“No. Nothing like that,” Noah said quickly.
“Why not?” Mackenzie asked. “And don’t even try pretending you don’t like her,” she added, smirking. “I’ve known you way too long for that. You’ve got that exact same look on your face that you did the time Madison Fletcher said she’d go with you to senior prom. All dopey and hormonal.”
Noah took a long gulp of coffee, weighing what to say. His cousin was right, and not just about the hormones. But when he tried to think of the words to describe the way Evie had taken up residence in his mind-and his dreams—he couldn’t think of a single one.
This was just a feeling. A feeling he had no idea if Evie even noticed, let alone shared.
So instead he just gave a casual shrug. “I’m keeping my options open,” he said in the playboy tone he knew would make Mac roll her eyes. “I’ll never rule anything—or anyone— out.”
Sure enough, Mac sighed in distaste. “Keep going at this rate, and you won’t have any options left. No wonder you left Nashville; you probably ran out of single women to dupe.”
Noah paused, Mac’s smile slipped. She knew exactly why he’d left.
“I’m sorry—” she began, but Noah cut her off.
“It’s fine. Really.” he insisted, as he got to his feet. “Unless you feel bad enough to give me that last danish?”
Mackenzie snorted. “Nice try,” she said, taking a possessive bite.
He chuckled. “I better go get started on this. You wouldn’t happen to know Franny’s favorite flowers, would you?”.
Mackenzie laughed. “Go!”
“But—”
“Out!”
And so Noah headed out to face down the most fearsome woman in Sweetbriar Cove.
An outsider might think it was the mayor or city council who held all the power in town, but locals knew the mild-mannered secretary in the front office was the one who really kept things running.
When Noah stepped into her office, he was carrying flowers and flashing his most charming smile. “Franny,” he said, “are you using a new face cream? Because I swear, you look younger than when I left town.”
Franny gave a snort. “Oh, hush you,” she said, kissing him on the cheek and taking the little posy of violets he’d picked up from the florist on his way across the square. “Well, aren’t these lovely?” she said, taking a sniff. “Now, why don’t you cut the sweet talk and tell me what you want?”
Noah grinned. “See, that’s what I like about you. You don’t beat around the bush.”
“Too much to do and too little time,” Franny agreed, smiling back. “I’m guessing it has something to do with the firehouse fundraiser?”
“How did you know?” Noah asked, surprised.
“Because one of you shows up around this time every year, looking like a poor, lost puppy, begging for help.” Franny shook her head. “I swear, Pete does this to annoy me just as much as you.”
“I promise, I won’t be any trouble.” Noah said, but Franny just raised an eyebrow.
“That’s not what I’ve heard.”
He laughed. “Trouble with the fundraiser.”
Franny took a keyring from her desk drawer and beckoned. “Follow me,” she said, leading him through the maze of corridors snaking through Town Hall, until eventually they reached a cramped storage closet jam-packed filing cabinets. From the looks of it, every town memo since 1962 had been abandoned there—along with the original wallpaper.
Franny gestured to the far wall. “That’s all Starbright Festival stuff,” she said. “So unless you’re planning to make use of a Santa suit, I’d stick with the cabinets over here.”
Noah nodded. “Got it, thank you,” He reached to open the first drawer—but Franny blocked his path.
“But don’t move anything.” She gave him a warning look over the rim of her red spectacles. “I have a system!”
Thankfully, Franny’s system made short work of Noah’s search. But hunting through the long—long—history of Sweetbriar Cove’s town shenanigans only made his head spin. There were festival themes he never imagined filed away in there, and nothing he could rustle up would ever compete.
“So I decided to go old school,” Noah told his friends, later that evening at the pub. It was as packed as usual for a Friday night, but they’d managed to claim a prime table in the corner. “A firehouse cookout—some grilling, some beers. We can sell tickets, do a raffle, even have the kids take a ride on the fire trucks. What do you think?”
Three unimpressed faces stared back at him.
Mackenzie wrinkled her lip. “That’s … it?”
“No costumes?” Poppy asked. “No special food or contests or a reason for Aunt June to dress up in something wacky and embarrass everyone?”
“I think it sounds … fine,” Stella put in. “Don’t worry about it.”
Noah looked back and forth between them. “Jeez, tough crowd!” he protested. “What do you expect from me?”
“Well, you were on the right track with the bachelor auction,” Mackenzie said, with a mischievous smile. “Who doesn’t want to get up close and personal with some hunky firefighters?”
“They are your star attraction,” Stella agreed.
“Ooh,” Poppy said, “you could do a car wash! Put those fire hoses to good use. Who wouldn’t want to see the Cape’s finest stripped down and soaped up?”
“There are women on the crew, too,” Noah pointed out, amused.
“So, equal opportunity ogling!” The women laughed.
“Look, you don’t have to get naked or anything, but it would be fun,” Mac said. “Besides, didn’t you say the guys deserved a taste of their own medicine, getting you stuck with the job?”
Noah considered it. He could just see the expression on the chief’s face when he informed them that it was their duty to get lathered up—for a good cause. “A cookout-slash-carwash it is, then,” he announced, figuring it was useless to try and resist his half-naked fate. “Spread the word.”
“Oh, this word will spread itself,” Poppy said, still laughing. Then she spotted something behind him. “Evie!” she called out. “Over here!”
Noah turned. Evie was ducking through the crowd towards them, cheeks flushed pink against her rumpled curtain of dark hair. She was wearing jeans and a simple embroidered blouse, but even with her hair falling loose from a braid—and a sprinkle of something he was pretty sure was sawdust on her cheek—she was still the most beautiful woman in the room.
So much for keeping his hormones in check.
“Hi,” she said, greeting them all with a sunny smile. “Wow, it’s really a crush in here.”
“It’s the place to be on a Friday night,” Stella said with a grin.
“You mean, the only place to be,” Mackenzie cracked.
“Hi Noah,” Evie added, shooting him a quiet smile.
He nodded back.
“How are things at the inn?” Poppy asked, making room for Evie on the bench beside her. “Are you at the fun part yet?”