Eleanor frowned harder. She didn’t like the sound of that.
“You work too hard,” she told him.
She was even more concerned when, instead of laughing off her concern as he usually did, Shane just sighed again.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he admitted. “I’ve been feeling it lately, to be honest. The long hours, the high stress. I’m a bit burned out.”
Even beneath her pang of worry, Eleanor felt a flicker of gratitude. When she’d gotten divorced, and she had been thinking through how to have a career for the first time in decades, she had worried she would end up in the kind of job that felt like a slog, like an anchor that held her back from the greater things in life. But standing here, in her almost finished bookstore, she was reminded that she could never feel that way about the career she had built for herself. She would be working with books and putting them in the hands of the Magnolia Shore readers who were destined to love them. What job could be better than that?
She wished fervently that her brother could find a job that made him feel that way. He had felt that way about programming once, she knew, so it wasn’t the work itself that was getting him down. No, it was everythingaroundthe work: the unsupportive bosses, the demanding clients, thego go goof the tech world.
Still, she gave him a little crossed fingers for luck.
“Is there anything you can do to give yourself a break?” she asked. She knew such things were often easier said than done.
“Yeah, maybe,” her brother admitted thoughtfully. “I do have a ton of vacation days saved up, because every time I take any time off, I come back to so much work that it hardly feels worth it. But maybe I should use a whole bunch of my time, get out of my headspace… and my office space. Change things up.”
What kind of sister would Eleanor be if she let a chance like that slip her by?
“Come visit Magnolia Shore!” she said immediately. “I have a guest room; it’s not big, and it’s not fancy, but it’s got a good bed with your name on it. You could meet Garrett, and my new friends, and see the bookstore, and?—”
“What I’m reading in your tone,” Shane interrupted with a laugh, “is that you don’t really want me to come. You’re just being polite, yeah? There’s not much for me to do in your new hometown at all, right?”
Shane couldn’t see her, but Eleanor stuck out her tongue at him anyway, confident that he would sense the spirit of this gesture even over the phone.
“Yeah, yeah, so I’m a little excited about the idea,” she admitted. “But seriously, it would be so much fun! I know it sounds like there’s not that much going on here, but really, it’s nice. I think it would be a great change of pace for you.”
“I was just teasing; it sounds like a great idea, actually,” he said. “I don’t really feel like I have my head on straight about what I want to do quite yet, but I’ll take it under advisement.”
“Deal,” Eleanor agreed, making a mental note to pester him until he gave in. Shane so rarely took any time off work, or even indicated a willingness to do so, that she got to see him way less often than she would have liked. His saying that he would maybe come was a huge step for him.
And, she thought, worry creeping back in, a sign that things reallywerestressful at work.
“Anyway,” Shane went on, “tell me all about how the bookstore is coming. Spare no detail.”
“You sure?” she asked. She loved talking about the bookstore, of course, but she didn’t want to rub it in Shane’s face that things were going so well with her right when his career was proving to be a raincloud hanging over his head.
“One hundred percent,” he said. “Regale me. Remind me that not all jobs are huge pains in the butt.”
“Well, don’t get your hopes uptoohigh,” she said, “because I am about to complain alot. You see, I ordered thisgorgeousbookshelf to be the centerpiece of my display, and it was supposed to arrive like four days ago now. I’ll give you one guess where it isn’t standing right now?”
He pretended to think about it. “Hm. I am pretty certain that it isnotin your bookstore.”
“Got it in one,” she said, then launched into a retelling of her saga with the shipping company. It was technically complaining, as she’d said, but she tried to make it humorous rather than truly irritated, as she suspected that her brother needed a good laugh.
Indeed, by the time she got to the end of her story, with a few details about the things that were going well peppered in just for some variety, Shane was chuckling and sounded overall as though his spirits were much lighter.
“You poor thing,” he said, with a commiserating tone. “Speaking of poor things though, it’s time for me to head off to my meeting. Send good vibes that it will be over quickly.”
“Sending one million good thoughts,” she assured him. “Go knock their socks off… and then google flights to Magnolia Shore!”
He laughed. “You’re incorrigible. I’ll seriously consider it. Promise. Love you, sis.”
“Love you too, little brother,” she told him before hanging up.
After getting off the phone, Eleanor looked around her little shop with new eyes. She had vented a lot of hot air when speaking with her brother, but it had reminded her that opening a bookstore was an enormously complicated endeavor. She was so lucky to have the opportunity, she knew, but…
But she’d been a stay-at-home parent for over twenty years! Was it crazy to think that she could manage a business entirely by herself?
