LITMIR.BIZ

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href="#u5485f77a-f66c-58a5-8baa-3450723812ba">Chapter Two

      “Please say you saved one of Mrs. Callahan’s peanut butter fudge brownies for me.”

      Lily landed in front of the bake-sale table, a desperate look in her violet eyes.

      “Sorry. I can’t.” Anna tried not to smile as she reached down and retrieved a foil-covered plate from the cooler near her feet. “Because I saved two for you.”

      “See? This is why we’re friends.” Lily released a contented sigh. “You know all my deepest, darkest secrets. My weakness for chocolate in any form. My hostility toward day planners.”

      If those were Lily’s deepest, darkest secrets, she truly was a woman blessed.

      “And don’t forget your absolute devotion to your brilliant, good-looking husband.” Brendan Kane came up behind Lily and looped his arm around her shoulders.

      “There is that.” Lily grinned up at her husband and the look that passed between them raised the temperature in the air a few more degrees.

      Anna ignored a pinch of envy.

      A few weeks ago she and the twins had watched the couple exchange vows in a beautiful ceremony on the riverbank near Sunni’s home with all their friends and family in attendance. A ceremony so different from Anna’s wedding day.

      She and Ross had been married in front of a justice of the peace in a stuffy room devoid of decoration—unless a person counted the black-and-white portraits of dour-faced judges that lined the walls. Their only witnesses were a bailiff and the harried-looking secretary whose lunch they’d interrupted.

      Anna shook away the memory.

      It wasn’t like Ross had kidnapped her and forced her into eloping with him. Anna had been so eager to start their life together that nothing else seemed to matter at the time. Not flowers or a fancy wedding gown or even whose names had been added to theirs on the marriage certificate after the judge pronounced them husband and wife.

      “It’s time to announce the winners of the silent auction!” Sunni had returned to the stage, waving a piece of paper in the air like a victory banner.

      “Come on, Bren. Let’s see if we won that Month of Sundaes from The Happy Cow.” Lily winked at Anna as she grabbed her husband’s hand and led him away.

      Anna shook the crumbs from the tablecloth and folded it up as the microphone picked up Sunni’s lilting voice and funneled it through the speakers.

      “Our first item...a two-night stay at the bed-and-breakfast...goes to Pastor Seth Tamblin.”

      Rebecca Tamblin’s shriek of delight was a clue she hadn’t seen her husband bid on the romantic getaway.

      Sunni waited for the applause to subside before she continued down the list. As she called out the names of the winners and the prizes they’d won, Anna was impressed at how many businesses had contributed something to the cause.

      “Now, for our final item on the auction block today.” If possible, Sunni’s smile grew even wider. “A half-day guided canoe trip that includes sunshine, calm water, and a gourmet meal cooked over an open fire. And it goes to—” her gaze swept over the crowd, searching for the lucky winner “Anna Leighton! Come up and claim your prize!”

      Her prize.

      But...how?

      Anna hadn’t bid on anything.

      The crowd had already started to disperse by the time she reached the stage.

      “Sunni? Do you mind if I take a look at that bid sheet?”

      “Of course not.” The woman hopped down from the platform with the ease of someone half her age and handed Anna the piece of paper.

      Sure enough, there was her name. In someone else’s handwriting. Just as Anna had expected. A forgery.

      “Is something wrong?” Sunni’s brow knit with concern.

      “I didn’t bid on the canoe trip.” Anna looked around for her daughters. Her adorable, precocious, exasperating daughters.

      “But I’m pretty sure I know who did.”

      And they were skipping toward her, hand in hand, without an ounce of guilt weighing them down.

      Anna held up the bid sheet. “Would you like to explain this, please?”

      Two pairs of golden-brown eyes blinked up at her.

      “We wanted it to be a surprise,” Chloe said earnestly. “For your birthday.”

      “My birthday.” Anna had been so busy finalizing details for her class reunion and keeping up with the steady stream of tourists flowing through Castle Falls as they made their way to the Lake Superior shoreline, she’d totally forgotten she had one coming up.

      “Grandi told us she’d left some money in her dresser drawer and we should buy something special for you,” Chloe explained. “And we’re going to add the change in our piggy banks, too.”

      “We can earn our Sunflower Celebrate Creation pin and celebrate your birthday at the same time.” Cassie grinned.

      “Multitasking, right, Mom?”

      Multi—

      Anna was the one who felt a stab of guilt.

      How many times over the past few months had the girls heard her use that particular word?

      Anna struggled for balance, but it was challenging to keep things running smoothly at home and at work. Birthday or not, a leisurely day canoeing down the river seemed like an indulgence for a single working mom whose time would be better spent coming up with creative ways to keep the business Anna’s mother had entrusted to her afloat.

      “I appreciate the gesture, girls, but my birthday is this Wednesday. I doubt we’ll be able to schedule a canoe trip on such short notice.” Anna latched on to the first excuse she could think of. “Summer is Mrs. Mason’s busiest season.”

      “That’s true, but birthdays are special occasions.” Sunni waved to someone behind Anna. “Can you come over here a minute? We have a question for you.”

      Anna twisted around just in time to see Dash freeze midstep in front of one of the carnival booths a few yards away. He pivoted toward them slowly and made his way to Sunni’s side.

      “Is it possible Anna and her girls can use their gift certificate this Wednesday?”

      Dash didn’t respond. Anna wasn’t sure if it was because he was trying to stay in character or because Sunni had put him on the spot.

      “If you can’t fit us in, I under—”

      The word lodged in Anna’s throat when Dash tugged off his headpiece, revealing the man behind the mask.

      The man who’d playfully taken her in his arms and waltzed her through the grass.

      The man with tousled, ink-black hair and eyes the velvet blue of a summer evening sky.

      The only person who’d seen the bully lurking beneath Ross’s charismatic smile.

      Liam.

      * * *

      For the last six hours, Liam couldn’t wait to remove this silly headpiece so he could breathe fresh air again. Now the only thing he wanted to do was put it back on and pretend he was Aiden pretending to be Dash.

      Fortunately, his mom didn’t pick up on the tension that thickened the air like an early-morning mist over the river.

      “I’ve been so busy getting things ready for the fund-raiser I haven’t had a chance to look at the calendar. Do you know if Aiden is free that day?”

      Liam tore his gaze from Anna and tried to dredge up an image of their schedule for the upcoming week.

      “He

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