“This house is amazing, Cal!” She exclaimed when she saw me, her eyes bright with excitement. “I’m so happy for you and sogladyou’re moving back home.” She added, wrapping her arms around me in a hug.
“Thanks, little sis. Now, do you wanna tell me why you’re so cranky?”
Connor stiffened in my arms and stepped back, a false smile in place. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, kept stressing about my placement.”
“Still haven’t heard back?” I frowned.
“Yeah, I’m sure I will soon. But, anyway…I don’t want to talk about it right now. It just stresses me out.”
“Mom thinks its boy trouble,” I commented. Connor’s smile froze, and she laughed uncomfortably.
“It’s not.” She deadpanned, glancing past me to watch Mom climb the stairs. I didn’t know if I believed her, but I let it go.
“Okay, later then,” I said, perplexed by her skittishness. But our mother had joined us in the hallway, and Connor’s smile was suddenly bright and unaffected.
“Mom, you’re going tolovethe size of these bedrooms—even the smallest one is big! And the closets.”
I took them on a tour, showing them the bedrooms upstairs. The master bedroom was on the west side of the house, overlooking the water. The two smaller guest rooms were beside it, and the full bathroom across the hall. Finally…we came to what was going to be Asher’s bedroom.
This bedroom was the second largest on the west side of the house. Its large bay window overlooked the driveway and wooded area one acre from the road. It was in there the three of us stopped.
“Oh! I’ll be right back! I forgot something in the car.” Connor exclaimed before darting back down the hall and stairs, leaving Mom and me alone. Mom paused to inspect the closet space before walking to the bay window and glancing out over the yard.
“So? What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful, Calum. I love the property, too. It’s a great place to raise a family.”
I nodded; it was the main reason why this house had won me over. The exterior was beautifully done; the wrap around porch was well constructed, and the landscaping surrounding the house was breathtaking. The inside needed a little modernizing, but the bones were good.
Harper
With the pending book signing hours away, I had no choice but to stay on course. I moved through my checklist with a meticulous focus that had intimidated and inspired my shadow, Shelly.
Earlier that morning, we had moved some displays over and set up a table near the front window of the bookstore. Shelly helped me lay out the crisp white table cloth and arrange Janessa’s books in small stacks. I’d already placed barcode stickers and cataloged each book. All Janessa had to do was sign them. Our store took 5%, but the author made money off each sale.
I forced myself to take a break for lunch, meeting Cal and the guys at the diner. I’d hoped getting a little fix of him would help me refocus, and it had, but now that the event was a little over two hours away, I was growing more nervous by the second.
Janessa Wentworth was a well-known local author, and it wasn’t her first time signing in our bookstore. In the past week, the engagement for each social media ad I’d put out about the event had exploded.
In fact…all of the things I’d posted on social media had garnered way more attention than usual. OurBooks & Brewsaccounts had been tagged a few times by customers, and some of those posts had included blurry photos of Cal in the shop, tagging him, too.
Then, the adorable photos snapped by the owners of Oscar, the duck tolling retriever, who tagged Calum and ended up in a Buzzfeed article that went viral.
I was in the pictures with him, which meant I went viral, too. Madelyn had managed to capture four adorable shots of Oscar loving on us. Even though the way he’s looking at me in those photos made me swoon, seeing them splayed out everywhere for everyone to see was unsettling.
I hadn’t realized the extent of things until I’d gotten to work that morning and actually opened up our page. The past few days, I’d been avoiding my phone and the rest of the world, content to just live in the moment and not overthink the consequences.
With the articles jumping up about Cal’s mystery woman, and worse, the ones regurgitating his escapades over the last almost decade, I couldn’t ignore the ramifications any longer. The past still hurt, even if the present was good…even if the future was bright.
Setting my phone down on the small shelf beneath the till I forced myself to take another look around the shop. We were about as ready as we were going to be for this event. Ellery was upstairs, using her incredible kitchen to bake more goods for the event, while Holly tended to their small flow of customers. Shelly was sweeping between the aisles of bookshelves. In one hour, the shop would close to the public, and those with tickets would be able to get in for the after-hours event.
There were a few people browsing for new reads right now, and just as I was about to go help them out—the shop door opened, and Raina Parsons stomped over with an angry, almost hurt look on her face.
“What thehellis this, Harper?” She demanded sharply, throwing down a thick white envelope onto the counter between us. Her pale blue eyes swirled with anger, and for the briefest, strangest moment—I was reminded of Calum and Asher.
“An envelope?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah, it’s an envelope—of money.A lotof money. Ten grand to be exact. Andyourboyfriend is the one who left it in my apartment.”
