Page 54 of Sweet Surrender

“You’re a good man, Zane Lawrence,” Becca said quietly.

Charlotte cleared her throat and went over to the sinks to wash up the scoops.

“It was great to see you over the weekend,” he told her honestly, wondering if she would tell him why she clammed up so suddenly.

“You too,” she said. “And today. What a coincidence.”

“It worked out really well,” he said, smiling at the sight of the kids filling the shop. “It reminds me of a birthday party my grandmother threw here for one of my brothers.”

“I’m all finished, Miss Hawthorne,” a little boy said, coming up with his empty paper cup. “Can I have more?”

“I’m sorry, Michael,” she told him. “We have to continue our walking tour. Can you say thank you to Nick and Cal’s dad and aunt?”

“Thank you,” Michael said, smiling up at them.

“You’re very welcome,” Charlotte told him with a smile of her own.

“Sure thing,” Zane added.

He leaned on the counter to watch as Becca gathered the children up, gently encouraging them to clean up after themselves and then report back to the line in twos, like before.

Less than five minutes later, they were all calling out their thanks and goodbyes, leaving the shop no worse off than it was when they came in.

“She’s so amazing,” he said to himself, trying to get his head around the fact that she had handledall those kidsseemingly effortlessly. Honestly, she seemed to be having as much fun as they were.

“That was fun,” Charlotte said, heading out to wipe down the already-clean tables. “So, I guess it’s true what they’re whispering about you and the schoolteacher, then. Well done. She’s wonderful.”

“Oh,” he said, surprised. “Well, whatever’s being whispered, it’s just a rumor. There’s nothing going on.”

“Really?” she asked, stopping in the middle of wiping a café table. “You guys are giving off a lot of vibes.”

“You sound like Olivia,” he teased. Olivia was Zane’s niece, and also Charlotte’s new stepdaughter, and the two of them absolutely adored each other. Olivia was fourteen now, and she used words likevibesall the time.

“She would probably die if she heard me say that,” Charlotte said, laughing. “Also, I’m probably using it wrong. But you know what I mean, right? I just get thisfeelingthat there’s electricity between you two.”

“Well, we have almost nothing in common,” he said, straightening up and brushing off his hands on his jeans. “And she’s too young for me.”

“No comment,” Charlotte said with a wry smile, returning to her work.

“Come on, it’s different with you and Tag,” he said.

“I think all happy love stories are a little bit the same,” Charlotte said dreamily. “Don’t you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, stopping in his tracks.

“It’s not really about her age, or what you have in common already,” Charlotte explained. “It’s about the way she makes you feel, right? Different than you’ve ever felt before?”

Her words hit him hard in the chest. But he didn’t exactly want to work through the feelings in front of his new sister-in-law.

“I’ll see you, Charlotte,” he told her, heading to the door. “Thanks again for helping with the kids today. I know all you asked me to bring was a barrel of the new ice cream—not a sorbet party.”

“I didn’t ask you to bring a barrel of ice cream,” she said.

“But the boys said you did,” he said, turning to her. “They said you wanted me to bring it right at nine.”

“Oh,right,” she said, turning back to scrub at the already clean table. “I did want a barrel of ice cream at nine, so I could give samples after the library’s toddler reading group lets out. Sorry, I’m so forgetful these days.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, wondering what she meant by that, and why she wasn’t making eye contact with him.

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