationship is super complicated.” A piece of trash drifted over his foot, and he bent to pick it up.
“I hate to break it to you, but all relationships are complicated, man.” Liam put his hands up in a what-are-you-going-to-do gesture.
“Complicated like, I’ve been half in love with her since middle school but then she married my best friend who then died on my boat complicated?” Yeah, he hadn’t meant to say all of that, but now his chest was lighter. Freer.
Liam grinned at him. “Okay. You’ve probably got everyone beat on that level of complication. But it’s not a competition, so I suggest you simplify things a bit in the future. You like her. She tolerates you. Sounds like the foundation for something great.”
Cody laughed at Liam’s teasing. “I guess. I’m just trying to help her out. You know, honoring Troy’s memory.”
“Seriously though, I’ve seen the two of you together, there’s some chemistry there. Look. I don’t know much about love—we’ve already established that. But I think you need to stop thinking about yourself as her husband’s best friend and just try to be her friend.” Liam shrugged. “She probably senses you are trying to be a rescuer, and she doesn’t need that right now, but I’d bet she could use a friend.”
A friend. Right. He could do that. After all, they’d been friends a long time. Since before Troy moved to the island. “Thanks for the pep talk.” He paused on the sidewalk in front of his property.
“Anytime.” Liam clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, have you had time to look up that fishing gear for me?”
Shoot! “Aw. I’m sorry. I got busy and?—”
Liam squeezed his shoulder. “No worries. I know you’ve got a lot going on.”
“I’ll get it to you tonight. I have to search for that engine part anyway.” And try his hardest to figure out how to be just a friend to Mia.