“Fourteen thousand, eight hundred and twelve.” Janet looked up from her calculator at the table by the bakery door. “I’d never have believed it. Maybe that extra week of orders gave us just the boost we needed. We made it.”
“Well,” said Audrey Lupine, “close enough.”
“I think we can all congratulate ourselves on a job well done,” Aunt Sandy said, looking straight at Cameron. The Town Council, the Community Fund Board and all the volunteers had packed into Taste and See for a “count up the proceeds” party. Which meant that everybody who was anybody in Middleburg was in the room. Cameron took a deep satisfaction that he could identify half the room by name. He was exhausted—most of them were from the last-minute box-a-thon it took to get all those goodies packed up and labeled for the high school seniors to deliver today.
He’d received two boxes today. One Cookiegram came from Aunt Sandy—from his parents, actually, via Aunt Sandy—a box of yellow-frosted stars with the message “WELL DONE!” on the telegram card. The other was a box of specially red frosted hearts with “I LOVE YOU, TOO.” That one didn’t have a telegram label because it didn’t need one.
“I’m so glad we got to have Dinah do both the cookies and our wedding cake,” Emily said.
“Not just me,” corrected Dinah. “I’d never have been able to do all these cookies alone. Good thing Cameron saw to the volunteer brigades to expand my staff.”
“But it’s just you on my wedding cake.” Emily looked concerned. “You’re not having volunteers do that?”
“No, honey, it’ll be highly trained professionals,” Dinah assured her.
Cameron was more than happy to be added to the guest list for this upcoming wedding. He was thrilled to be Dinah’s date for the occasion—not only would he get to see her finest creation in the amazing cake, but rumor had it he might get to hear her sing. He was itching for the chance to get that woman out on the dance floor, too. It was going to be a heartwarming celebration and he was glad to be part of it.
“Oh now, don’t pout Howard,” Dinah came out from behind the counter. “We’ll make your big ol’ goal yet.” She pulled a slip of paper out of her back pocket. “How much do we need, Janet?”
“One hundred eighty-eight dollars,” Janet and Howard said simultaneously.
Dinah grinned. “Well, now isn’t it interesting, then, that I have here a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar check given to me by my uncle Mike. A collection from the friends and family of Patty Hopkins. And ain’t it amazin’,” she applied her trademark twang, “that Uncle Mike asked me to look for a charitable contribution to make in my dear mama’s name.”
“Dinah, that’s so sweet,” Sandy said. “But maybe you want to plant a tree or something. We’re more than fine with what we made,” she leveled a glare at Howard, “aren’t we?”
Cameron watched Dinah’s eyes narrow. That woman was up to something.
“Oh, but I am planting something. Something lasting. You might even say it’s a watershed moment.” Dinah walked over to Howard. “Your honor, I am prepared to sign this check over to the Cookiegram fund right here in front of all these witnesses, if you’ll just grant me the tiniest favor.”
Howard’s reply was a look of suspicious amusement. “And what’s that?”
“Sonata Lane.” She waved the check in front of him, grinning. Cameron felt his heart gallop.
“You mean…” Howard started.
“I do in fact mean Middleburg’s first-ever street name change.”
“Well, it’s not really my decision now, is it? There are procedures to be followed. The preservation task force might need to…”
“Oh no,” chimed in Emily, currently arm-in-arm with her husband-to-be. “I must say I’ve come around to Dinah’s way of thinking.”
Cameron started having trouble breathing calmly.
“Audrey,” Dinah said, her voice smooth and silky, “how many do we need for a quorum of the zoning board?”
“Five. I just happened to look it up this afternoon.” Audrey’s grin rivaled Dinah’s.
Aunt Sandy jumped on the bandwagon. “Raise your hand if you’re on the zoning board.” Four hands went up. “And you make five, Howard. Isn’t that handy?”
“Astonishing,” said Howard, just barely starting to grin.
“I move,” said a man Cameron had met in the hardware store only yesterday, “that we call an impromptu meeting of the Middleburg planning and zoning commission for the sole purpose of considering the name change of the Route 26 extension, commonly known as Lullaby Lane.”
“Second,” said Vern Murphy, smiling broadly.
Howard looked around the room, caught Cameron’s eye with a shrug that made everyone laugh and said, “All those in favor?”
“Aye!”
The room burst into applause. “Well, Cameron Rollings, you got your Kentucky license and you got your precious name change. So pretty soon son, I expect to see you out there sellin’ every house you build on…” he took a deep breath and rolled out the words, “Sonata Lane.”
Cameron caught Dinah’s hand and pulled her to him. He took the check she held out, handed it to Howard without taking his eyes off his amazing woman and kissed her. “All but one.”