by Bria Quinlan
Lyra glanced at the sheriff who gave her a shrug.
“And so it became a thing. Each time someone returned, the next weekend was Christmas. Sometimes that would be every other weekend. Sometimes a few months would pass. And then the surrounding towns brought their returning servicemen for the celebrations, too. When the war was over, the town suspected things would just die down, but that’s not how wars work. It took forever to get everyone home. And then, of course, you had military who weren’t just signed in for the big fight.”
“And more wars,” Noah added as he stared over their heads at something only he could see.
“Starlight Harbor decided they’d create a schedule and let those who needed a place for some Christmas recovery to come and just enjoy themselves and save that special family time for when everyone could be present. Way more personal than a five-minute Skype conversation on the holiday.”
Spence glanced between them, blinking a bit. It wasn’t tears. Just…he had to blink.
“Every other weekend?” he asked.
“Well,” the sheriff took back over. “Not quite. We shut down as a destination for December and January. Although, we seem to be just as busy what with the weddings of people who fell in love with Starlight. And the other holidays have to be respected. Occasionally a family will request a weekend that isn’t scheduled, and if they’re not a small group, we can accommodate that—but we do try to make sure there’s time and space on the calendar for Starlighters to go on their own vacations.”
“People can’t just come whenever they want?” Because, he really wasn’t sure how this business plan was working for them.
“Well, sure.” Lyra flashed him a wide smile. “But not every weekend is a celebration. We have carolers, the Santa Sleigh Parade, and pictures with Santa. But, we keep the holiday decorations classy so we can keep them up for guests who aren’t able to make the weekends. Our wander-throughs. People from the area come in for gifts, to eat at the restaurant or cafés, grab an ice cream, and walk around. But most of the holiday stuff only comes out for the Christmas weeks.”
Which explained the lights. And the signs. And the trees. And…well, everything.
“That’s…” Spence shook his head.
This was worse than the singing shark.
He’d gotten this wrong in the worst possible way. This town shouldn’t be mocked. Its true history couldn’t be.
There was too much honor in it.
He glanced back at Lyra, her face a subtle balance of disdain and hope. Even she hadn’t given up on him getting a clue.
“I’m sorry, it sounds stupid after what you just told me.” He took a long sip of the tea that may or may not be poisoned and glanced around the room. This was way more than a town. It was a mission.
“What do you think would fix this?” Because he was completely on board with making it better.
And maybe getting that smile back on Lyra’s face before he had to leave.
9
She felt like she had gone toe-to-toe with a giant… And won.
Sure, this could backfire. He could end up doing an exposé that made them all look ridiculous. Because, let's be honest, the whole situation with Miss Angie and Captain Jack and their threats and Noah acting as her bodyguard had been absurd.
But continuing on with the honesty, it was also pretty accurate.
In the best possible way.
Lyra chuckled to herself as she put away her tea tray and cleaned up after their meeting. It would've been something to see Captain Jack try to take down the nearly six-foot-tall journalist.
She needed to remember to carry her phone in case she needed a photo or bribery video. Although, Miss Angie would probably be so proud of her willingness to charge into danger that there’d be no blackmail ability at all.
The soft chime of the bell over the front door rang. She was about to shout out that she was closed for the afternoon when Skye’s voice called from the front.
"Come on out of hiding! I know you're back there."
Skye stuck her head through the kitchen door and glanced at the end-of-day mess Lyra was cleaning up.
She had on her favorite 50s retro apron. It made her feel like one of her heroes...Donna Reed.
"Did you know that Donna Reed was one of the producers of her show—one of the first women producers in television??"
"Yup."
"And also that she refused for her character to only cook and clean? That she was the reason sitcoms started showing mothers being more active in the community?"
"I've heard that, too."
"And that her famous Bundt cake is the reason I became a baker?"
Skye gave a deep sigh and nodded. “True. I have heard all that. My bestie gets stuck on Donna Reed when she's stressed out or angry. Did you know that women who obsess over Donna Reed are more likely to blackmail journalists into positive coverage of their town online than women who don't?"
"Mock all you like, but Donna did it all in dresses and heels while forcing men to take her seriously."
"Oh, he takes you seriously, all right."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lyra set the cooling racks aside and began doing her afternoon’s ingredient inventory.
"Don't get me wrong, I think you handled him brilliantly. But I have to say, by the end I was almost feeling bad for him.“ Skye flashed a smile and a wink at Lyra when she gave her a hard glance. ”I said almost. I mean, you've even got him staying with Noah. The fact Noah would volunteer to share a space with anyone, let alone a man he was willing to rip arms off of and stuff down his throat half an hour earlier, probably means he made Noah feel a little bad for him, too."
"Or,” Lyra added something to her list, ”Noah just wants to make sure he can keep a close eye on him. Enemies closer, etcetera, etcetera."
