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“My grandmother went to London?” My brain couldn’t make sense of the statement. Mimi didn’t like leaving her house if she could help it. “Are we talking about the same Hazel Olsen?”

Gladys laughed. “What do you think she did between your visits?” She shook her head, smiling the entire time. “Hazel had wanderlust. I always envied her. She got an idea in her head, and somehow, she made it happen. Someday,I’ll tell you about when she tried her hand at deep-sea fishing.”

No. She confused my sweet, mitten-knitting, hot cocoa enthusiast, cookie-baking grandmother with somebody else. Mimi on a boat? The thought of her in bright yellow slickers was a hard pill to swallow.

“Say what you want…” Gladys reached across the counter, poking me in the chest. I flinched, more from surprise than anything else. I glanced down at her finger with a raised brow. Boundaries? Those didn’t exist in Firefly. “I see a little of her in you.”

My biggest adventure involved getting lost and winding up in New Hampshire. Hopping on a plane and traveling to another country? Setting foot on a fishing boat? I could never.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?” I asked.

“I’ll stop by. I’m sure she still has her blue tea kettle. We can trade stories.”

“I’d like that.”

Knowing Mimi’s spirit remained in the fabric of Firefly warmed my heart. It was one thing to know her belongings would have another lease on life, but knowing Firefly remembered her fondly, I had to fight back the tears.

“My number is on the yellow notepad in her kitchen.” From tears to cracking up, I had to accept that this level of familiarity would be athingwhile I was here. Gladys probably knew my grandmother’s house better than me.

“So, what’s going on with you and Tyler?”

I stiffened. “What about him?”

“There are no secrets in Firefly.” Her words were both ominous and accurate. “Seems there might be a little romance between the stacks?”

Gladys had set the trap, fluttering her eyelashes as she feigned innocence. If I acknowledged the accusation, she’d send out the carrier pigeons, alerting the town to activate the romance brigade. They’d come rushing, determined to make a love connection. If I said no, they’d… well, they’d still call out their band of meddling do-gooders. I watched enough romance movies to know how this went.

“I’ll give a non-committal maybe.” Not a lie, at least not entirely. A fling would make for a fun distraction, but if feelings got involved, it'd only make for a rough goodbye.

Her hand moved down the counter, inching toward her cell phone. Dammit. The moment I left, the whole town would get text messages with the latest gossip.

“Don’t do it, Gladys.”

“Do what?”

I eyed her phone.

“Just checking my… invoices.”

I shook my head as I turned and headed for the door. Could I get to my car before the florist insisted she had an extra bouquet and suggested I give it to somebody special? Or maybe the baker would accidentally have an order that needed delivering to the library?

I barely got outside when my phone buzzed.

“Wow, she is fast.”

Evie: This is your fault.

Photo received. I couldn’t stop laughing at the image of her dressed in business attire, arm protecting a wedge of pie on a plate. Blueberries stained her lip as she narrowed her eyes, glaring through the phone at me. Her cheeks bulged as she chewed, the golden glow of kitchen lights casting soft shadows across Evie’s face. A single photo built a bridge that had long ago fallen away. The deep blue stain of blueberry juice on her lip meant it had been tasty.

Our parents’ deaths had driven a wedge between us, and over time, it was easier to ignore than engage. I had friends I considered family. Jason and Amanda were like siblings, and I loved them. They weren’t Evie. I remained hopeful. One tragedy separated us, but maybe another would bring us together? It’s what Mimi would have wanted.

The thought left me smiling.

Jon: Pie theft?

Tyler: No… maybe next time.