Chapter 5

Lily smiledto herself as she spotted Braxton pacing in front of the ferry entrance. His brow was furrowed, and there was an air of nervousness surrounding him. It was the same energy she'd encountered the day before when she'd met him at his house for dinner. She wasn't sure why, but it was clear that she had gotten under his skin and was frustrating him in the best possible way.

The best part of the day would be finding out just how long it took for him to shed his anxiety and finally start to relax. In the meantime, she'd enjoy poking the bear until he came out of his shell.

"Good morning, sunshine," she said cheerfully when she was close.

Braxton jerked his head up, looking startled to see her.

"You didn't forget that I was joining you on this adventure, did you?" she asked, her lips quirking into a teasing smile.

"What? No, I was just thinking about a phone call I got last night." He shoved his hands into his pockets and shook his head. "I was sort of lost in thought."

She raised both eyebrows. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course. Just parent stuff. I'm sure you know how it is," he said absently as he turned his attention to the ticket booth.

She didn't. Not really. Her parents had both died when she was young, leaving her with no real frame of reference for adult parent relationships. There was her grandmother of course, but Lily's relationship with her had always seemed so different than that of her friends and their parents, so she didn't bother answering. Instead, she pulled out a few bills and put them on the ticket counter.

Braxton snatched the money up and shoved it back at her. "I've got this."

"You don't need to pay for me, Braxton," Lily said, refusing to take the money back.

"Why do you always have to be so stubborn?" he asked as he tucked the money into the front pocket of her handbag.

"I'm not stubborn. Just independent," she said as she rolled her eyes. "Fine. You get the ferry. I'll get lunch."

Braxton handed her one of the tickets as they made their way onto the ramp. "That's not exactly a fair exchange. Lunch is going to be more than the four dollars I just plunked down for walk-on passage."

"That's what you get for not accepting my money," Lily said with a grin, enjoying the exchange. Normally she wouldn't make a big deal out of letting someone pay for her. She figured when it came to friends and family paying for events, they would just take turns and it all came out in the wash in the end. But poking Braxton about it was just too much fun.

He groaned and followed her onto the ferry. They made their way up the stairs to the enclosed seating area and took a spot at a table by a window.

Lily immediately pulled out her notebook and got down to business. She pointed to the open pages. "I did a layout for the craft fair last night. If we position the booths like this, I think we can accommodate everyone who has already shown interest." Her grandmother had given her a list of craftspeople who'd already applied, despite Cassandra's poor organizational skills. It seemed activating the online interest form was the one thing she'd actually done a few months ago.

Braxton studied her drawing, made a couple of suggestions, and then nodded. "That looks great. If everything goes this smoothly, we'll have this done in no time."

"Oh no. Don't jinx us like that," Lily said with a laugh and then quickly sobered when he frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head and then pulled out a small notebook of his own. "I wrote down a list of the food truck vendors and put them in two lists. One is in order by distance from the ferry, and the other prioritizes the ones that I thought looked most interesting." He pushed the notebook toward Lily. "Take a look."

She glanced down at his meticulous handwriting and shook her head in disbelief. "You seriously spent your evening doing this last night?"

"Yeah. Why? Is that strange or something?" he asked, looking confused.

"No, not at all." She laughed and flipped her own notebook to the pages where she'd done something similar. "I also put them in order according to distance from the ferry. But my second list is ranked by which has the highest online reviews."

They both laughed and then got down to business comparing the lists.

"Looks like we're mostly on the same page," Braxton said.

"Looks like it." Lily looked up at him with a warm feeling in her chest. It had been forever since she'd felt this comfortable with a man. She was surprised to find that she was actually looking forward to spending the day with him. But then the image of him bolting after he'd kissed her flashed through her mind, and she had to suppress a scowl.

What was it with her being attracted to emotionally unavailable men? She'd spent much of her college days in and out of a relationship with a man who'd run hot and cold. And after he'd promised her the world and then ghosted her the day they were supposed to move in together, she'd vowed to never put herself through that again. Never. It didn't matter that Braxton Kirkwood looked and kissed like a god. Or that every time she spent any time with him it felt like coming home. She would not set herself up for disappointment again.

Not this time. This time she'd be smart.

"Lily, look," Braxton said, placing his hand over hers.

A tingle ran up her arm, causing gooseflesh to pop out over her bare skin. She quickly pulled her hand away and said, "Huh?"

