Page 3 of Meant for Me (Magnolia Bay #3)

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“Y ou knocked a kid overboard?” Elisa plopped on the bench seat opposite Zoey in her booth at Magnolia Blossom, interrupting the sounds of dwindling evening chatter and pie forks scraping against plates.

Her best friend’s ever-popular diner stayed open late on weekend nights, now that tourism was finally booming again.

“That literally was less than an hour ago.” Zoey steadied her water glass on the table as Elisa settled on the bench. “I forget how small this town is.”

“No, you don’t, that’s why you love it.” Elisa tucked her short blonde hair behind her ears. She still wore an apron, as she enjoyed cooking again as much as she did owning the place. “But don’t change the subject.”

“I sort of accidentally scared a kid who fell overboard. Big difference.” Zoey fiddled with a leaf on the magnolia centerpiece between them, the one that propped up the newly printed menus featuring the diner’s magnolia logo.

Hadn’t even been a month since the Bayou Beignets fire and she already missed brainstorming marketing schemes, creating graphics, playing with new logos…

“Besides, Linc was the one who missed seeing that wave.”

Elisa winced. “I’m sure he loved hearing you point that out.”

“God sent us dolphins, so it all worked out.” Of course, there was that still weird moment with Linc where she thought he’d—where she’d almost—oh, forget it. Stupid.

“You prayed for dolphins?” Elisa asked.

“I pray for everything.” As her parents always said, faith and prayer—that’s what moves mountains. You do your part and God does His. So she did. She prayed for her missionary parents’ safety and ministry overseas, her friends, Pastor Todd.

She just apparently hadn’t known she needed to pray for her beignet shop not to burn down.

“Are you praying for this wedding?” Elisa laughed. “We need it. Noah is driving me crazy. He’s stressing over numbers and the catering budget and whether we should risk having a bar and offending people, or not having a bar and offending other people…”

“It’s your big day.” Zoey reached across the table and grabbed her friend’s hand. “What do you want?”

“I just want to get married.” She held up her left hand, diamond catching the overhead lights. “And Noah wants everything to be perfect for me, but I really don’t care about the details like he assumes I do.”

“That’s sweet.” Which was totally Noah. “Who would have thought, your former mortal enemy is now the man who wants to spoil you and can’t even look at you without turning into a puddle of mush.”

Elisa’s cheeks flushed pink. “God works in mysterious ways. But good gravy, I’m being selfish.” She waved her hand in the air. “The wedding will be fine—even if it is in roughly a month and there’s still a ton to figure out. How are you ?”

“Not any different since the last time you asked.” Zoey made a show of checking her watch.

“Roughly ten hours ago at the inn.” Noah had insisted she take a spare room the past week, while she continued waiting on insurance to pay out.

Elisa was doing the same until their big day.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

“Um, because you’re homeless and lost your business?” Elisa winced. “Not to be blunt.”

“I’m fine.” Zoey leaned back in the booth, infusing her voice with brightness.

As always, no reason to let anyone else know she was worried and ruin their day with her issues.

“Chief Sanders said the fire started from that new commercial fryer I had just installed, so the claims department should get back to me any day now.”

Talk about bad timing, since she’d spent most of her savings on said fryer—and since she and Elisa had chosen not to renew their lease on their shared apartment because of the pending wedding. Now Zoey couldn’t afford it herself, even if she had kept it. She smiled anyway. “It’ll all work out.”

“Right, of course.” Elisa’s furrowed brow belied her confidence in Zoey’s statement, but that was okay. Zoey had enough sunshine for them both. For everyone.

“I’ve been working on getting my catering business going, and looking up new recipes to dive into when I’m fully back in business and have a professional kitchen again.

” Speaking of, she had a batch of cookies out in her Jeep she’d experimented with that morning, stashed in a Tupperware she’d nabbed from the inn’s kitchen.

Had meant to bring them to Linc but forgotten in her rush to get to the tour.

“That’s good.” Elisa’s frown eased a bit.

“And I’ve been dabbling more with my photography lately.” Zoey smiled. “See, I told you. Totally fine.” Not a lie. Not denial. Just being positive.

There was a difference.

“Okay. If you’re sure.” Elisa started to stand. “I better go check on Lucius in the kitchen, and get ready to start closing up.”

“Yeah, I better go too. I’ll see you back at the Blue Pirogue.” Zoey scooted off the bench seat, knocking her bag she’d forgotten, nestled next to her, to the floor. The contents scattered across the tile. Oops. She scrambled to grab everything before Elisa could see, but her friend was faster.

