“It’s nothing. I’m painting the ceiling in Hazel’s room and I missed the last rung on the stepladder last night.” The moment when she’d stepped back into nothing but air had been scary. But she was only a foot above the floor, so the fall wasn’t bad. She’d tried to break her tumble with her hand and her wrist had paid the price. She saw the worry in Iris’s eyes. “I’m fine. I’ll put ice on it later.”

She headed out to the truck and spotted Iris’s grandson, Logan, and his wife, Piper, bringing in the tables and chairs from the inn’s wide, wraparound porch. They ran the Taggart Inn now. Zoey maintained their commercial kitchen appliances and they’d become friends. Piper’s son, Ethan, was in high school. Her daughter, Lily, was seven, and she was...helping her mom and stepdad with the furniture storage right now. But mostly, she was getting in the way, which Logan pointed out several times. Lily spotted Zoey and ran out to greet her in the parking lot.

Logan, for all of his grumbling about Lily being more hindrance than help, immediately noticed her absence and looked for her.

“Hey, Zoey!” He put down the stack of chairs he was carrying and came down off the porch. “Gran told me her old vacuum was acting up. Is it time for a new one?”

“Nope.” Zoey had lifted Lily for a hug, and the little blonde was wrapped around her like Velcro. She remembered when Hazel used to be this small...and this affectionate. “Oof... Lily, you’re gonna be too big for hugs before long. At least hugs where I have to pick you up!” Logan plucked Lily from Zoey’s arms and propped her on his hip. Well over six feet tall and built like a mountain, he had no problem holding the girl. Zoey laughed. “Well, you’ll be able to carry her around for quite a while longer. Your grandmother vacuumed up one of the cat’s toys and clogged it, that’s all.”

“Silly Mr. Whiskers!” Lily giggled. “I wonder if it was the catnip toy I gave him last week?” She squirmed and Logan set her down so she could go help her mom on the porch. Piper gave a wave to Zoey and a pointed look to Logan, tapping her watch. Logan nodded, then turned back to Zoey.

“Every weather report I hear makes this storm sound worse. I can’t decide if they’re overreacting or if it really is going to be that wild. They’re talking about hurricane-strength straight-line winds tonight.” He nodded toward the stacks of tables and chairs on the porch. “We figured better safe than sorry.”

Zoey thought about the lawn chairs and grill out on the back patio at the house. “I’ll let you get back to it. I need to bring in a few things myself.”