She rechecked the mirrors, and her foot hit the gas pedal, pulling abruptly from the spot. Driving it a touch too fast, her laughs echoing as her hair wiped around her face. I grinned, gripping the holy shit bar in jest—although I wasn’t worried. Even when Connor let loose, she was the most in control person I knew.
Harper
We need to think about drumming up more interest before the heavy tourist season begins,” I informed Ellery, not looking up from the notebook in front of me. I felt, rather than saw, her nod thoughtfully.
“What are you thinking?”
I chewed on my lip. “We did so well with the kids’ camp days. Maybe we should do one over the summer.” I mused. This year’s interest for our March break day camp program had been staggering, but it was a program geared to the younger kids. I glanced over to Shelly—who was stocking the new arrival table—a new idea taking shape. “Maybe we should aim towards young adult readers? We’ve got some great indie dystopian novels. We could do a summer reading challenge. We’d have to find sponsors for prizes, but I’m sure I could make that happen.”
“You’re a genius, my friend,” Ellery proclaimed, blowing me a kiss. I shook my head, rolling my eyes.
“You just keep doing what you’re doing, because the café part of this venture isthriving,” I replied, glancing over to her section. Ellery’s delicious treats and top of the line coffee drew the customers in, and from there they’d venture down aisle upon aisle of bookshelves and tables.
Since our opening two years prior, we’d had a steady flow of business between the locals and the busy tourist season.
We stocked traditional books as well as independent titles, and we catered to every reader. There were plenty of cozy reading areas for customers, and our kid zone was a popular hangout spot for little ones.
I worked with the local high school to make our day camp programs happen, offering volunteer positions to students who were looking to get their volunteer hours. They watched the kids and helped with crafts, and they would spend lunchtime in the café. Parents happily paid the package fee, which I put into more reading programs for the local schools.
This venture had been a terrifying leap of faith, and yet somehow…we were doing well. I’d managed to payback my dad for the personal loan I took out when I purchased the building with Ellery. It was the first year that we were finally in the green, which allowed me the opportunity to experiment with all the new ideas churning around inside of me.
“Ellery! We’re out of scones!” We both looked up at Holly’s frantic shout. Seeing a line of three forming behind a disgruntled looking customer, Ellery pushed away from the counter.
“Well, duty calls,” she winked, heading back to the café portion ofBooks and Brewsto help.
Chuckling, I went back to checking inventory, seeing which novels I needed to reorder, and going through the electronic list of suggestions customers had submitted. I tucked my hair behind my ear, biting my lip in concentration.
The bell over the door chimed, and I looked up. All the colour drained from my face and everything came to an abrupt halt—my heart, my breathing,time itself—as Calum Jacobs’ bright blue eyes zeroed in on me.
I drew in a breath, and my heart resumed beating in spite of itself. Eyes narrowing, I watched him linger by the door.
Steeling myself, I tilted my chin up as he approached. Each step did things to my pulse, and the mischievous grin I’d fallen so hard for hit me like a freight train. It was the grin I saw every day in the son we shared.
The son he had no clue about.
I swallowed hard, working to keep my body from trembling.He left.I thought desperately, needing the reminder. I shouldn’t be feeling guilty, and I definitely shouldn’t be having this amorous reaction to the man that had obliterated my heart and left without saying goodbye.
But I could feel the electrical charges in the air between us, like the barometric pressure change before a storm, and I was powerless against it. I was simply a causality of the storm that was Calum Jacobs.
Here’s the thing about storms; when they end, the silence is often deafening.
“Harper.” His voice was exactly how I remembered it, and my skin erupted in goosebumps. The black Henley he wore beneath his opened leather jacket stretched across his chest when he drew in a breath.
I inhaled, too, drawing in his scent. An unfamiliar cologne laced with notes of birch and black currant, bergamot, and pineapple invaded my senses. The cocktail made it impossible to think, to separate all the thoughts swirling around in my head. It was new, and it was familiar at all once.
“What—” I cut myself off, irritated that I sounded as breathless as I felt. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “What are you doing here?”
“Gramps passed away. I’m in town for the funeral.”
I blinked, sorrow settling in along with the news. “I’m really sorry to hear that.”
The sadness in his eyes painted them a deeper bluish hue that made my heart soften, temporarily drowning out the tiny voice inside my subconscious mind that protested loudly, reminding me of his betrayal.
“Yeah.” Calum nodded, his brow creasing. I could tell by the tension in his jaw that he was struggling to find words. I’d seen that same look a million times when we were together.
It was harder than I thought it’d be to hold his gaze, and my hands trembled from the effort as we stood silent, staring at each other for several long beats. I needed his words—whatever they were, and I needed them to come from him.
Calum thrived in lighthearted conversations and situations, but the moment things became complicated, he shut down. It had happened many times throughout our relationship, and it was usually after he’d had a fight with his father.
