“I feel that way about my illustrations. They aren’t work.”She grinned.“And people pay me for my art. It’s a great career.”
They got to the lobby of her condo, and she considered asking him up. Before she could decide, he turned to her.
“So, would you like to go out to dinner with me?”he asked, then quickly added,“Just as friends, of course. I had a good time tonight. We used to meet for drinks or dinner all the time. You know, before…before things got messed up.”
She pondered her answer. She wanted to say no. But she wanted to say yes. The two answers warred with each other.
“Yes, that sounds like fun.”To her utter surprise, it appeared that yes won the battle.
His mouth spread into a wide grin.“Great. How about next Monday night? I don’t have a dinner cruise that night. We’re doing a big noontime rental cruise for a local church group. I should be finished up by late afternoon.”
“Monday works.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about Magic Cafe over on Belle Island?”Jesse suggested.
“Oh, I haven’t been there in years. That sounds like fun. I love that place.”
“I’ll swing by and pick you up about six? If we time it right, we’ll get to see one of the island’s famous sunsets.”
“That sounds great.”
“I better run. It’s getting late.”He gave her a small smile and turned to leave.
“Night, Jesse.”
He turned back to her.“Night, Heather. Had a great time.”And with that, he disappeared down the sidewalk.
If she didn’t know better, she’d just said yes to a date with Jesse Brown. Something she thought would never, ever happen.
Chapter 9
The next afternoon, Heather found Livy up in the storage room over the cafe, sorting through boxes.“Hey, cuz.”
“Hey, Heather, what’s up?”
“I came to help you clear out the room.”
“I’m sure not going to say no to help.”Livy flung her arms wide.“Over there is the pitch stack. You won’t believe some of the junk I’ve found. Over there is stuff to actually move into storage and keep.”
“I’m on it.”Heather walked over and pried open a box.“Oh, look. An entire box of fliers from a sale back in 1952.”She laughed.“I’m going to save a couple of them, but the rest can be recycled.”
They methodically opened every last box, laughing at the things that had been kept for years and years. Then they dragged the junk downstairs and out back and piled it high in the dumpster. A pile was made to haul to the recycling center and the other boxes were placed in storage.
“Look, there are some wooden shelves we could use for the displays.”Livy pointed to a row of shelves on the back wall.
“Those would be perfect.”Heather walked over to them.“Oh, look, they have Parker carved into them. Do you think these were made by Grace’s husband when they opened the store?”She ran her fingers over the smooth wood and wiped away some dust.“Yes, look, he carved in the year, too. 1926. He did some very nice woodwork, did’t he?”
“He did. He made that cradle I used for Emily when she was first born. Do you remember it?”Livy smiled.“It was nice having it after it had been used by so many generations of babies in our family. Lots of history with the cradle. A whole lot.”
An unexpected twang of sadness crept over her. Would a child of hers ever be part of that history? She pushed the thought away. It was silly to dwell on that now.
They headed back to the now cleared out room. Livy sank onto the floor.“I’m exhausted.”
“Me, too.”Heather sat beside her and leaned against the brick wall.“I see potential in this space, though.”
