LUCY FOUND HERSELF WATCHING FOR Toby as she pulled up some weeds along the porch. She hadn’t seen him in three days, not since Big Mike had taken him away. She decided to drop in at the cottage and check on him. Although she’d been out on her bike every day, she hadn’t ridden into town in nearly a week, and she needed some groceries. When she returned, she’d get to work. Really, this time. Instead of just thinking about writing, she’d sit down and actually do it.

Instead of following the back road, she took the highway, and as she rounded the bend, she saw the farm stand, no longer a dingy gray but a soft yellow. Jars of golden honey sat on the counter, and Bree was painting a fanciful carousel horse on one side of a teepee-shaped wooden sign hinged at the top. As Lucy got closer, she read the royal blue script:

Carousel Honey
Best on the island
Our honey makes your world go round

Toby sat on the counter, watching Bree, his legs dangling, a sour expression on his face. As Lucy got off her bike, Bree put down her brush. She had a splash of bright pink paint on one cheek, a dab of lime green on the other. Her sleeveless top revealed an angry red bump on her pale, freckled arm.

Toby hopped off the counter and raced over to her. “Hey, Viper. You got work for me to do?”

“Not today.” She studied the sign. “You’re a real artist, Bree. It looks great.”

“Thanks, but I’m just a dabbler.” She began maneuvering the heavy sign toward the road, being careful not to smudge the fresh paint.

Lucy hurried to help her. “You must have been working hard. Everything looks great.”

“I can be there early tomorrow,” Toby said.

Bree adjusted the sign. “You have to watch the stand in the morning while I check the hives.”

“I don’t want to watch the stand!” Toby cried.

Lucy took the pressure off Bree. “I have some other things to do tomorrow anyway.”

Bree stepped back from the sign. It was painted the same on the other side but had a slightly different message:

Carousel Honey
Memories of summer all year long

“We’ve only had ten customers all day,” Toby protested.

“It’s not even noon.” Bree gazed down the highway. “Ten customers is more than we had this time yesterday. The sign is going to help.”

She didn’t sound convinced, and Toby wasn’t buying it. “You need to get a real job,” he said.

Lucy waited for Bree to tell Toby to knock it off, but Bree acted as if she hadn’t heard, and Lucy had to bite her tongue to keep from telling him herself. Instead, she said, “I’m definitely buying some on my way back from town.”

That embarrassed Bree. “You don’t have to.”

“Are you kidding? I love honey.”