The next day, Paige was still reeling from the kiss, the law firm, and the fact that Luke had a painting of her cottage and her dog on his office wall. She didn't know what to think, or how to process any of it.

After a dog walk with her mom, the two women were now sitting on her deck in her Adirondack chairs, their feet propped up on the railing. Their dogs were frolicking in the water, while Paige and Louise sipped strawberry lemonade and waited for the chicken to cook on the grill.

Finally, Paige couldn't keep it in anymore. "I went into a law firm yesterday."

Louise choked on her drink, spraying the pink beverage on the deck. "You're kidding."

"Nope. I was at a stoplight, and I saw a sign for Luke's firm. So I decided to go in and get my check from him. I wasn't really thinking, to be honest."

Louise pulled her feet off the railing and turned to face her daughter. "And?"

"I started to have a panic attack walking down the hall toward his office."

"I'm so sorry." Louise reached out and rubbed her daughter's shoulder. "I was hoping it would be okay after all this time."

Paige set her drink down and looked at her mom. "I said I started to have a panic attack."

"Started? What happened?"

"Muffin charged out of the office at me."

Her mom's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Muffin? Rigid Luke had his dog at work?"

Paige grinned. "He denies it, but I think he's fallen in love with Muffin. It was pretty cute actually. He was totally embarrassed at being caught being a softie."

"Nice." Her mom smiled, but her brow was still furrowed with concern. "Can we go back to the panic attack? Did it really just stop when you saw the dog? Just like that?"

"Well, it took a few minutes, but when Luke came rushing out to rescue me, well, I kinda forgot to be upset."

Louise smiled. "I'll bet."

She ignored her mom's smug look. "And then when I got into the office, he had four paintings of the lake, done by that artist who painted my cottage. He'd seen her painting at The Mug and tracked her down and bought them."

"So it wasn't like your old law firm, with the paintings, and the dog, and Luke. It was different."

Paige nodded. "I wouldn't say I want to go back to being a lawyer, but I was okay in there. It wasn't the same thing as my old firm. If I could bring Bandit to work with me every day, it might not even feel like work."

Louise squeezed her daughter's shoulder. "It's a great first step."

"I have to admit that it helped having Luke there. He took care of me." He hadn't been like Howard, ditching her at the first sign of weakness. He'd come right over to her, helped her up, and then kissed her senseless. She smiled. "I think you're right. He's not like Dad, or Howard. Not in the bad ways." The thought had been percolating inside her mind for a while, but she hadn't dared articulate it. She was too afraid of being wrong. But after her experience in Luke's office, she'd finally understood the difference. "Dad wouldn't have kissed you in his office, would he?"

"Did you get kissed in Luke's office?" Louise looked pleased.

"You didn't answer my question. Would Dad have had a dog at work? Would he have put up local paintings of a lake because it made him feel like he was outside? I know Howard wouldn't have." Paige had to know whether she was right, whether the signs were really there.

Her mom met Paige's gaze. "Even when we were first married, Dad forbade me to even touch him in public. Never on earth would he have kissed me in his office. And no dog or paintings by unknown artists. He never wavered from portraying the ultimate professional image, even if that meant buying suits and paintings he couldn’t afford, just so people would think he could."

Paige felt tension seep from her shoulders, tension she hadn't even known she was carrying. Suddenly, her throat tightened. Luke really was different. "I didn't think so." She flopped back in her chair and closed her eyes, a small smile on her face. Sometimes, it was nice to be right.

"So, it was a good day, huh? You were able to be in a law firm without a panic attack, and your Muffin Man kissed you."

She opened one eye and looked at her mom. "The magic of the kiss kinda dissipated when we realized Mrs. Hopsman was standing in the doorway watching us."

"Ethel saw you kissing?" Louise started to laugh. "She's going to send her preacher husband over to marry you. I might have grandkids after all."

She rolled her eyes, her heart tightening. Marry him? Marry Luke? Her heart leapt, and excitement rushed through her, but she quickly squashed it with reality. "Please don't say that, Mom. Luke is going back to Boston, and there's no way I'm moving back there. If I ever started practicing law again, it would have to be in a place like his office, in this town. So, there's no chance that we could work out. I can't afford to think like that, and I definitely can't afford to kiss him again." She nodded, hating the ache she felt in her heart as she spoke. "It's going to stay purely professional from now on. The fact he might actually be a good guy means nothing, other than to give me hope that there might be the right guy for me out there somewhere."

"Mmm hmm." The smug disbelief was apparent in Louise's voice.

"I'm serious. The man will break my heart if I let him in. I can't give him the chance." But even as she said it, Paige wondered if it was too late.