“Well, don’t let me keep you late,” Diana said. “I really just came in to ask if you’re already all full up with clients. My books have, uh, kind of gotten away from me.”
“Not at all,” he said, and relief coursed through her.Professionalrelief. Not because she liked talking to him and wanted more reason to do so. “I can fit you in next week, if that works for your schedule.”
“The sooner the better,” she told him. “And seriously, prepare yourself for some mess.”
“I will get it all squared away,” he promised. “How about I come over to your shop on Monday and you run me through everything? Then, I’ll take the info that I need, work through things, and get back to you on what I need from you. Sometimesthat’s nothing, to be honest. Sometimes it’s more information. Then, we can talk about what you want to do going forward. For example, are you hoping to hire me, or an accountant in general, for the long term? Or just someone to sort out the mess and then you’ll take it over?”
“Long term, I think,” she said. “I can’t add it to my plate without just turning it all into a mess again.”
“Perfect,” he said. “I’ll come by around eleven-ish?”
“Perfect,” she echoed. There was a beat in which they were just smiling at one another, not saying anything, before Diana grew suddenly bashful and ducked her head.
An idea suddenly occurred to her.
“You know,” she said. “I think I have a box of my old books kicking around in my attic somewhere. If Eloise wanted, and if you were okay with it, I could lend some to her. You know, just to carry her over until Eleanor’s bookstore is officially open.” She shrugged. “I know there’s always the library, but sometimes it’s nice just to have extras around.”
“Are you kidding?” Anthony beamed. “Yeah, she’d love that! Thank you so much! Hey, El?” His daughter looked up from her book, although her finger hovered over her spot on the page, as if she wanted to be certain not to lose her place. “Diana said she has some books from when she was around your age. Do you want to borrow some?”
This was enough to make Eloise toss aside her book, leap to her feet, and throw her arms around Diana. Startled, Diana stood stock-still for a moment before returning the gesture.
“Sorry,” Anthony said with a chuckle. “Sometimes when we get excited, we forget toask people before hugging them.” He tapped Eloise’s shoe with his own for emphasis.
Immediately the girl released Diana. “Right. Sorry. Ms. Diana, can I hug you?”
“You definitely can,” Diana said before accepting another squeeze.
“Oh,” Eloise added. “And thank you one million, because that’s the coolest thing ever. If I read the books, can we talk about them after? Daddy’s the slowest reader in the world, so he never can read enough books to talk about them.”
“Hey!” Anthony protested. “I’m not the slowest in theworld.”
In the world, Eloise mouthed at Diana, nodding as if this was the most serious affliction a man could face.
Anthony reached out and ruffled her hair, which made Eloise duck away with a laugh.
“I would love to talk about them with you,” Diana said. “You might have to refresh my memory in some places, but we can definitely chat, as long as it’s okay with your dad.”
Anthony gave Diana a soft look that made her stomach flutter a little.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” he said.
Diana suddenly felt bashful, nervous.
“Okay, great,” she said. “I’ll have those books when you come to the store, then. Eloise, it was great meeting you. Anthony, I’ll see you next week. Bye!”
Father and daughter called goodbye after her as she left the office. Diana hurried away. She’d liked Eloise a lot. She liked Anthony a lot. Enough that it left a little knot of nerves in her chest.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought that little knot might actually be better calledhope.
CHAPTER TEN
“Hi, hi, sorry I’m late,” Eleanor said rapidly as she approached Diana at Juniper Café. “I want to say that I have a good reason, but actually, I just got distracted looking at my beautiful bookshop-to-be.”
Diana laughed. “That’s a very good reason!” she said. “And you’re completely fine. I just got here maybe two minutes ago.”
“Okay, phew,” Eleanor said. She headed up to the counter and quickly ordered herself an iced honeycomb latte, a drink she’d recently become enamored with due to how it was very possibly the most delicious thing she had ever drank in her whole life. Whoever came up with the drinks at Juniper Café was a bona fide genius.
“Anyway,” she said to Diana when she returned to her seat, delicious beverage clutched happily between her hands, “how is everything? How have you been in the… five days since we’ve seen one another?” she ended with a laugh.
