“Don’t worry. I found someone to take my place,” Lou said as she began moving again toward the door. “Right, Ivy? It will be great for you as a new business in town—if you decide not to sell, I mean. And you wouldn’t mind a few dinners with Jake here and there, would you? Maggie and Emma can watch Addie. All right, toodles! Thanks for having us!” And she was out the door.
Maggie and Emma wrapped their arms around each other as they let out a laugh and followed Lou out and down the street.
What in the world just happened here? I turned back to Jake, who was watching me with Addie in his arms, still looking at the door, quite possibly wondering what tornado just left the shop.
“Reds of Christmas?” I asked what I felt was a good place to start.
Jake let Addie down as she began squirming in his arms. “Sell?” His gaze was intense.
My heart skipped as I took in Jake’s expression. I had a strong desire to smooth his eyebrows down, maybe trace his lips?
“Ivy?”
I shook my head. “Um, I had a call today from an indie bookstore up north. They offered to buy Pages and have me manage it.” My gut clenched at the thought of selling this place, even if I still got to be part of it. That was telling, I supposed. I looked over, seeing that Addie had moved to the kids’ toys that I left out for little ones while their parents browsed.
Jake moved across the counter from me. “Can I help?”
“How could you help, Jake?”
“Well, I’m a business owner too. I’d be glad to let you bounce ideas off me, if that would help. Maybe while we figure out this event that Lou has just roped you into?”
“What is the Reds?”
“Technically, it’s an event that the businesses in town participate in to increase sales around the holidays. In this case, I also think Lou is playing matchmaker once again. We should all be worried.”
“Worried?”
Jake nodded slowly. “See, when Lou decides to play Cupid, it tends to work out in her favor.”
“And we don’t want that?”
Jake paused as he let his gaze roam over my face. “Well, I haven’t before.”
Interesting. “And now?”
He looked a bit frustrated as he raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what I want anymore.”
Me too, Jake Spencer. Me too.
10
Sibling Love
Jake
With a glance at my watch, I dug in, my legs pumping to eat up the miles. Chief surged ahead, ears flying, brown coat gleaming, as we neared the end of our run. We’d been lucky this week. After that freak early-winter storm last Friday, we’d had mild temperatures. I’d been refreshingly busy with plans for the anniversary party on Saturday and time spent with Addie. I hadn’t got in as many miles as I’d normally run. However, I had this morning set aside specifically for this. Sully had been at me for months, reminding me that we took Finn on to help make sure we had time for ourselves again, but it hadn’t felt like a blessing until this week.
Turning at the corner, I began my last leg home. My legs burned with the effort to finish strong. I typically tried to get in about thirty miles a week, running five miles a day, six days a week. The cross-country team had been a haven for me from middle school onward. I wasn’t always the most coordinated of kids, or the strongest, but something about the repeated pounding of my feet on the pavement had given me solace as a teen and still did.
As I was coming down the block, I looked over at Ivy’s place. I’d taken a slow start this morning, waking a bit later than usual and doing some paperwork for the brewery over my eggs and coffee. I’d guess that Addie was already at preschool, Ivy at the bookstore. It seemed to be unreal that in just under a week, I felt like those two were woven into my life to some extent.
I’d picked Addie up for the past three days and each day learned a bit more about her. Yesterday she’d shared a bit about her classmates as we hung out at a local park. It seemed that Izzy in her class had the best ’magination; Addie liked to see what stories she’d create each day. Daniel in class made the best block towers. And Christian was her favorite artist.
The teachers had, apparently, brought in sidewalk chalk yesterday, and Addie had been all about it. Covered in the dust of her artwork, she’d told me all about the princess who fought to protect the knight that she’d drawn, slaying the evil dragon on her own. Clearly, Ivy’s influence was apparent in her daughter. I couldn’t wait to see how her day was today.
Chief and I turned in to my drive and headed for home. Pulling up, I stopped the timer on my watch and glanced at the distance and time. Not bad. Chief leaned against my legs as he panted.
“Good boy,” I said as I gave his head a rub.
