Page 20 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

CHAPTER 4

At the end of the day on Monday, Andrew and I sent our application to the producers ofDaytime Dalefrom my computer at work.

“We put together a good presentation,” he told me, after I clicked the submit button. “You should feel good about it.”

“I do.” I'd spent the entire weekend thinking of ways to improve on our application and could safely say that nothing else had come to mind. We had painted a good picture of our hometown. “All we can do now is wait.”

“Come on,” he said, grabbing my jacket from the back of my chair and handing it to me. “I’ll buy you a drink. Maybe that will help the wait go faster.”

“I think we’re going to have wait a bit longer than the time it takes to have a drink.”

“Then we may as well get the week off to a good start.”

I followed him out of the office, but we were stopped short of our goal by Millie.

“Did you turn in that report, Riley? Mayor Jones has been waiting.”

“I turned it in earlier this afternoon.”

She frowned. “I didn’t see it.”

I gave her my brightest smile, knowing that it would only irritate her all the more. “That’s because you weren’t at your desk when I came to his office. So I gave it directly to the mayor himself.”

Her frown deepened. She now looked remarkably similar to someone smelling something awfully bad, her nose all scrunched up in distaste. “You gave it directly to the mayor?”

“I did.”

“That’s not protocol.”

Andrew snorted beside me, and her eyes flicked over to him before returning to me, even more full of distaste than before.

“There’s a proper procedure we’re supposed to follow with these things.”

“Are you saying I should have made the mayor wait, Millie?” I asked, feigning shock. “While you were over in accounting visiting with Carl?”

Little red splotches appeared on her cheeks, and I grinned broadly. It was nice to be the one annoying her for once.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Andrew said, before she could splutter out a response. “We have plans.”

He took my elbow, leading me around her, now beet-red with anger.

“I’m going to pay for that tomorrow,” I told him.

“It will be worth the extra paperwork just to see her gaping like a fish.” He mimicked the way she had opened and closed her mouth in ager, making me laugh.

We hit the sidewalk and I closed my eyes for a moment, taking in the sunshine. “Spring is definitely here,” I told him.

“It is.” We set off down Main Street toward Cora’s. “Plans for the Fish Fry going okay?”

“Oh, you know.” I kicked a pebble in my path. “Same as always.”

The Fish Fry was an annual event on the island, held every year on the first Friday of May. It was traditionally the last big event before the tourism season started, a way for the permanent residents of Lilac Bay to celebrate together before everyone became overwhelmed with the influx of guests that always began to stream in before Memorial Day. The Town Square would be filled with tables—Cora would sell mulled mead, the Elks Club would fry up the fish, and we would all listen to music and be social. It was a nice event, one of my favorites, but there wasn’t much to the planning of it.

“Who’s in charge of the haul this year?” he asked.

“Your dad, actually.”

Andrew made a face.