He shrugged. “I may have dropped a few words in the dean’s ear, but don’t forget Vickie dated the guy, so she probably had more influence over Howard Greer than I did.”

Mike sat back in his chair with a smile. The tide had turned. If they could make this work, and he had no doubt this group of senior troublemakers could bend the entire universe to their will, then Zoey might finally see how much the people in town believed in her. And maybe that would give her the courage to take that step toward loving him.

His phone pinged with a message from... Hazel?

H: Boytoy Redemption plan is on. Click link. Learn steps. Meet me @ Mary’s 9am.

Oh, damn. He’d forgotten about the promise he’d made at their apology meeting. Or more accurately, he was hoping she’d forget about it. Hazel had insisted she wanted to make up for the video she’d made, and that her plan would be fire. He had a feeling this was more about Boytoy humiliation than redemption. But Hazel was Zoey’s daughter through and through. Once she declared a plan, it was going to happen. He read it again and grimaced. What steps was he supposed to learn? He was afraid to click the link.

“Trouble?” Nana asked, nodding toward the phone.

Mike ran his fingers through his hair.

“More than you can imagine, but I guess I’d better get used to it.”

Hazel had declared a semitruce at their apology chat. She liked Mike, but she was still undecided about him being with her mother. She’d agreed to give him a chance, though, and he’d agreed to be completely open and honest with her...and to always lock the door from now on. He was sliding the phone back into his pocket when Helen held up a piece of paper excitedly. “Hold on! This might be what we’re looking for!”

Mike’s hope grew brighter. He might be able to keep that promise to Zoey after all.

IF ZOEY THOUGHT she’d been shocked at the number of cars in the parking lot at the town hall, she was even more shocked at the dramatic turn of events at the zoning meeting right now. Mike was standing in front of the standing-room-only crowd, explaining why “Hartford Farm” should be declared a historic landmark property.

The town board itself couldn’t do that, of course, but he told them he’d already submitted paperwork to the county and the state in an attempt to make that happen. By doing so, he argued that they shouldn’t make any changes to the zoning status until they heard back from both.