Page 113 of The Sugar and Spice Kitchen

She was talking to Edith near the fireplace, a glass of champagne punch in hand, when she saw Cole.

He was across the room talking to Mayor Bloomfield along with his grandfather, and he was in a suit.

A dark suit, charcoal gray, with a white shirt open at the collar because Cole was always going to leave one button undone, and Emily thought: Of course. Of course he looks like that in a suit. Because he looked like everything in everything—gear, flannel, thermal with the sleeves pushed up, axe in hand—and apparently a suit was simply the next item on a list that was going to continue indefinitely.

The jaw. The shoulders. The way he stood, which was the same whether he was in turnout gear or formal wear: unhurried, occupying whatever space he was in without requiring permission for it.

He hadn’t seen her yet.

She watched him say something to Mr. Alders that made him laugh. She smiled, seeing the love there. A love that he also felt for her. Or he had.

She hoped that since he’d forgiven her, that he’d start falling in love with her again, too.

He looked up.

Across the room, over the heads of half of Maple Falls, his eyes found her.

All Emily could see was love. Pure love.

She lifted her champagne glass slightly in a silent toast, the moment suspended in time until Lily Hawthorne surprised them all.

Emily heard her before she saw her. The laugh came through the inn’s front door on a gust of cold air, bright and carrying, the kind of laugh that made rooms turn toward it. Then the door opened fully and there she was—Lily—in a bright orange coat that had no business working and somehow worked completely, an enormous backpack over one shoulder, her dark hair windswept, and her grin taking up most of her face.

“Surprise!” she announced to the room at large.

The room responded accordingly. Jackson got to her first—his little sister—his face doing something Emily had rarely seen from him, open and unguarded and entirely glad. Liam, her other brother, was right behind, pulling her into a hug that lifted her off her feet. Cassidy shrieked. Madison said something Emily couldn’t hear. Mrs. C. looked up from her champagne and said “Well, finally” with the satisfaction of a woman who had been expecting this.

Emily had not been expecting this.

“You said New Year’s!” Emily called across the room.

“I lied!” Lily called back, delighted with herself. She dropped the backpack, shed the orange coat, and was immediately absorbed into the crowd, hugging everyone in radius, producing a tin of caramel cupcakes from somewhere inside the backpack that she pressed into Kit’s hands with the instruction to, “try one, they’re ridiculous; I got the recipe in Honduras.”

Kit tried one. Her eyes went wide.

“Right?” Lily said.

“These are—” Kit looked at the cupcake. Looked at Lily. “You need to give me this recipe immediately.”

“Buy me a drink first,” Lily said, grinning.

Emily watched all of this from the edge of the room with a warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with the champagne punch. Lily did this—arrived like weather, rearranged everything, left people slightly dazed and considerably happier. She’d been doing it since they were kids. It was, Emily thought, an underrated talent.

Lily worked her way across the room and finally reached Emily by the fireplace. “Who’s the grumpy hottie over there?” She motioned to Ethan.

He was in a black suit, crisp white shirt, and straight tie, holding something that looked like a Manhattan.

“New vet,” Emily said. “Keeps to himself. Mrs. C.’s already asked if he’s single.”

“And?” Lily raised her eyebrows over her glass.

“I believe he is.”

Lily tilted her head, studying him the way she studied everything—like it was a puzzle she hadn’t decided whether to solve yet. “Interesting.”

“And how long are you staying in town for?” Emily asked. Lily rarely stayed in town for more than a few weeks.

“A couple of months, crazy I know. But it’s been a minute since I’ve been home, and I want a chance to meet my new niece or nephew.” Lily smiled at Zoe and Jackson across the room. “So, if you know of a place I can rent, let me know. There’s zero chance I’m staying in my childhood bedroom. Not with Mr. Tall Dark and Silent over there just begging for trouble.”