“Dabbling, huh?” She picked up the photo Zoey had taken last week and gotten developed, a black-and-white shot of Linc on his boat, bun tousled in the wind, bicep flexed as he steered with one muscular arm. “Wow. Looks like a cologne ad.”

“He’s an interesting subject, that’s all.” Zoey snatched the photo back and stood, trying not to let her gaze linger on the image. Even though she’d stared at it quite a bit the past few days. Linc was attractive, sure—anyone who claimed not to see that would be an idiot.

But something about this particular candid, something about the gleam in his eye as he stared across the water…Linc looked so calm. Settled. Almost—happy? She didn’t know what he was thinking about, what had removed his near-permanent scowl for this particular moment.

And that’s why she kept studying it. It was a whole side to her best friend she didn’t know.

“I think this is a very interesting subject indeed.” Elisa grinned as she bent back down to pick up Zoey’s ChapStick and screwdriver.

“You know it’s not like that. We’re not like that.” Zoey dropped her belongings into the bag and hiked the strap up her shoulder. “We’re besties.”

Elisa’s smile widened knowingly as she crossed her arms. “I thought I was your bestie.”

“He’s my guy bestie.”

“I’m kidding. But I think you’re kidding yourself a little too.”

“Linc sees me as an annoying little sister type, at best.” Zoey’s heart raced beneath her hoodie. “He’s Linc . He…”

“He what?” Elisa’s voice lowered.

Zoey looked back at the photo still in her hands. “He makes me feel safe.” Like maybe she didn’t have to be in control after all.

Like maybe someone could take care of her , for once.

“I get it.” Elisa’s smirk shifted to a soft smile. “I’m just teasing you. You know, I probably just want you to have what I have with Noah, is all.”

“I will.” Zoey shoved the photo into her bag and zipped it. “Someday. With someone.”

Just not with Linc. Because there was nothing safe about opening one’s heart to a romantic relationship.

And—cologne-ad-model worthy or not—she wouldn’t ever risk losing the security Linc brought to her life.

* * *

His life was chaos.

“You said it was an emergency.” Linc crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Zoey, who wore a hoodie and clutched a full Tupperware container to one hip. “You’ve got cookies.”

The September night air washed over them, drying the still-damp-from-his-shower hair and warming his bare arms. He’d shoved himself into a T-shirt and track pants that might or might not have been washed since his last workout, and run out the door in a panic, wondering what could have made Zoey send him an “SOS, meet me at our spot” text.

He’d just seen her a few hours ago at the dock, when they’d parted ways after he’d secured the boat for the night.

“You’re very astute.” Zoey opened the red lid. “Try one.”

Crickets chirped from the bushes lining the walkway to the gazebo off Village Lane, mocking him. “ Aye . You don’t even care that you cried wolf?”

“Hold on.” She pulled her phone from her back pocket and held up their text thread, feigning innocence. “Nope. As I expected—I never used the word wolf .”

He closed his eyes, a headache forming in his temples. “Zoey, I’ve had enough emergencies for one day, and this sudden taste test of yours doesn’t qualify as one.” He could still hear the splash as Freckles went overboard. Still feel the judging stares boring into him afterward.

Could still feel the panic over the looming one-stars threatening him on the internet. He scowled. Too bad this wasn’t the good ol’ days of past generations, where one could run a business without needing FaceTok or InstaBooks or whatever the newest platform was called.

“Your perspective is wrong.”

He opened his eyes.

Zoey grinned. “You should be grateful this wasn’t an emergency, if you’re tired of them.”

“That’s not the—oh, whatever.” Her logic, while accurate, boggled his mind sometimes.

And he hated feeling boggled. Especially at nine o’clock at night, after a near-disaster of a tour.

They’d escaped without issuing refunds, thanks to Zoey and her dolphins.

She was like Snow White, or whatever princess was good with animals.

He studied Zoey’s dark hair, her thick bangs highlighting bright blue eyes, and his annoyance dissipated a notch. Yeah, Snow White was the dark-haired one. It fit.

“I worked on a new recipe at the inn this morning and need to know what you think. Just don’t tell Noah I used his kitchen without permission.” Zoey held a cookie up to Linc’s mouth. “Try it. Then you can go home.”

“I was at home. Quite content, for that matter.” He ducked aside, which wasn’t hard, given her short arm span. “Besides, I haven’t been force-fed since I was a toddler.” Before his mom died, his dad left. He’d gotten lucky, as far as foster parents went. He shoved away the memories.