Page 29 of The Cherry Blossom Boathouse

The tattooed firefighter from town—Jake, Sophie recalled—stood nearby with a cluster of uniformed colleagues, all of them grinning broadly at the town’s favorite ritual.

“Looking good, London!” he called out with a playful salute. “Much better than your lake-diving technique!”

The crowd erupted in good-natured laughter, and Sophie felt herself blush even deeper.

She scanned the crowd for any sign of Luke, but the captain who’d occupied far too many of her thoughts was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a sea of friendly but unfamiliar faces swirled around her, each one seemingly determined to welcome her with Solace Springs’ particular brand of overwhelming hospitality.

Mabel handed the basket to an old man with ruddy red cheeks and a white pointed beard.

“Welcome, child,” he intoned with mock severity that couldn’t quite hide the twinkle in his eyes. “Are you prepared to become a true resident of Solace Springs?”

“I…suppose?” Sophie replied, fighting the urge to laugh at the solemnity with which everyone was treating this clearly invented ritual.

“Then bow your head and receive the blessing of the blossoms,” he instructed.

Sophie complied, feeling somewhere between amused and mortified as the man began to sprinkle cherry blossoms over her hair while reciting what sounded suspiciously like a modified version of a beer commercial.

“May the waters keep you, the winds watch you, and the blossoms bring you happiness,” he concluded, dropping a final handful of petals over her head. “Rise, newest daughter of Solace Springs!”

The circle erupted in applause and cheers. Someone thrust a glass of pink punch into her hand and suddenly Sophie found herself being introduced to what felt like the entire town population at once.

“This is Sophie, she’s British and swam in the lake as soon as she arrived,” seemed to be her official introduction.

“It wasn’t a swim,” she protested for perhaps the twelfth time to a redheaded woman who ran the flower shop. “It was an accidental immersion caused by structural failure of nineteenth-century dock boards.”

“Well, nothing introduces you to a town like getting to know its water,” the woman replied with a warm laugh. “My first week here, I accidentally backed my car into the lake trying to parallel park. The fire department had to fish out my trunk full of yarn. Took weeks to dry everything out!”

Sophie was just about to ask how one accidentally reverses an entire vehicle into a lake when the crowd seemed to shift, parting slightly as if by some invisible signal. Her eyes followed the movement, landing on a figure standing at the edge of the festivities.

Luke.

He wasn’t dressed dramatically differently—dark jeans, a slate-blue button-down with the sleeves rolled to expose muscled forearms—but something about him seemed transformed in the glow of the festival lights. His dark hair was pushed back, slightly damp as if freshly washed, and his shirt looked just crisp enough to suggest it hadn’t come off the floor of his bedroom.

Their eyes met across the crowd, and Sophie felt her heart hammer against her ribs as she realized with perfect clarity that despite all her sensible self-talk, despite her vow to focus on her bookshop and not on romance, she was absolutely, undeniably in trouble where Luke Rhodes was concerned.

He took a half-step forward, like he was about to walk toward her.

Her breath hitched.

And then—he stopped.

Turned.

And casually headed for the bar like he hadn’t just almost walked across the clearing and shattered every last shred of Sophie’s hard-won emotional detachment.

She sipped her punch, mostly to shut herself up.

Absolutely not flustered. Totally fine. Just…evaluating her life choices. Like a grown-up.

“Hey, you all right there?” came Grace’s voice.

“Well, other than what just happened feeling like the opening scene of a very niche horror film with an unsuspecting newcomer chosen for sacrifice, I’m peachy.”

“Oh, hon,” Grace said, grinning. “You’re not being sacrificed. You’re being adopted.”

“Not sure that’s the better option.”

Sophie’s eyes wandered back to the bar only to find Luke laughing with Jake, all easy charm and crinkly eyed joy and honestly, it was rude how attractive he was when he stopped scowling for five seconds.