His smile was certainly warmer than the sunshine just beginning to burn away the mist. “And how have you enjoyed your first gig race, my lady?”

She found herself grinning back. “I think I need to convince Moon that our weekly garden visits always need to happen on Tuesdays, so we can be here Wednesday mornings.”

“Oh yes, you don’t want to miss any of them. Our Ollie can’t win them all, but they’re always such fun.” Mrs. Tremayne turned, then, to answer the greeting of one of Oliver’s teammates.

Oliver shifted a bit closer to Libby’s side. “Are you staying the day or . . . ?”

“We’ll be leaving midmorning. We want to get back before the storm.”

He shot a pointed look at the blue sky, brows raised.

Libby grinned. “Mr. Moon’s big toe insists an afternoon squall will be coming.”

“Ah. Well, no one argues with Jeremiah Moon’s toe, to be sure.” He’d taken his knit cap off at some point and now raked a hand through his damp hair. “Mr. Gale and I have solidified our plans for me to fill in at St. Mary’s the Virgin this Sunday, so I’ll be coming over on Saturday. I thought . . . that is, I know you said yesterday that no one else has mistaken you for Beth. But I thought I’d drop by when I get there. To make sure it’s still the case. If that’s all right.”

“Oh yes. Please do.” She bit her lip to keep any other assurances from spilling out. She could just imagine Mama across from her, waving a hand and telling her without words that she sounded far too eager. But . . . “We can show you the remaining things we found in the cottage, and you can let us know if they’re Beth’s—books, mostly. We weren’t certain, so we didn’t bring them.”

“That will be lovely. Mrs. Polmer promised me a batch of sticky buns from the bakery that morning. I’ll bring them with me.”

“I could hardly turn that down. Moon brought two home the other day, and they deserve to have songs written about them.” She smiled at his laughter, then bit her lip again. It had been on the tip of her tongue to invite him to return to their cottage for dinner Saturday night. But he’d probably already been claimed by a parishioner.