Britt grumbled about unadventurous customers as she reached for the chosen turtle.
Nikki worked for Nora as the office manager of Merryweather Historical Village. She’d been widowed twice, dressed her curvaceous figure in clothes reminiscent of her ’80s heyday, and was one of Britt’s most regular customers.
Today she’d caught the sides of her dyed brown hair into abarrette, sprayed her bangs, and let the permed strands corkscrew around her shoulders.
“Don’t mind Britt’s grumbling,” Maddie said from her position at the cash register, where she’d recently finished ringing up a newlywed couple with a fondness for white chocolate macadamia popcorn. “Britt has always been too impatient with routine for her own good.”
Maddie, Britt’s high-school-friend-turned-employee, ran the business side of the shop. She waited on customers, managed the online store, handled accounting, ordered supplies, organized their weekend staff, and more.
“Nikki,” Britt said sweetly, “do you want a job here at Sweet Art? Maddie’s position is about to become available.”
Nikki released a throaty guffaw. “You don’t want me working here, believe you me. I’d become distracted every time a halfway decent-looking man walked in. Why do you think Nora keeps me shut away upstairs at the Library on the Green like I’m some kind of nun or a person with an infectious disease? Which I’m not!”
“The nun or the person with an infectious disease?”
“Neither!”
“Speaking of halfway decent-looking men... Have you seen Zander since he got back into town?” Maddie asked Nikki.
“Mercy, yes. I happened to be in the office the other day when Zander stopped by to say hello to Nora.” Nikki hadn’t paid yet, a truth that didn’t stop her from extracting the turtle from its bag and taking a bite. She moaned while chewing. “Zander’s always had a special place in my heart. He’s so somber and watchful! He reminds me of a Dickens orphan. Tragic and brooding and gorgeous.”
Britt couldn’t wait to tell Zander that Nikki had likened him to a Dickens orphan.
“Those tattoos on his arms make me wonder about the tattoos Ican’t see,” Nikki said.
Britt’s eyebrows sailed upward.
Nikki grinned. “The tattoos on hisupper arms, I mean!” Shethrew a balled napkin at Britt. “If I can’t have Zander for myself—because, let’s face it—he might be a little too young for me...”
If Nikki’s “a little” meant thirty years, then she was right on the money.
“...then I’d like for him to end up with you, Britt,” Nikki finished. “When you bottle your sassiness, you’re actually not half bad.”
“Yes!” Maddie exclaimed. The gold highlights in her brunette curls caught the light. “Thank you.”
“Are you thanking her for labeling me as not half bad?” Britt asked.
“I’m thanking her for agreeing with my belief that you and Zander should end up together.”
Britt made a dismissive sound. Why couldn’t people accept that a man and woman could be friends?Justfriends? Over the years many, many people had suggested that she date Zander. Maddie had been advocating for it for eons, and Britt sensed that her sisters would jump on the bandwagon, too, if she gave them a chance.
It irked her, because they all seemed to think that dating a man was superior to friendship with a man, when Britt’s experience had confirmed the opposite.
From the day she’d met Zander, with his reserved personality encased in hard-to-know armor, she’d wanted him as her friend.
Perhaps because boyfriends were so transient and so ... fluffy. Ultimately, inconsequential.
Perhaps because, as fun as it was to feel sexually drawn to someone, she hadn’t felt sexually drawn to Zander at the start. There had been some exceptions to that since. But why dwell on the exceptions when they only proved the rule? She and Zander were friends. That’s how they thought of each other. That was their dynamic. And their dynamic had been in place, unchanged and unbreakable, for a long, long time.
She trusted him. She appreciated every facet of him. She both liked him and loved him. And all of that, all the things shedidfeel—trumped lust. Friendship wasn’t a consolation prize. It wasn’t less than. It wasn’t second best!
“Is Zander hiding back there in the kitchen by chance?” Nikki asked. “I could use a little pick-me-up.”
“Nope, he’s not here.” More’s the pity. Time passed much more slowly when Zander wasn’t around. “I’m not in the habit of stashing men in my kitchen, FYI.”
“Maybe weshouldget in the habit of that,” Maddie suggested. “I’ll gladly volunteer Leo for the position.”
For more than three months, Maddie had been dating handsome history professor Leo Donnelly.
