“Well, Ms. Dewey,” the mayor said. “You’ve been overridden.” He then turned to Hannah and her friends. “Well, what are you all doing standing there? Let’s get on with it.”

Hannah wanted to sneak off for a moment alone after that embarrassing moment, but after the town had her back, she couldn’t let them down. And so she took a seat next to Nikki and stared at the egg, but she couldn’t concentrate.

Out of her peripheral vision, she noticed that everyone around her was already hard at work decorating their egg. As she began to relax, she focused on her egg. When she attempted to come up with a design, she still drew a blank.

Then she knew what she had to do. She had to imagine it was a cake. When she thought of it that way, it was easy to think of the paints as frosting—okay, not exactly frosting as they had a much thinner consistency but it was now in her realm of skills. She hoped.

Except for one mishap by the name of Agnes Dewey, this was a great day.

The only thing that could make it better would be having Aunt Birdie here. Ethan wondered if perhaps he should have persisted with his idea to spring his aunt for the day. But she’d been adamant about following the doctor’s orders. In the moment, he’d agreed with her, but now he was wondering when his aunt’s tune had changed. Since when was she so eager to do what she was told?

He had the feeling Aunt Birdie was up to something because she never complained about coming home like she had when she’d first arrived at Sunny Days. Ethan’s gaze moved across the expansive community center to where Hannah was concentrating on her egg as she painted the final touches.

Was that it? Was his aunt hoping he and Hannah would get together? He’d never known Aunt Birdie to be a matchmaker before, but then again, he’d never been on the island long enough for her to make any grand plans.

But looking back now, he wondered if his fitting into this tight-knit community had been easy—perhaps too easy. Had his aunt been pulling strings from her physical rehab room?

Or maybe he was just exhausted from rushing to get the bakery finished and he just wasn’t thinking clearly. Yes, that must be it. Because surely his aunt wouldn’t sink to the depths of matchmaking. Not when she knew his whole life was back in New York.

Ethan helped place the painted eggs on the correct table to be judged by age category. With each person he assisted, he found something complimentary to say. Some were bright and cheery. Some had intricate designs. Some had drawings of flowers or animals.

And then Hannah approached him with Nikki by her side. As he watched her talk to her niece, he realized that someday Hannah was going to make a wonderful mother. He could just imagine her with a couple of kids of her own.