That treehouse. Wasn’t all that hard to believe the same man who’d envisioned and created such a magical little haven in the middle of nowhere would see the promise in his younger sister’s dream.

A small car motored past, and Lilian lifted her hand in a wave at its honk. She gave the same greeting to someone inside a donut shop as they passed, the sweet smell wafting underneath its awning bringing Nikola and her caramel rolls to mind. She owed her friend a text one of these days.

“So is the meeting in the town square?” Er, circle.

Lilian shook her head. “Not today.”

Then why was Indi jogging to the center of the lawn? She stopped at a small bulletin board in front of a white gazebo, strings of faux red and orange leaves woven in and out of its lattice. A moment later, Indi reversed course and started their way again. “Earl’s Place,” she called.

Lilian gave a brisk nod and veered across the street, leaving Sydney, clueless, to follow. Within minutes they were passing underneath a green-and-white-striped awning and pushing their way into a . . .

Sydney paused on the threshold. A hardware store?

And a crowded one, at that. People milled in between shelves and metal bins—standing-room only. She moved farther inside, wedging into a spot near Lilian.

“Weird place for a meeting, I know,” the woman said. “We used to hold all our society meetings at Trinna’s Teatime.”

“Which is actually a coffee shop,” Indi added, coming up beside her.

“Right,” Lilian confirmed. “Though, to be fair, Trinna does have all these loose-leaf teas on display, but we’re all pretty sure they’re at least ten years old. She’s always complaining no one ever buys anything but coffee and mochas and lattes.” Lilian shrugged. “What can we say? We’re a coffee town.”

Indi gave a breezy laugh. “But the point is, we used to have all our meetings there until Annie and Dale from the café complained that it wasn’t fair. They said Trinna was receiving special favor—”

“—and extra profit—”

“Because of the meetings,” Indi finished. “So now Heritage Society meetings take place at a different business every month. The location is posted on the gazebo bulletin board an hour before the meeting.”

Sydney gaped at the two sisters. “So you never know until the last minute where the meeting will take place?”

Lilian shrugged again. “The downtown is all of four blocks long. Doesn’t take much travel time to get to the right place.”

“But why not have a schedule of locations? Why communicate via a bulletin board? Couldn’t you have, like, a text group or something? An email chain?”

Both sisters only stared at her.

“What an odd little town.”

Indi smirked. “And the meeting hasn’t even started yet.”

Forty-five minutes the committee had been arguing about where to host the Annual Muir Harbor Thanksgiving Dinner next month.