His gaze was locked on her hand that she'd tucked into the arm of her sweatshirt. With a small frown he looked up at her face, and whatever he saw in her expression made him glance away again. He pointed out the window. "Orcas."

Lily turned and spotted a familiar orca breeching the surface. The majestic orca Tokia turned midair, showing the white underside of her body as she splashed into the water. And then a smaller orca, Tokia's baby, Kyia, followed suit, making everyone on the ferry cheer. Lily's eyes were damp when she turned back to Braxton and breathed, "Oh gosh, she's doing wonderfully, isn't she?"

"She is." They smiled softly at each other.

In recent years, due to pollution and overfishing of the Salish sea, it had become harder and harder for the orca populations to reproduce. The success rate of newborn orcas had been dwindling, and much to the horror of the witches of Befana Bay, the pod had lost two babies in the last few years. But Kyia had made it past three months, which was a critical milestone, and she appeared to be thriving. She was the pride of Befana Bay.

Lily finally pulled her gaze away from Braxton, realizing that the ferry had stopped while the orcas put on a show for them. More members of the pod breeched the water, flipping their tails and fins as they swam around baby Kyia, clearly celebrating the life of the baby orca.

A single tear ran down Lily's cheek as she watched the orcas finally head north away from the ferry. Braxton silently handed her a tissue, making her chuckle softly. "Sorry. I just get so emotional when the orcas are around. They are such special creatures."

"No need to apologize," he said. "They are magical."

In more ways than one. The witches of Befana Bay had a special connection to the orcas. In fact, they often visited the witches when they gathered at sunrise on their paddleboards in the bay. The peaceful power they possessed was awe-inspiring.

Lily and Braxton both seemed to be lost in their own thoughts as the ferry finally docked at Westerly Island. They were silent as they made their way into the quaint downtown that was filled with small galleries, a couple of farm-to-table restaurants, a coffee shop, an ice creamery, a bookstore, and a pretty Victorian inn that overlooked the Puget Sound.

"I've always wondered what it would be like to live on the island," Lily finally said. "I could never leave Befana Bay, but it just seems like life moves at a slower pace here. Almost like it's removed from the modern world in a way."

Braxton snorted. "You think Befana Bay isn't removed from the modern world? There's magic everywhere you look."

Lily had to laugh. He had a point. The enchanted town definitely marched to the beat of its own drum. "You've got a point. I suppose there's just a romance to the island because the only way to get to it is the ferry."

"I can see that," Braxton said, his voice suddenly gruff.

Lily glanced up at him, but he'd turned away and was leading her toward their first food truck.

"Crab cakes eighteen ways," Braxton read from the sign of Grab You by the Crab.

"I love crab," Lily said as she walked up to the window and ordered three different kinds.

"I can see that." Braxton ordered the crab cake cheese melt, and after a short wait, they took their food to a picnic table.

Lily dug into her fried green tomato crab cake and moaned her pleasure with the first bite.

Braxton cleared his throat and shifted on his seat as he glanced away, his cheeks flushing red.

Lily felt heat rush to her own cheeks as she realized what she must have sounded like and made a mental note to keep her sounds to herself for the rest of the day. "This place is a must-book," she said, putting her fork down. "I'm going to go see if the owner is here and lock them down if at all possible."

Braxton nodded, and Lily quickly hurried back over to the truck.

Five minutes later, she returned with a triumphant grin on her face. "They're in! One down, about ten to go."

"Perfect. I hope you've been in training for this, because after eating all that, I don't know how we're going to sample nine more trucks."

She glanced at her paper bowls of half-eaten food and nodded. "Yeah. Better pace ourselves.

After three more trucks and three more bookings, Lily rubbed her stomach and let out a groan. "I'm never going to make it. I've lost all self-control when it comes to tasting all this food. You're going to have to try the rest of the trucks and let me know which we're going to book."

Braxton laughed. "You did see me devour that entire sushi roll, right? If I eat one more thing, I'm going to explode."

"Oh man. We're hopeless." Lily gave him a pathetic look that only made him laugh harder.

When he finally came up for air, he said, "Okay, let's take a bit of a break. There's a trail that leads to a crystal-clear lake in the middle of the island. How about we walk off a little bit of this food before we go in for the next round?"

"As long as I don't have to stick anything in my mouth for the next two hours," she agreed.

Braxton eyed her before his lips twitched into a sexy half-smile.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Brax. You know what I meant," she said, swatting his arm playfully. "Now, which way is this trail?"

Without comment, Braxton led the short distance to the trailhead that led from the main road and quickly disappeared into the trees.