Hometown Valentine. Lissa Manley

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СКАЧАТЬ you?” Jim asked, his hands hugging his coffee cup.

      “Yes, I am.” Blake turned off the faucet. “I failed once. I’m not letting it happen a second time.”

      “I know, I know.” Jim nodded. “I was just hoping that maybe you’d reconsider, especially now that you’ve got Peyton to think about.”

      Blake set his hands on the counter and leaned in. “It’s been a challenge, handling her and the store, but I’m going to make it work.” What other choice did he have? He had to do right by Anna and take care of Peyton, and letting go of The Cabana was out of the question.

      “You sure you don’t want me and Fran to pitch in?”

      “You’re on medical leave fighting cancer, and Fran works full-time.” Fran was a bookkeeper for a local business. “I can’t impose on you.”

      “I guess I was just thinking when you moved here we’d be able to help out more.”

      “You have helped out, more than anybody else has ever helped me.” Blake went over to the bakery case and grabbed a marionberry muffin, Jim’s favorite, then went back to the counter. “But I have to do this by myself to prove I can succeed on my own.” He pulled a plate out from an undercounter shelf, put the muffin on it and set it down in front of Jim. He just stared at Jim, one eyebrow raised, daring him to try to pay for it.

      “I know, but we’d still like to jump in however we can.”

      “Not necessary.”

      Without saying a word, Jim peeled off the paper liner and took a bite. When he was done chewing, he looked at Blake. “Are you ever going to forgive yourself for what happened in New York?”

      “I made a bad call and not only lost all I’d worked so hard for, I also lost some of my clients’ money.” Blake drew in a steadying breath, trying to breathe around the lump forming in his throat. “I’m not sure that’s something I’m ever going to be okay with.” Getting that pink slip had been the bitter icing on the cake.

      “You have to forgive yourself before you can move on,” Jim said, his eyes full of empathy.

      “I know,” Blake said. This wasn’t the first time he and Jim had had this conversation. “And that sounds easy.” Deceptively so.

      “But it isn’t.”

      “Right.” Blake had thought rebounding from the debacle of his life in New York would be the most difficult thing he’d ever have to do. Now he realized trying to run a business while being responsible for a baby would hold that place of distinction in his life. Funny how things could turn on a dime.

      Jim looked at him over his coffee cup, then put the mug on the counter. “Say, I saw Lily Rogers and Maria De Marco a block up a few minutes ago with to-go cups in their hands.”

      “Yes, they were here,” Blake replied.

      “I had all of Lily’s siblings in my math class.” Jim had taught freshman math at Moonlight Cove High School since he and Fran had moved here ten years ago to be closer to Fran’s ailing mother. “Liam, Larry, Lydia and Laura. All Ls.”

      “She was here applying for the job.”

      “Ah,” Jim said, wiping his hands. “Did you hire her?”

      “No, I already found someone and hired him.” Blake rubbed at a spot on the counter. “He starts tomorrow.”

      “Oh, well, good. Sounds like you have it all worked out,” Jim said.

      Right as Jim finished speaking, Jay Wright, the local insurance agent, came in and headed straight for the front counter. He ordered, and as soon as Blake was finished serving him he went back over to Jim.

      “Lily came to a couple of Liam and Larry’s parent conferences. She’s a very nice young woman,” Jim said without preamble.

      “Yes, she is.” One of the nicest Blake had met here in Moonlight Cove. Not that he’d met many; he didn’t have a lot of time for any kind of social life.

      “I’m pretty sure she’s single,” Jim said, looking over his coffee cup with a speculative gaze. “At least the last I heard.”

      Blake deadpanned him.

      “What?” Jim said, shrugging. “You’re single. She’s single. In my day, guys took note of that kind of stuff. And we asked nice young women out on dates.”

      “You know I’m not interested in dating,” Blake said. “And you know why.”

      “Just because Amy was unfeeling and greedy doesn’t mean all women are like that.”

      “She dumped me when I lost most of my money,” Blake said, the words bitter on his tongue. Though he knew now he hadn’t really loved Amy, she had mortally wounded his pride when she’d dumped him, and a wall had gone up around his heart.

      “So, what? You plan on being alone for the rest of your life?” Jim asked with a lift of his grizzled brow.

      “Between that and my business problems and now Peyton, dating is the last thing on my mind.” Seems he’d spent his life being abandoned by women. Even when she was alive, Mom hadn’t been there for him or Anna. Essentially killing herself with drugs had been the final blow. No way was he taking another chance.

      “Fair enough,” Jim said, canting his head and nodding. “But nice, attractive, kind women aren’t always easy to come by. Maybe you should keep an eye on Lily Rogers, just in case you change your mind.”

      The overhead bell rang, and the lovely subject of their conversation came sailing back into the store, her windswept, damp hair fluffed up around her rosy cheeks.

      Blake watched her, his heartbeat accelerating just a bit.

      She pointed to the floor next to the chair she’d been sitting in. “I forgot my briefcase,” she said embarrassedly. Bending down, she picked it up and slung it over her slim shoulder. “Sometimes I wonder where my brain is.” She pointed to her head and made a silly expression.

      Blake found himself smiling.

      Like a pretty whirlwind of constant motion she headed back to the door and with another wave she was gone into the rain-swept afternoon as quickly as she’d reappeared.

      Still grinning, Blake turned his attention to Jim. “More coffee?”

      Jim shook his head and placed his hand over his cup. “So, the way you tell it, you’re not interested in Lily.”

      “Yes, that’s right,” Blake said, infusing an extra amount of certainty into his voice. He had to head this off or Jim would have Blake and Lily on a date this very night and head over heels in love by the weekend. Jim was a hopeless romantic, and fully prescribed to the love-conquers-all theory of life.

      Blake thought that attitude was shortsighted and idealistic. Real life had taught him to be wary of letting others gain control of one’s heart.

      “Then why were you watching her so intently just now?” Jim asked, his blue СКАЧАТЬ