“I want to offer you more responsibility.”
Her blonde eyebrows shoot up.
“Well, hold on.” I lift a hand. “Let me rephrase. I want to give you a raise and make your job title official for all the event promo and marketing you already do. That’s the reality of the situation.”
She stares, and I swear her eyes are misting. “Are you serious?”
“Of course. You deserve this. You’re part of the reason the store is succeeding, and you should be compensated for your work. I’m just sorry it didn’t occur to me before now.”
She waves a hand. “We were passing around ideas.”
“You’ve donea lot. I really appreciate you.”
“Okay.” She hugs me, but when she pulls back, there’s a furrow in her brow. “Will the raise negate the increase in income for the store, though?”
“No. That’s how great you’ve been. I wondered the same thing, but my dad assured me it wouldn’t.”
She does a happy dance. “I’m so happy for our little shop!”
Pride glows inside me at her use ofour. Sharing this slice of heaven hasn’t lessened my happiness. It’s only made it grow.
We head out to help Ravi open the store for the day, and I can’t help the lightness in my step. Just having all the key people I care about aware of everything in my life has released some of the tension in my mind. There’s no longer a steel door over one huge topic I feel like I shouldn’t discuss. They know everything.
And it feels great.
Dorian is sittingon the stool at the checkout desk, his laptop open to the book he’s been working on for the last few weeks. Something unlocked in his brain, and an idea for the final book in hisVanishingseries came to him, so he’s been working furiously to get his first draft out.
I’m reading the book one chapter at a time, and it’s just as good in rough format as I expected. I mean, there are a billion typos, but his editor will fix those.
“How about Thai food tonight?” he asks, not taking his eyes off the screen.
“Elena is joining us, and Harper’s too picky for Thai.”
“I can make something,” he offers.
“Just work on your masterpiece. I’ll cook tonight.”
He trains his gaze on me, giving me a lazy smile. I’m caught in his eyes. “You’ve worked all day.”
“So have you.”
“So we’ll cook together.”
“That worked outsooowell last time.”
He laughs. “Fine. You can take care of dinner tonight.”
Maybe we shouldn’t be spending every day together, but we’ve only been dating for a month, and so far we aren’t sick of each other yet. In fact, I’m pretty sure all this time together has only confirmed that we’re pretty much soulmates.
I haven’t told him that, though. I don’t want to freak him out.
The front door opens, and I frame a customer-service grin on my face. “Welcome to Piper’s Books!”
The woman in the doorway looks surprised to find us at the desk. Or maybe she’s just surprised to find Dorian here. But not as surprised as I am to see her.
Hannah Brandt.
“Hey,” I say, standing. “How can I help you?”
