“It totally was,” Cadence corrected.
Eleanor and Miriam, the two who hadn’t been present, listened, rapt, as Diana explained how their appetizers had gotten mixed up, and then, with the restaurant so crowded, they’d been forced to let Anthony sit at their table.
Every member of the book club except Diana had to bite back a smile when Diana used the wordforced.
“So you see?” Diana concluded. “Just a random run-in. He and I probably won’t ever see one another again.”
“Yeah,” June said, sighing dramatically. “That’s probably true. Since, you know, we live in a ginormous city with lots and lots of people, and you and this guy are definitely not both small business owners. Not that it would matter if you were, because of how giant and big our city is.”
“Okay,” Diana said, pointing at June, “you make it sound like Magnolia Shore is a postage stamp. It’s a decent sized town!”
“It worked for comedic effect,” Miriam told June. “Diana just is currently not in a position to appreciate your rhetorical maneuvering.”
Diana stuck her tongue petulantly out at both her friends, who laughed in unison.
“But wait,” Eleanor said as an idea occurred to her. “Forget about seeing this guy again socially.”
“Um, no,” Cadence interjected, but Eleanor waved her off.
“Or do whatever you want in that regard. What I meant was, weren’t you just telling me that you were looking for somebody new to help out with your books? This guy seems like he’d be perfect for that.”
For a moment, Diana’s cheeks flushed bright red and this, more than anything else from the conversation, told Eleanor how her friendreallyfelt about the handsome accountant she’d met at Anchor Bistro.
“Oh, no,” Diana said hastily, clearly flustered. “I, uh, I can figure out all that by myself. I don’t need help from Anthony… or from anyone!” she added.
This was not remotely convincing, but the whole group of friends seemed to instinctively realize that if they tried to push any harder, it would upset Diana. And while teasing one another was fun, they didn’t want to actually hurt their friend, who had a lot of complex feelings when it came to her dating potential.
“We’ll file that under ‘to revisit later,’” June told Diana, laying a hand on her arm. “But for now, we’ll stop bugging you. Let’s talk books?”
“Let’s talk books,” Eleanor agreed.
The group settled into their discussion of the cozy mystery they’d read for this session, leaving Eleanor with a pervasive sense of peace. It was hard to imagine a life better than this or friends better than these. Even so, she knew, with the opening of her bookstore on the horizon, that there were even more wonderful things to come.
CHAPTER SIX
“Anthony, hi!”
Anthony looked up from his computer and saw… well, he saw what appeared to be a talking gift basket, although a moment later a woman with a wild head of curls that were more silver than blonde peeked around the enormous offering.
“I’m Mary from Country Corner Market, your meeting for this morning.” Anthony hastened to his feet and took the basket from the woman’s arms. “Thanks. Anyway, as I was saying, thanks for squeezing me in. As you see, I couldn’t resist putting together a little something to welcome you to town.”
“Little?” he echoed dubiously before he could think better of it. Then, remembering his manners, he said, “Sorry. What I meant to say there was ‘thank you, that’s so kind,’ but it came out all wrong.”
The woman laughed and patted his arm in a grandmotherly kind of way.
“Don’t you worry about it,” she reassured him. “You moved here from a city, right? I’m a Magnolia Shore native, but my husband was born in New York City, and he has told me that our welcome wagon is ‘a little alarming’ to city folk.” She madeair quotes around the words, although her grin said she wasn’t really annoyed by them.
“I’ll admit that it’s a little different than what I’m used to,” he chuckled. “But very kind nonetheless.”
“Well, don’t get too excited,” she warned him. “I heard that you have a little girl, and my granddaughters have kept me informed on what’s cool amongst kids these days, so most if it isn’t for you.”
“In that case, double thank you,” he said. “Not only for the gesture but for giving me a chance to be the cool dad.”
For the next hour or so, Anthony went over the documents that Mary had sent to him the week prior, and which he’d reviewed in detail in the previous few days. Her accounts were, he was pleased to note, mostly in order, although he had caught a few places where managerial tweaks would save the market a good chunk of change over time.
“You have no idea how much of a help this is,” Mary said gratefully when they had finished going over her information. “My husband is the one with the head for numbers, but he’s looking to take a step back for a little while before retiring fully.”
“But not you?” he asked.
