Short little bursts of electricity shot through her body at his touch. Two weeks away from him hadn’t gotten him out of her mind any more than fourteen years of not seeing him had.

Graham couldn’t take his eyes off Mitzi that evening. All he could really see was her red hair and the way her neck curved to her shoulders, but even that much made him want to lean down and at least whisper a thank-you for inviting them for ice cream. He kept his distance because he was afraid if he got that close, he’d kiss that soft spot right under her ear.

Every day for the past two weeks, he’d picked up the phone to call her but never could make himself go through with it. And when Rita came by, supposedly to talk about the wedding and the time she’d spend with the girls, all he did was compare her to Mitzi. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who came out first or who he wished would never come back into his life again. He’d been careful both times to step out of his office into the main lobby of the business to talk to her—and made sure that Vivien was right there at her desk. Rita had ruined his life once. She was devious and manipulative enough to do it again if he wasn’t careful.

He watched the fireworks light up the sky and wondered what it would be like to live with Mitzi. Would they have fireworks of their own every night when they shut the bedroom door?

The show lasted the better part of an hour, and then the grand finale went up in a glittering American flag and it was over. Folks began to gather up their folding seats, blankets, and soft-drink cans and leave, but Graham sat still until Mitzi rose to her feet.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” she said.

“Then we’ll see you at the shop in a few minutes.” What he wanted to say was that he’d missed her, but he held his tongue.

The girls were whispering in the back seat of the truck when he crawled in and fastened his seat belt. They stopped when he started the engine. He tapped the steering wheel while he waited for a chance to back out of the parking space.

“The ice cream is going to melt,” Dixie moaned.

“I thought Celeste was a little bitty town. Where’d all these cars and trucks come from?” Tabby asked.

“Everyone for miles around comes to see the fireworks.” He looked up into the rearview mirror.