"I hope you're staying for dinner," he says, patting Aiden on the back. "Lois is making her famous pork roast with maple syrup glaze."
"That sounds wonderful," I say. "Is Lois the chef?"
"Best one around," Tom says, sticking his belly out and pointing to it. "This right here is proof. This is fifty years of her cooking."
"Lois is his wife," Aiden explains.
"Oh." I look at Tom. "I don't think I met her last time I was here."
"She was gone that week. Went to visit her sister in Pennsylvania. I'll go see if I can find her." He takes off.
"Tom, you don't have to do that," I call after him. "I can meet her some other time."
It's too late. He's already gone through the door that goes to the kitchen.
"Have you met his wife?" I ask Aiden.
"I met her at lunch." He catches Charlie's eye as he returns to the bar. "Could I get a water?"
Charlie nods and goes to get it.
"You had lunch with them?" I ask.
"I did," Aiden casually says. "You should've joined us."
"I had to work. Bianca called the minute I got to my room. So why were you having lunch with Tom and his wife?"
"Can't say." He takes the water from Charlie. "Thanks."
"Wait." I turn to Aiden. "Are you buying the inn?"
"I wish. I don't have that kind of money."
"I meant the company you work for. Are they buying it?"
"I really can't say. All I can tell you is that I had lunch with the owners."
"Why would they sell the inn? Tom loves this place. I'm sure his wife does too."
"She does. They both love it but..." Aiden looks down at his drink, swirling the liquid around in the glass.
"But what?"
He shrugs. "Things happen."
"What do you mean?"
He takes a sip of his drink. "So you said you stayed here before?"
He ignored my question. I wonder why.
"I was here last summer for a wedding. I didn't know the couple. The groom was friends with my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend."
"Was it serious?"
"No," I say with a laugh. "Not at all. We'd only dated a couple months. I met him on a dating app, something I'll probably never do again."
"Giving up on dating apps?"
"For now, yes. I've never had much luck with them. The worst was this guy who said he was thirty but when he showed up he looked liked he was my dad's age. When I called him on it, he admitted he was fifty, not thirty, but said he acts young." I roll my eyes.
Aiden laughs. "So how'd the date go?"
"It didn't! I left." I smile. "I've had some really bad dates."
"I haven't tried online dating. I meet enough people through work or friends."
I'm about to try again to find out if he has a girlfriend but then Tom appears, along with a short stocky lady with white hair wearing a blue checkered apron and a big wide smile.
"Lois, this is Sophie," Tom says. "The girl I told you about."
I stand up as she approaches me.
"Nice to meet you," she says, shaking my hand.
"You too. You have a beautiful inn. I was here once before and loved it so much I just had to come again."
"We're happy you did. This time of year tends to be slow with summer vacations over and before the fall leaf peepers arrive. You pretty much have the place to yourselves." She looks at Aiden. "Why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend? You could've brought her to lunch."
"Oh, no, we're not together," I say. "We just happened to show up at the bar at the same time."
"She was the girl who was here last summer," Tom says to his wife. "With a different young man."
"We're no longer together," I explain.
Lois looks between Aiden and me and smiles. "You certainly look like you're together. Perhaps love will bloom while you're here." She wraps her arm around Tom's. "Like it did for us."
"You two met here?" I ask.
"We worked here." Tom looks at his wife. "She tended to the flowers and I mowed the grass."
"We were just teenagers." Lois laughs. "High school kids wanting to make some spending money. Tom kept finding reasons to come over and talk to me when I was working. I found it very annoying," she says with a huff.
"But not annoying enough to tell me to go away," Tom says, winking at Lois.
She glances at him. "He was a very handsome young man. And persistent."
"Persistence is key," Aiden says. "If at first you don't succeed, try try again."
"Exactly," Tom says with a nod.
"It was lovely meeting you," Lois says to me. "I need to get back to the kitchen. Please say you'll stay for dinner. You may be my only two customers."
"We'll stay." Aiden looks at me. "Assuming you're okay with that."
"Yes. Of course." I smile at Lois. "I can't wait to try the pork roast."
"You're in for a treat," Tom says. "And for dessert she's making blueberry cobbler."
"With fresh picked blueberries from out back," Lois says. "Well, I better get to work. It was nice meeting you."
"Nice meeting you too," I say.
Tom watches her leave, then turns back to us. "I'll let you two get back to your date."
"It's not a—" I stop because he's already gone.
Aiden laughs. "They seem to want to play matchmaker."
"Yeah." I sit down on the barstool, running my finger over the rim of my glass as I ponder whether or not to ask Aiden if he's single. Maybe I should forget it. I don't have time to date. But I really like this guy.
"So, you never said. Are you—"
The ring of his phone interrupts me.
"Go ahead and get it," I tell him.
He silences his phone. "I don't like talking on my phone in a restaurant. I'll call her later."
"Her? You mean your girlfriend?"
"My mom. I'll call her after dinner." He checks his phone. "Now that you say that, I'm surprised it wasn't Celine calling. I haven't heard from her since this morning."
"Celine?"
He puts his