Skye stepped aside as Lyra breezed through, going out to check that the customer stand was stacked with napkins and everything else for the morning.
"I’ve been weighing the facts and can only come to one conclusion. There's an excellent chance you've gone insane."
Lyra froze, turning an angry glare on her best friend. That was above and beyond.
"Reaching my breaking point is not going insane. It’s calmly stepping over the line and deciding to verbally kick his a—butt."
Skye started laughing, her eyes welling up with tears that she was brushing away before they slipped down her cheek.
"What, may I ask, is so funny?"
Skye waved her hand as she tried to catch her breath. This was not earning Lyra’s patience.
Which, as stated above, was already used up completely in calmly crossing a line.
"It's just…” She sucked in a breath. ”It's just, I don't think I've ever heard you say ass before."
She burst out in new laughter, pretty sure that the world must be coming to an end if her "words, words, words" friend actually almost used a word that might fit on a curse list for some people.
"Why are we friends again?" Lyra pulled the drawer from the cash register and started counting out the day, which was regrettably short because of the throwdown situation.
This was costing her in more ways than one.
They needed to take some precautions to make sure Clark Kent and his beautiful brown eyes truly understood the world he’d stepped into.
And she was just the girl to do it.
10
"Here you go." Noah pushed the door open to a room at the back of the house. ”Bathroom’s across the hall. I don't typically lock up on off weeks, but I'll put a key on the table for you."
Spence stepped in and glanced around at the spare but nicely finished room.
"Thanks, man. I, um…” He wasn't really sure how much to tell this guy who just opened his home to him but had been willing to beat the snot out of him an hour ago.
Of course that last part probably still held true.
Noah waved him off before he could find the words. ”Seriously. Don't worry about it. It's what we do."
Spence watched him disappear out the front door and then glanced around, shocked that he was just given the run of a stranger’s house.
Especially after all the things he’d been accused of in the last three hours.
Of course, finding out this guy was a former Army Ranger meant that no sane person would rip him off. But still…
Because he didn't want to live in these clothes without a shower for the next however long this was going to take, Noah's idea made sense. Spence headed back up to where he'd left his car in the square.
He wasn’t above admitting that it was a great walk. The weathered craftsman cottages and the Cape Cods with their shutters that had probably seen actual use. The smell of the ocean. The subtle decorations that hinted at the celebration he'd be witnessing in a couple days. It all came together to create a charming tableau he couldn't ignore.
And, at the end of the walk was Lyra.
Okay, so technically at the end of the walk was his car. But it was parked by Lyra’s shop. He was tempted to drop in, see what the bright, beautiful firecracker was up to now that she’d vanquished the mob boss.
He’d never been drawn to delicate-looking women, but the fact that she was pure steel and strength under her little dresses and hair thingies was appealing in a way he couldn’t have expected.
The man on the porch who had waved to Noah as they'd walked down did the same as he passed by again.
"Here for a visit?"
Unsure what to say to that, he just nodded.
He wasn't really big on the idea of admitting that the town sweetheart had threatened to sue him. He had a feeling just the idea that she might have would be enough to have him ridden out of town in the back of a wagon, tar and feathered old old-school style.
The man didn't seem offended. Just gave him a smile and went back to reading his paper.
That was something he wasn't sure he could get used to. This weird combination of being absolutely involved in one another's lives while having the same ability to completely leave one another alone when they wanted.
Was that something Mainers were born with?
He got to the top of the hill and cut across the square to his car, half of him hoping he could hop in and sneak away. The other half hoped for another round with Lyra.
Even with the arguing and the disagreements and the fact that he had wronged her so badly, he was still fascinated.
It wasn't just that she took his breath away. It was everything about her. Like how she seemed to love at full speed. Her friends, her shop, this crazy town, everything that was counted as hers was accepted and adored.
If a man were looking for something like that—
But he wasn't. Spence shook himself from the daydream.
He had to stay on mission.
Make good with the town, get his site on point to sell it, get out of debt, and start working on a career that he might be almost a decade too late to get into.
Nowhere in there was there space to woo a strawberry-haired baker.
He glanced toward her shop as he unlocked his car, wondering if he should go back in and try to leave things in a better place, less challenging than they were when he left.
No. He did the smart thing for once. Trying not to glance back as he pulled away, Spence headed toward the plaza two towns over, already trying to come up with the best way to write about a town that was crazy without making it sound crazy.
Piece of cake.
11
Lyra wasn't sure this was a good idea, but it was the best one she had.
If he was going to write an exposé, she wanted to make sure he saw the town the way it really was…through her eyes. As the magical place she grew up in, came to love, missed when she was away, and respected for its mission in its small corner of the world.
She wanted him to see the truth.
And then she wanted him to write about it.
