Page 55 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

Of course, I did feel better. Andrew had succeeded in getting my mind off my nerves, even for just a minute, and I found that I could relax a little more when I turned my attention back to the screen.

But just when I was starting to get comfortable, an aerial shot of our little island flashed on the screen.

“Oh my God!” Jenny cried. She wasn’t the only one. There was an eruption of cheers and clapping. And then Mayor Jones was on the screen, welcoming the cameras to our town. They panned up over Town Square before cutting away to shots of the beaches, the forests, people riding bikes, the carriages clopping their way down Main Street.

“Wow,” Andrew said next to me, and I could only nod. Lilac Bay looked—well, it lookedgood. The island displayed on the television was beautiful, from the ragged rocky cliffs to the sparkling bay to the forests to our little downtown area. People steered kayaks around little coves on the shoreline and rode bicycles along the path in the square, passing little kids with dripping ice cream cones.

“Lilac Bay is a unique place,” a familiar voice said, and then the camera cut to Libby. There was another eruption of noise and subsequent shushing. I spared a quick glance down the table to see Libby with her hands firmly clasped over her eyes. “We operate on a slower pace up here. We take pleasure in the little things.” She grinned her familiar sardonic smile, and I felt a rush of affection for her. Libby was on TV! “I guess that’s what happens when you take away the cars and the office buildings and the nightlife.”

The screen flashed to a shot of Town Square the night of the Fish Fry. It looked like a storybook, all lit up by fairy lights and lanterns, the residents mingling around tables with food and drinks in their hands, the band playing lively bluegrass music in the background.

And then, to my horror, was the sound of my own voice.

“The Fish Fry is our chance to pause before all the craziness, to enjoy each other’s company and remember why we love Lilac Bay so much.”

There was a shot of me standing with Rebecca and the kids in the square, Jayden hanging off my arm. We were all laughing as Aiden tried to take a bite of a candy apple the size of his head.

“It’s the last event of the year that’s really just for us,” my voiceover continued. “As much as we love the people who visit our island, this is our time to just be together. And to enjoy our home and everything it gives us.”

“Nicely done, Riley,” Libby said, and there were murmurs of agreement around the table.

The producers interviewed a few more people. Mayor Jones, in his raspberry tie and purple sweater vest, was heavily featured—“He’ll be impossible on Monday,” Andrew whispered—as was Iris Holder, who explained how it had taken her a while to get used to life on Lilac Bay when she first moved in last year.

“I think what you need to know about this place,” she said, looking very pretty standing in front of the gazebo, her face lit by lanterns above, “is that it’s shaped by the people who live here. And they’re shaped by the island. There’s a closeness that comes with being so isolated for much of the year. The people here rely on each other, and it’s really great to see.” She laughed a little. “Of course, it helps that they’re all a little bit crazy, but I guess that’s part of living in a place without cars.”

The camera cut over to Jerry Brooks, showing off his favorite pet chicken, and then the Libbies booth, where Posey and Cora were laughing hysterically as they tried to demonstrate how to make cotton candy—which appeared to have gotten loose from the machine to cover their hair and much of the booth around them.

Then there was Rose, talking about living on the island her entire life, and how it felt to see her kids and grandkids choose to stay on Lilac Bay.

I looked over at Andrew. His smirk had disappeared at last, replaced by a tender expression I had only ever seen on his face when talking about his family.Such a softie, I thought, grinning to myself.

Then the mayor again, talking about the community spirit on the island, and a shot of Andrew himself, hefting a huge vat of oil to the fryer. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, those muscles that drove the girls so crazy in fine display. He looked good—a fact that I was sure he was aware of. I would normally consider it my duty as best friend to knock the ego down a few notches, but I couldn’t quite get the image of his soft smile for Rose out of my mind.

“Looking good there, Mr. Powell,” I said.

“Riley James, is that a compliment?”

“Don’t get used to it.”

And then the screen cut back to Heather Dale in the studio.

“Well, that community spirit will come in handy for what we have in mind for our small towns,” she said. “No one said this competition will be easy, and the communities you saw tonight will need all the help they can get if they want to advance.”

She kept talking, but the entire pub had erupted into so much noisy excitement it was impossible to hear her.

“Did you see me?” Sherry was asking loudly. “I was right there, next to Andrew in that shot.”

“I can’t believe they used my interview,” the mayor was loudly proclaiming, his chest puffed out in pride. “Did you see?”

“Nice cotton candy, Posey!”

“I looked so old!”

“We were on TV!”

I turned to Andrew to get his take, but he had jumped up from his chair. “Where are you going?”

“Got something planned,” he called over his shoulder, heading over to the bar. Through the crowd I watched as he fiddled with something near the largest TV screen—it looked like a laptop, but there were too many people between us to see what he was doing. A moment later, all of the screens in the room turned blue, and then—