Page 27 of Forget Me Knot

And… is he nuzzling?

“Thank you, Dinah.”

His thumb swipes three times across my wrist, mirroring my thumb against his cheek, before he releases me.

Wrapping my other hand around the spot where I can still feel his touch, I back away slowly like I’ve committed a crime.

“You’re welcome, Jack.”

When he doesn’t move or open his eyes again, I tiptoe my way outta there as fast as possible.

“Molly Dolly.” I pull my niece into the quaint coffee shop on the corner of the downtown area in Sugartree. “Let me grab a cup of coffee and visit Ms. Chloe for a bit, then I promise we’ll go see what all the hustle and bustle down the street is all about.”

When I told Emory about my plans to take Molly off her hands for the day, she pointed me in the direction of Sugartree, where Chloe happens to work. She said they’ve always got some sort of festival or other happening. Looks like, as usual, Emory was right.

“Fiiiine.” Molly drags her feet over the threshold, all dramatics. “But I want one of Ms. Chloe’s cookies.”

“Deal.”

“If I told y’all once, I’ve told ya a thousand times…” A small, shaking elderly woman hollers from a small table at the entrance to the shop. A man, her companion or husband maybe, shakes his head and grins ear-to-ear at her side. “Ya gotta speak up. Our ears aren’t as young as y’alls, alright now? Don’t be rude.”

What did we just walk into? Placing Molly at my back, I cautiously close the door behind me and take in the scene. Chloe casually sits on the counter of the shop with what looks like a small family sipping drinks in front of her.

She quickly waves at me like a patron yelling at her is nothing at all, then gives all of her attention to the elderly woman, who’s leaning as far over her table as she possibly can without laying across it.

“And we’ve told you, Mrs. Woodhouse, that if we want ya to know our business, we’ll do just that.”

I have a hard time holding in my laughter as the woman—Mrs. Woodhouse—scoffs, grasping her chest dramatically, and then sips her tea like it offended her. The man at her side chuckles and kisses her cheek before nodding his understanding.

“She’s just curious is all, Ms. Chloe,” he says, and I get the feeling this is a common occurrence at Good Start Coffee.

“If you’re patient, I’ll give ya some good gossip on the dramatics surrounding the Spring Fling and a certain Cake Walk Competition,” Chloe offers, and whatever that sentence means, it absolutely appeases Mrs. Woodhouse.

“Throw in a couple danishes and we’ll call it a deal.”

Chloe nods but then turns her attention back to the family, jumping off the counter. She seems well acquainted with them, high-fiving the little boy who looks close to Molly’s age and offering the woman, a baby wrapped tight against her chest, a hug.

“Perfect timin’, y’all,” Chloe says, coming around the counter and sneaking a cookie to the boy, a look of delighted mischief on his round face. “I want ya to meet my friend, Dinah. We met in culinary school.”

She gestures to the man first, who looks like he strutted right out of an L.L. Bean catalogue. His beard and off-season flannel shirt remind me of the lumberjack maple men I grew familiar with during my time in Vermont.

“This is Griffin Lovett.”

The warm grin Griffin produces as he reaches out to shake my hand has me feeling immediately welcomed. Like we’ve known one another for years.

“Good to meet ya, Dinah. Welcome to Good Start. This is my wife, Caroline.” He puts his arm around his wife, pulling her into his side.

Caroline nods, tucking hair behind her ear and offering me a sweet, unassuming smile before looking back to her husband, who continues introductions.

“And these are our boys, Theo”—Griffin ruffles the wavey, honey-colored hair of the boy now hiding a cookie behind his back and then gazes at the baby sleeping against his mother—“and Ollie.”

“What’s your name?” Theo asks Molly, one eyebrow raised in question.

“Molly.” She reaches for my hand, unusually shy.

“You're real pretty, Molly. I like your red hair.” Whipping the cookie from behind his back, Theo offers it confidently like it’s a bouquet of flowers. He quickly glances at his parents, who shake their heads, obviously holding back laughter. When Griffin gives him a sly wink, Theo winks back and returns his attention to boldly wooing my niece.

Molly reaches out, only to have Theo—whose middle name MUST beTrouble—grasp her hand in his.

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