The door to the conference room opened and Sarah walked out, the lady police officer behind her. They were both smiling. Relaxed. The woman was asking Sarah about the clothing drive at the store.
Remy’s heart recovered a little more even as his phone chimed with one final message.
You had me at “bring food.”
“Psst.” Bethany gaveErin a gentle poke in the shoulder as she typed another note. “You shouldn’t be texting while being filmed on TV,” she whispered through clenched teeth.
Erin looked up at her empty store. Half the town had filtered through in the morning hours, some of them eager to see what all the fuss was about with a film crew in town and the rest eager tobeon film. But now, things had quieted down so that her only shopper was an elderly woman from the next town over who’d driven in to look for clothes for her kids and grandkids. Ally had left for her part-time job at the hair salon. A few of the production guys had taken off for parts unknown so that only two people manned the equipment.
The customer was self-sufficient, picking through the racks with a practiced eye.
“Remy said I should behave naturally.” Erin was excitedabout his unexpected dinner invitation. Probably far more than she should be.
She’d assumed after the way they’d parted the night before that he was ready to put that time behind him. Now, she wondered. She’d been buzzing inside ever since she got his text. Would he stay for a while…after dinner? Her skin heated as she thought about what that might mean.
Was it foolish to wish for more from him? To hope that his texts were a sign there might be room in his heart for…something? She knew better than that. And yet she was going to meet him anyway.
“Yes, but don’t you want to use the publicity as a chance to show people what a dynamic, exciting store you run?” Bethany lifted the small sign Erin had painted for the sale rack. It showed a picture of a rainbow, unicorn and a pot of gold all around the word “Sale.”
“Show off your stuff. You’ve got so many great visual elements here.”
Erin set down her phone, not sure what to do while the cameras rolled. There were downtimes in retail and it wasn’t as if she spent all day straightening the stacks of clothes or dusting off antiques.
“I’m barely surviving the cameras so far, Bethany. I can’t suddenly start turning cartwheels for attention. It’s just not my style.”
“I know, but when you have an opportunity to really do something well—” Her breath hitched, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh God.”
She clapped her hands over her mouth, staring up at the ceiling without blinking until the tears dried without falling.
“Are you okay?” Erin hoped the cameras wouldn’t notice the drama behind the counter. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Bethany sniffed and lowered her voice. “I can’t talk about it here.”
“Is it Scott?” Erin came around the front of the counter so her back would block the cameras from seeing her sister-in-law.
“I think he’s giving up on us. For good.” She had barely squeaked out the last word when she turned and darted through the break in the heavy plastic divider into the store’s renovated area.
Erin debated what to do. Man the store and be there for the cameras and one self-sufficient shopper or follow Bethany?
The debate was short since the Finley motto had always been Family First.
Edging between the sheets of protective plastic, she found Bethany sobbing against a counter.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted between sniffles. “I’m so sorry. I just started thinking about how Scott always accuses me of being a perfectionist and trying to make everything better. I shouldn’t tell you how to run your television spot and I shouldn’t tell him how to run his life. I don’t know. I just—” She raised her hands in the air, a gesture of helplessness. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel like everything I say is wrong. Every conversation is a land mine.”
Erin felt her sister-in-law’s hurt sharply. She didn’t want this for Bethany.
“First of all, I love your advice and you always have good ideas, so feel free to tell me how to run the store anytime.” Erin dug under a cabinet where she kept building supplies and found a roll of clean paper towels. She passed it to Bethany. “If Heather was here, she would kiss you for telling me to stop texting on national television.”
Bethany tore off some of the toweling andwiped her nose. “All my advice drives Scott crazy. But I feel like he doesn’t have a plan to save our marriage. He sits in our therapy sessions and waits for them to be over. And if I ask him about it, he clams up.”
“I’m sure it can be intimidating to be married to someone who is so incredibly competent, but he has to know how lucky he is to have you.”
Her watery laugh didn’t sound convinced.
“I mean it.” Erin sat on one of the counters, the scent of lumber and wood stain heavy in the air. “The whole family earns money on our shares in Finleys’ Building Supplies because you keep the place in the black year after year. Mack has you to thank for being able to invest in his own bar in Nashville. I have your business savvy to thank for having enough start-up cash to get Last Chance Vintage off the ground. Heather does, too, for that matter.”
“But I think I chased him away from the business that he planned to make his life.” Bethany swiped her eyes, smearing mascara. “Remember when I quit teaching, I just planned to help him. I was going to be like a second in command, then I ended up taking it over. Things have never been the same since then.”