That was why she had little flip-flops going on in her stomach. It had nothing to do about how stinking cute Spence was, or that he didn't look at her like she was the little sister who grew up down the street or the tiny, cute "little elf who bakes things,” as she heard so frequently.
He looked at her with an intensity that sometimes made her forget her words.
She managed to get through their meeting on pure anger, but watching him soften as he learned the history of Starlight Harbor had her softening toward him.
Right now, though, she tightened her fists. He was the enemy.
Raising one of those fists, she knocked on the door in front of her. There was a long pause, and then heavy steps before it flew open. Noah was just there, pulling a T-shirt over himself, his hair wet.
"Sorry, end of the day. Washing the café off.” He stepped aside and motioned her in. ”Spence just got back from picking up supplies. I have to say, he won me over a little bit by bringing a six-pack of that new blueberry ale from Starhouse Brewery."
Lyra shook her head. Leave it to guys to be bought by a couple bottles of alcohol.
"We're out on the deck." Noah gave her a head nod, guy speak to follow him through his craftsman to the back of the house. A slider led out to a deck, still high enough on the hill up from the water to give a great view of the harbor.
“This is great. Why have I never been here before?" She looked up at him with accusing eyes, then batted her lashes for good measure.
Noah shook his head. “I just finished the deck in May. Only Jamie and Cam have been out here.”
Right. That would've made all the difference. Lyra rolled her eyes. Noah was considered the eligible bachelor of the moment.
He was one of the few business owners in town not from Starlight Harbor and there seemed to be this small wall built around him, even as he spent all his time caring for the town and its occupants. Almost as if he didn't expect the care to go both ways.
Note to self: she'd have to be a better friend. And not like the women who made it their mission to get the attention of the ranger who seemed to dodge all of the grabby hands and numbers on napkins. And not just from the locals.
Then she turned, and her gaze caught Spence's.
He sat there, jet-black hair falling forward, sweeping across the top of his black-framed glasses, that dark gaze she kept feeling on her whenever they were together—
both curiosity and challenge.
And then he smiled.
Her stomach did another flip-flop.
"Lyra. Is something else wrong?" He pushed away from the table and came around to meet her. ”More trouble? Is it your website? Because I can take care of that."
Oh, no.
That was unexpected. It felt like…like he actually cared and not just that he didn’t want to get sued.
“I just thought—well, Vivian suggested, and it made sense that I come by and see if you need anything or if you wanted to do a tour of the town. Walk around a bit and get the highlights before the guests show up tomorrow.”
He stared down at her, so close she was surprised he’d gotten within her personal space without her noticing until she stopped talking.
And then, the right side of his mouth kicked up, a grin that wasn’t mocking or defensive. Just one that seemed to say—things.
“That sounds great. I drove around when I first got here, but a tour is exactly what I need. Plus, I don’t want to be in your way while people are here.” His hand came up, and just for a moment she thought he was going to touch her. Instead, he ran it through his hair and glanced down at the water. “Let me grab my camera. I have some shots I’ll get before I leave, but I don’t want to miss anything that might just happen.”
He grinned like a kid given a toy and hurried into the house.
“He�
�s not horrible.” Noah stood looking down at her with a knowing smile on his face. “I think just a little lost.”
Lyra could feel the sides of her mouth kicking up at that. It was what people had said about Noah when he’d moved to town.
“Stop it,” he warned. “You’re doing that chick thing where everything works out happily in the end for the dude when she comes along and arranges his world for him.”
Lyra went up on her toes and patted him on the cheek. “Don’t worry. We’ll find someone to arrange your world, too.”
Before he could respond, Spence came back out on the deck, a frown line between his eyes as he glanced between them.
“Ready to go?”
Lyra’s gaze bounced from him to Noah, the other man trying to hide the smirk on his face as they gave each other a long look.
Guys. Who even knew what they were thinking? They claim to be all straightforward, speak their minds and stuff. But that look was way over her head…figuratively and literally.
Instead of making a snarky remark, she swept by Spence and toward the front of the house.
He opened the front door for her and nearly pushed her out as Noah shouted from the deck, “Curfew’s at ten.”
She wasn’t positive, but she was pretty sure that Spence gave Noah a gesture he wouldn’t have if she were facing them.
And, like womankind before her, she ignored their idiocy and moved on.
“Settled in? You’ve got what you need for a couple days?”
“Yup.” He gave a nod, glancing around as if orienting himself before moving on.
“Great. So…” This had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she wasn’t sure where to start.
They paused at Water Street, the road that ran straight down from the Town Hall on the square to the water, each side branched with occasional little shops backed by centuries-old cottages.
Boy, she’d already blown the plan. She wasn’t sure where to take him at all. There was just so much to see.
“Why don’t you bring me to your favorite spot besides your bakery and tell me about it?”
