Louisa glanced at Ally, whose expression said, What in the world are you doing? After all, Ally managed their business account. She knew Louisa couldn’t afford this.

Still, Louisa heard herself say, “Fifty-six.”

And then she saw a shift in McKenzie’s posture. Her shoulders slumped ever so slightly, and a look of defeat fell on her face.

That was when Louisa began to panic because reality set in. A reality she hadn’t considered. She didn’t have $5,600 just lying around. She silently prayed that McKenzie had one more bid in her, but the woman shook her head to indicate she was out.

Louisa did a slow turn toward Cody, who looked less than pleased.

“Do I hear fifty-seven?” she squawked into the mic, but the crowd responded in silence.

Finally a guy at the back shouted, “Looks like you won him fair and square!”

Then a lady hollered out, “Maybe he’ll do mouth-to-mouth again.”

The crowd laughed and Louisa’s heart wrenched. What had she done? She was jealous and impulsive and it was going to cost her precious, hard-earned money. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

“Sold?” Cody asked.

Louisa raised the microphone. “Sold.”

Was there a return policy on Coasties?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“COME ON, DUNCAN. SURELY YOU CAN MAKE AN EXCEPTION.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Chambers, but you of all people should know the rules. You made them. No refunds. No returns.” The master chief winked at her—he seemed to be enjoying this.

“Right.”

Cody watched as Louisa’s brow knit into a tight line, and he could see the worry behind her eyes.

Most days since returning to Nantucket, Cody had been able to keep his feelings for Louisa squarely locked up in a box marked Do Not Open and shoved to the back of his mental closet. Most days he would describe Louisa as cute. She had a cute personality and a cute little nose that turned up at the end. She had a cute laugh and made cute, quirky comments.

But today, in that dress, cute was the last word he would’ve used to describe her. He could feel the box moving out of that closet at the back of his mind, begging to be opened.

Louisa turned heads. She didn’t even realize it, but with her deep-red hair and that killer blue dress, everything about her stood out. She wasn’t skinny or waifish—she curved in all the right places—and standing back against the wall watching her try to make a return on her most recent impulsive purchase, Cody didn’t know whether to be offended or amused.

He cleared his throat and she spun around, a hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression on her face.

“Unhappy with your purchase already?” He could have some fun with this. He shouldn’t, but he could.

She stammered for a few seconds before he raised a hand to let her off the hook.

“I know you can’t afford it,” he said.