Page 5 of What Love Can Do

She just had to tell Mom.

“Those are all wonderful places. Jerry and I have been. But don’t worry, you have your whole life ahead of you. Like I said, rich man. Sweep you away. If he has a white horse, even better.” Mrs. Delfino went back to sipping her black coffee from her porcelain cup.

“Well, I better get the last of breakfast cleaned up. I just wanted to get that out.” Lilly stood and brushed off her apron, reaching out to shake both their hands. “It was a pleasure talking to you both. We’re so happy you’re staying with us. If there’s anything I can do to make your stay more welcome, just let me know.”

“You already did. Such great news.” Mrs. Delfino bit into her pumpkin spice muffin and mm-mmmed. “Again, this thing is delectable, and I hate pumpkin!”

Lilly smiled and picked up a cloth napkin that had been discarded on another table. At that moment, Mom brushed by in a rush, headed back to the front desk. She used to be a big woman, but since Lilly’s father died last year, she’d worn down and was easily half the woman she used to be, and not in a good way either. “What were you talking about with the Delfinos?” she asked. “You all seemed excited.”

“Oh, nothing,” Lilly lied, joining her mother in the foyer. “They were just raving about the muffins.”

“Of course they were. That’s my girl.” Mom smiled at her. “The last guests are coming to check in. They called ahead to let us know. Did you check the sheets and bath items in Room 5?”

“Yes, I checked everything. It’s all ready.” Lilly plucked a tiny sunflower from the vase full of autumn orange and yellow sunflowers on the counter and laid it on top of the pumpkin sitting next to it. She would have to put out the Halloween decorations soon; even though she wouldn’t be around to enjoy them, her mom would.

“Did the Delfinos say if they liked the room?” Her mother nervously marked off items from a list with her pencil. “They wanted extra towels. We gave them that. They wanted a wake-up call. We gave them that.”

“Mom, relax. Everything is fine. They love it here!” Of course, Lilly didn’t mention that the Delfinos only complimented her muffins. It wasn’t that the rest of the B&B wasn’t wonderful. Everything was superb—well, almost. The furniture could use a little updating in three of the rooms, and the awful heavy drapes always made Lilly want to sew play clothes and hang from trees, singing about her favorite things and do-re-mi.

“I hope so. They seem the type who could easily complain about one little thing then go online and give us one star, just because we ran out of Splenda.”

“They’re not going to do that. They were truly delighted.” Lilly nervously wrung the cloth napkin she was holding. She should mention it. Of course she should. And why not? “They said I should open my own bakery. Ha, ha, imagine that!”

Mom’s neck swiveled toward Lilly. “They said that?”

“Yeah.” Lilly smiled hopefully.

“Did you tell them it was unlikely, since you’d be taking over this place one day?”

Lilly swallowed a lump in her throat. “Right. Yes, I told them.” She sighed and returned to the dining room. So much for that. She should have known better than to bring up the idea of opening a bakery when her mom had planned her entire life out for her.

Sigh. When am I going to grow a set of balls? Lilly entered the butler’s panty and flung the cloth napkin onto the counter.

Once again, she glanced at Mr. and Mrs. Delfino, wondering if she would ever find someone to spend her life with like that. Someone to travel with, see big cities with, then settle down to have a big family. The idea of it sounded so wonderful. But here she was—already twenty-seven with only one boyfriend under her belt. Ben Miller would have asked her to marry him, but his family moved to Chicago, and though he could have stayed in Forestville with Lilly, he didn’t exactly try. He claimed it was just about the most boring place to live for someone their age, but then the last she’d heard, he’d married and moved to Elmhurst, Illinois.

Elmhurst, Ben? Seriously?

Whatever. She couldn’t put any more energy toward it. That ship had sailed, gone, adios, buh-bye. Problem was, hardly any new ships ever came through this port unless they were already on their honeymoon, gay, celebrating an anniversary, or elderly. Princes on white horses just didn’t ride through Forestville, Mrs. Delfino, no matter how fairy tale-ish the name of their town sounded.

No, Lilly knew her best bet in life was to accept the internship in Miami and start anew. Then, when the six-month apprenticeship was over, she could maybe open a shop in San Francisco or Chicago or wherever tickled her fancy. Her bakery could serve muffins and pastries in the morning, cookies, cupcakes and other sweets in the afternoons and evenings. Coffee and milkshakes, too, and make absolutely no apology for it either.

But the burning question was—how would Mom take the news?

Suddenly, her mom appeared. “Lillian, is there something—”

The front door bell chimed, and in blew two men from the early autumn coolness, knocking back their hoods off their heads. Mom immediately headed back to the desk. Curious to get a closer look, Lilly followed her.

The men were young, mid-to-late twenties. One of them had dark brown hair and dark eyes with heavy, charming brows, and the other had slightly lighter hair with bright green eyes. Both were hot, but the brown-eyed man seemed older, was taller, and for some reason, seemed like the one in charge. Hellooo, boys…

Mr. Brown Eyes unwrapped his gray scarf from his neck and walked up to the front desk then caught sight of Lilly and her mom, practically gaping at him. His gaze met Lilly’s and he winked, a lopsided smile spreading across his face. “Hullo. How’s it going there?”

Irish.

Lilly would know that accent anywhere. Forestville had their share of Irish folks in the east part of town. A tiny flutter of excitement flurried in her chest. What was she saying about leaving Green Valley? Was there somewhere she needed to be in three weeks? On second thought, maybe Miami could wait.

Mom hurried behind the counter. “Hi, welcome to Russian River House.”

Behind Lilly, Mr. and Mrs. Delfino exited the dining room. Mrs. Delfino smiled at Lilly with freshly repainted lipstick. She spotted the men at the counter and pointed at them secretively behind her other hand. “White horse…take you away.”