Page 27 of When Sparks Fly

“I know!” Maura chuckled. “Maybe you should be talking toherabout this little crush of yours. She might have more practical advice than me if you decide to welcome Gordy into some room that’s not the kitchen.”

Vickie liked Cecile. It was hardnotto enjoy her quirky, bubbly personality and the way she always looked on the bright side of things. But to ask her for sex advice?No, thank you.

Her feelings for Gordon were just a...physical craving. And she didnotdo one-night stands, damn it. Not since high school. Not since that back seat romp. With Gordon.

ZOEYCLOSEDHERlaptop with a heavy sigh of relief. “Thank God I don’t have to do that every day.”

“Mom, it was a twenty-minute video call.”

“Yeah, but I spent threehoursgetting ready for it. Turn off that ring light before I start seeing white circles everywhere.” She motioned at the light that Hazel had contributed to her interview with Mason’s employer. The appliance company was based in Germany, but her interviewer had been located in Baltimore. She’d assumed Mason would just get her on a list of service people and she’d pick up an occasional job out of it—there weren’t that many commercial appliances in Rendezvous Falls. Instead, he’d recommended her as a possible regional service tech, meaning she could get jobs from businesses as far away as Rochester or Syracuse. Either one was only a ninety-minute drive at most, and it opened up the possibility of alotmore business.

But first she needed to be interviewed after submitting her résumé. Mike had helped with the résumé—meaning he’d basically done it all. She would have just given them a list of machines she could fix, but Mike had made the document into a work of art, with glowing descriptions of her skill sets. She’d asked him to tone down a couple of lines that just felt over-the-top to her, but he and Hazel had teamed up to convince her to trust the two of them with her future.

She hadn’t been sure how Mike would feel about helping, considering the weirdness the previous week with Mason. She didn’t agree with Mason’s assessment that there weresparksbetween her and her friend, but there had beensomethingstrange that night at the Shamrock. She and Mike had avoided any discussion of it. How do you discusssparksanyway?

She’d used a riddle to get him to join Team Zoey.

Z: What disappears as soon as you say its name?

M: ????

Z: Silence. This is me, ending ours. I need your help with a job application.

There’d been a long pause, but eventually he’d responded.

M: Where and when?

They’d had a planning meeting at the kitchen table, with Hazel and Mike both shouting out ideas. Zoey had finally assigned Hazel to help with the video call, and Mike to help with the résumé. Both things were far outside her comfort zone.

“Mom, we have to let Mike know how well this went—you nailed it!” Hazel grabbed her phone and began texting.

“Only because I had such a fabulous personal assistant to manage things. I’d have done the interview in the workshop after a long day and would have looked haggard and pale.”

Hazel sat on the corner of the desk. “As if you could ever look haggard...except maybe when you haven’t had coffee yet.” She reached out and pushed Zoey’s hair back over her shoulder. “But this is definitely better than that would have been. And Mike’s idea of using Pop-pop’s old product manuals on the bookshelves was fire—the guy loved it.”

“He did,” Zoey agreed. “I never thought of those being collector’s items until he asked me to show him that washing machine manual from the 1930s. That belonged tomygrandfather.” It had been the perfect icebreaker on the video call.

It was a teacher’s resource day at Hazel’s school, so Zoey’s little social media whiz was available to set up the lighting as well as take charge of her wardrobe and makeup. Zoey had vetoed a few options right away—no low-cut tops, wild hair or sparkles. She’d had to remind her daughter that it was a job interview and not an online video challenge. And the interview was for a service technician job, so she couldn’t look like she was going to a rave.

Hazel had rolled her eyes at that. “No one saysraveanymore, Mom.”

They’d finally settled on a navy blue knit top under a tailored cotton shirt that Zoey had received as a gift from Vickie. The shirt had narrow stripes of blue and white, and the tiniest of eyelet ruffles along the edge of the collar. She’d never worn it before today. Hazel added what she called astatement necklace—it was a chunky twist of blue, green and gold beading. Zoey wasn’t much for jewelry, but Hazel was so determined and invested in this project that she’d relented. If she lost the job because of a statement necklace, so be it.

But shehadn’tlost the job. They’d been impressed with her résumé, as well as the way she’d answered their questions on how she’d approach various repairs, how she’d deal with certain customers and how skilled she was at filling out online reports. She’d completely fudged that answer, crossing her fingers in her lap as she assured them how computer-savvy she was.

“Oh, yay!” Hazel exclaimed. “Mike says he’s taking us out for ice cream to celebrate!”

“I’ll go clean up and change.” The makeup felt like cake batter on her face. Hazel had insisted she needed a matte foundation so her face wouldn’t shine on camera.

“What? No way, Mom. I worked too hard for this look to not let people see it.”

“Not really helping my ego for you to make it sound like such an enormous effort.”

“You know I didn’t mean it that way. You just look...extra good today.”

They met Mike at the Rendezvous Scoops ice cream stand on Route 14. Hazel ran to him the moment she saw him, talking a mile a minute about the interview. Zoey followed more slowly. It warmed her heart to see her daughter and her best friend laughing together. Mike had always been a part of Hazel’s life, of course. When she was younger, she’d called himUncle Mike,but a few years ago she’d asked him ifjust Mikewas okay, and he’d told her it was fine, but she could drop thejustbecause no man wants to bejustanything. Hazel had giggled then, just like she was giggling now over something he’d said. They had the same irreverent sense of humor, so heaven only knew what it was about.

He’d ordered Zoey’s favorite sundae without even having to ask—soft serve chocolate with marshmallow cream and chopped peanuts. When he turned from the window, he let out a wolf whistle.

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