He looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon. “Well, yeah. Going indie probably won’t change that if she maintains her connections. Anyway, she’d be crazy not to publish her own books, considering she has all this built-in support. I haven’t told her so, but I probably will before I leave. She might not have thought of it.”
Lani wasn’t sure how much longer she could stand there listening to Irving’s claptrap. Then Angie came out on the porch loaded down with blankets. “Hey, Sara, Angie’s got the?—.”
“Blankets! Right! Sorry, Irv, we gotta run.” Sara wasn’t kidding. She race-walked as she headed for the porch.
Lani jogged to catch up with her. “Indie publishing indeed,” she muttered.
Sara slowed down. “He’s late to the party. Desiree’s already thought of it and she may give it a try.”
“Huh. She made a reference to it yesterday but I didn’t think she was serious.”
“Now that she’s uncloaked herself, her publisher wants to send her around to bookstores. She’d rather have readers come to her, which is the whole point of the M.R. Morrison tours.”
“I can see the appeal, for her anyway. Rance shouldn’t go that route, though.” She shifted her attention to Angie, who wasn’t moving very fast. “That’s a big-ass pile of blankets, girlfriend!”
“I won’t lie. They’re heavier than I expected.” She paused to catch her breath as they approached. “Mom’s a big fan of wool.”
“I thought you’d never come out.” Sara relieved her of several. “We got stuck with Irving.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We survived.” Lani took her share and they set off for the flatbed. “That man is a piece of work, though.”
“That’s what everybody says.”
“Oh, and get this,” Sara added. “He thinks L’Amour and More is the perfect little venue for your mom’s books, a place where she can dominate the front window since she owns the store.”
Angie laughed. “Then he’s been in there. He must have been shocked to discover that Lucky doesn’t have any of his books.”
“I think he’d reframe it,” Lani said. “Lucky doesn’t have his books because they fly off the shelves and Lucky can’t keep up with the demand.”
Sara nodded. “That sounds about right. So Angie, how did you get along with Adam Bridger?”
“Very charismatic. Mom took to him right away and vice-versa. She and Lucky are stoked about turning a Victorian into a bookshop. Trent’s ready to sink his teeth into a new marketingchallenge. But if the state doesn’t fix that treacherous road, we’d burn a lot of hours going the long way.”
“Then I hope they get on that road project. Kieran’ssoexcited about working on a Victorian and being part of creating Lucky’s third bookshop.”
“I could tell. Kendall didn’t make it into town to meet Adam, but she’s all for it, too, especially if the road gets fixed.”
A twinge of envy caught Lani by surprise. Opening a branch of L’Amour and More in an old Victorian sounded like fun, especially because so many family members would be involved. Locally owned bookshops were a passion she shared with the McLintocks.
She couldn’t be in the thick of the planning and executing of the new venture, but she’d have to be okay with that. As she’d learned years ago, saying yes to one thing meant saying no to something else.
Or someone else. Saying no to Rance was tough — tougher than anything she’d ever done in her life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Rance sat on a hay bale on the opposite side of the flatbed from Lani. She’d buddied up with Sara, Keiran and Beau, which was good. Originally he’d planned to fake a sore throat to get out of this caroling gig entirely, but he’d made the mistake of telling Granny.
She’d reacted in typical Granny fashion —Shame on ya, boyo! Ya promised never ta lie ta her again.
Technically he would have been lying to his mother, but Granny had pointed out that his mom would tell everyone, including Lani, that he had a sore throat, which would result in Lani being lied to, after all.
So here he was, and to make the event extra special, Irving chose to occupy his hay bale. Might have been smart to wait until the guy had taken a seat. Instead he’d prioritized grabbing one the minute Lani had settled on her spot next to Beau. Staying far away from both Lani and Irving had proved to be a tactical impossibility.
“She’s stunning.”
Rance almost responded with an innocent-soundingwho. He thought better of it. Irving was a waste of space, but he wasalso a writer, and writers paid attention. Living with his mother had taught him that.
