Larkspur Road by Jill Gregory

trying to study Britt’s face, but the sixteen-year-old whirled away from her and snagged another tank top, a skimpy white one.
    “Brittany…,” Mia began in a low tone, “come on. There’s some reason you don’t want to—”
    “Please, Aunt Mia.” Brittany’s suddenly pleading expression tore at Mia’s heart. “I need to get back to the bakery really soon. There’s only five minutes left on my lunch break. You don’t want to make Aunt Sophie sorry she hired me, do you?”
    Without waiting for a reply, she turned toward Erma, who was arranging some new tops in the window display. “We’re ready now, can you help us, please?”
    “Well, to be sure, I can.” Erma bustled over, beaming, and began ringing up the clothes.
    “A little birdie told me you’re staying for the whole summer, young lady.” Carefully folding all of the merchandise, the store owner began stuffing each item into a large bag. She’d opened Top to Toe the year before Samantha had entered middle school and she knew every soul in town as well as all of their tastes and sizes. “Isn’t that nice for you, having such lovely young company?” She flashed Mia a smile as she worked.
    “And not just any company.” Mia handed over her credit card. “My favorite niece.”
    “The spitting image of her mother, too—and that’s acompliment, young lady,” Erma told Brittany. “I heard your mom’s going on her third honeymoon. All the way to Corfu, imagine that. Well, you know what they say. The third time’s the charm.”
    “I thought they said that about the second time.” Britt took the bag the older woman handed her.
    “No, it’s the third.” Erma flashed a grin as she returned Mia’s credit card. “But who’s counting? Now, what about you, honey?” She shifted her hawkish gaze to Mia, who was just turning toward the door. “I heard Travis Tanner’s back in town.”
    Of course you did.
Erma wasn’t the first person to mention Travis’s return to her—she must be at least the seventh or eighth. Lonesome Way’s gossip hotline would have no trouble holding its own against TMZ.
    “He always was a
mighty
handsome young man. But then, you’d know that better than I would. If I were a younger woman…” She winked at Brittany, then turned back to Mia. “Now, I know it was a long time ago, and far be it from me to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but everyone always said you two were the perfect coup—”
    “I’m afraid we have to hurry, Erma, or Brittany’s going to be late for work.” With a wave and a smile, Mia made a beeline for the door and escaped onto Main Street before Erma could finish the sentence.
    It was a warm, brilliant afternoon, and the sun glinted in a blinding dazzle off the long row of storefront windows. Behind her, Brittany slid her sunglasses down across the bridge of her nose.
    A dozen or so people strolled along Main, enjoying the bright flowers planted in trim window boxes along the storefronts, the view of the park, the peaceful, picturesque atmosphere of the town set in the shadow of the mountains. A woman and two little boys about eight and five years old were sitting on the wooden bench outside of Benson’s Drugstore, licking ice cream cones. A gray-haired ranch hand in a plaidshirt and faded jeans whistled as he loaded grain into the back of a pickup outside Tobe’s Mercantile. Inside the Cuttin’ Loose hair salon, Hannah Berg, owner of the day care center, was getting a manicure, while Martha Davies snipped away at her friend Dorothy Winston’s squirrel gray hair.
    “Travis Tanner, hm?” Britt grinned at her as they walked across the street. “He’s your old boyfriend? Is he related to Aunt Sophie?”
    “Yes, her husband’s brother. And once upon a time, way back in the Stone Age, he was my boyfriend. That’s the problem with small towns, Britt; people don’t ever forget anything about your life—ever.” Pausing, Mia held out a hand for the Top to Toe bag. “I’ll