It wasn’t instantaneous, of course. These women had history together, had been friends for a long time. Even with Eleanor, the relative newcomer, Winnie could see how the others had formulated a kind of shorthand for communicating.
But it was a start. And it felt good.
Eventually, Winnie felt free to laugh a little more, smile a with a touch less self-consciousness. She didn’t realize it until she was chuckling wryly at a story June was telling about a diner customer’s antics, but then it hit her.
She wasn’t trying to fit in. She was just being herself. And it was going well.
This, apparently, was what friendship was like. True friendship, not the mere acceptance she had been chasing all these years.
Eleanor handed her another glass of wine, and Winnie impulsively clinked her glass against their hosts. Eleanorreturned the gesture as if they had done so a thousand times before.
Winnie bit her lip to hide her smile. She was so, so glad that she had come. She even felt brave enough to let herself hope that this was the start of something new and wonderful.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Eleanor was finishing a few last-minute odds and ends for the grand opening of her bookstore, which was slated for about a week and a half away…
Or at least that was what she was telling herself.
In reality, what she was doing was puttering around looking for excuses to bring herself near the window so she could look to see if the delivery truck was finally,finallybringing her bookshelf.
She wasn’t sure if this was better or worse than constantly refreshing the tracking app on her phone, but she’d left the device across the room specifically to make that harder for herself, so this was what she was going with, apparently.
She forced herself to fuss with a display, one that made her turn her back to the door. That meant that, when she heard the door open, she jumped halfway out of her skin. She whipped around and was inexplicably disappointed to see that it was Garrett.
Which was silly. It wasn’t like the delivery people would come straight in the door. They would knock.
“Wow,” Garrett said with a teasing smile. “I bring you decorations and this is how you look at seeing me, huh? That’s not what you want to see from your girlfriend, for sure.”
Eleanor rolled her eyes at herself and shook her head.
“I’m sorry, honey,” she said, pulling a face as she crossed to help him with the last few things she had to put up. These included little cards called “shelf talkers” where she could give staff recommendations on books that she had loved. Miriam, even though she had no plans of being an employee at the store, was putting up a strong fight for why she should be allowed to recommend things too.
“Age and wisdom, Eleanor!” she insisted whenever the topic arose. “I have age and wisdom, and don’t you forget it!”
“It’s not that I’m disappointed with you at all, obviously,” Eleanor said to Garrett now, taking the box from him and setting it on the front counter. “It’s just?—”
“Your bookshelf,” he said reassuringly before leaning down to buss a kiss against her cheek. “I know. Still nothing?”
“Still nothing,” she sighed, then stole a peek out the front window over Garrett’s shoulder.
“I’m not sure staring out there is going to make it come any faster,” he said. His joking words were undercut by the reassuring hand he placed on her shoulder. “Try to relax, if you can. You’re making yourself crazy worrying over it.”
“Ugh, I know.” She leaned her forehead against his shoulder, loving how his arms instantly came around her. “I just… the bookshelf is my centerpiece, and the whole thing is starting to feel like a myth. Last night, I caught myself checking the order to make sure I’d actually purchased the thing! I did, by the way,” she added with a slightly self-deprecating chuckle.
“It’s stressful,” Garrett agreed. “All this work that you’re doing to make things look nice have been making me glad that I have a hardware store. Nobody expects their hardware storeto look fancy. You just have to make sure the screws are labeled right and everybody is good to go.”
“Well, don’tbrag,” she chided halfheartedly.
He rubbed her back consolingly.
“Have you at least heard from your brother?” he asked. When she groaned in reply, he gave a wince, that suggested that he hadn’t realized this was the wrong thing to say.
“I’m excited to hear from him,” Eleanor hastily explained.
She had texted a little bit with Shane earlier in the week, and he had indicated that he was leaning a lot more strongly toward taking a break off work and coming to Magnolia Shore. He had told her that he just needed a little more time to organize the details, but that he would let her know about his plans just as soon as he firmed them up.
“I really want him to come, obviously,” she went on. “But right now, the waiting to hear… it feels like just one more thing that’s hanging over my head. Does that sound terrible of me?”
