“Surprise!”
Jane’s jaw dropped. But not because Mike was kneeling in front of her with a shiny diamond ring. The room had been transformed into a library. Mahogany shelves ran from floor to ceiling. The old furniture had been replaced with leather Chesterfield sofas and club chairs. It was exactly what she and her dad had always envisioned.
Mike stood on the other side, beaming.
Jane beamed back. “You did this?”
“I had a little help.” Mike gestured to the others in the room: Andie, Shane, Maxi, James, Claire, and Rob. Bunny and Sam were there, too, along with Liz and Brenda, of course. “Everyone helped.”
“You guys did all this behind my back? But how?” Jane asked.
“It wasn’t easy,” Mike said. “Andie and I had to do some fast talking to get around your suspicious interrogations.”
“Wait. So when I came over to your house, you were working on these shelves?” Jane remembered the sawdust.
“Yep.”
“And when I thought I saw you both together here the other morning, that was true. And youwereat the hardware store together.”
“Right again,” Andie said.
“And the trip to the convention?” Jane asked.
“I really did want to go to that, but it was also a great way to get you out of the house so they could do the work.”
“Did you ask my mom about dimensions?” Jane asked Mike.
“I did. I didn’t think she’d remember, though. You’d said that you and your dad always planned to do this, and I wanted it to be exactly as you planned,” Mike said. “Luckily, Andie found those plans that you guys drew up.”
“I can’t believe you did all this in two days.” Jane looked around the room again, this time taking in the details like the corner moldings on the bookshelves and the library ladder leaning against one of them.
“I tried to do as much as I could in my basement, and then we brought everything here,” Mike said. “Had to work all night, but I think it came out pretty good.”
“It’s gorgeous!” Jane rushed over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you all so much. I don’t know what to say. What did I do to deserve this?”
“It was really Andie’s idea,” Mike said.
Jane looked at her sister, who blushed. “Not really. We both wanted to do something.” Andie walked over and linked her arm through Jane’s. “I just wanted a way to show that I appreciate that you’ve taken over running the inn. I know most of the burden rests on your shoulders.”
“And I wanted to let you know that I appreciate how hard you work,” Mike said. “I know I’ve been complaining about us not having enough time together, and that was selfish of me, so I wanted to do something to try to make up for that.”
“Aw, you guys are the best!” Jane hugged them both then made her way around the room.
When she got to Bunny, Bunny said, “I didn’t really do much, but this room will be perfect for the book club. Speaking of which, there’s another surprise for you.”
“There is?” Jane couldn’t imagine how they would top the library surprise.
Bunny leaned in and whispered, “Turns out Mr. Smith is the author of the book club book.”
“What?” That really was a surprise. “But I thought the author was Pat Jamison.”
“He’s here incognito. Didn’t want to be mobbed by fans.” Bunny laughed. “It’s a long story, though we’ll tell you about it later. For now, Brenda has been preparing some snacks, so let’s party.”
* * *
“And then Sam came and saved me from making a complete fool of myself.” Bunny had just finished telling everyone about how she’d thought Mr. Smith was going to do away with his guest. She glanced over at Sam, who had been quiet the whole time she was telling the tale. Did he think she was just a silly old woman? His eyes still had that same sparkle of kindness.
“But how did you figure out he was the author?” Jane looked at the back of the book club book. “The photo is just really a shadow.”
