“Are you kidding?” Courtney said, as her mother held out her coat and Courtney slid an arm into a sleeve. “That one woman practically sat in your lap. And how about the one who took about thirty-seven photos?” She met Jenna’s gaze. “Did you see her? Even after Lily signed her book and had moved on, she still stood there, snapping away.”
Marina laughed as Lily shook her head with a smile. “She’s used to that,” Marina said. “People want to be close to her.” She held Lily’s coat for her. “Right,bella? I don’t blame them.”
“There’s one at every signing,” Jenna said, and it was true.
“Or five,” Shane muttered, but with a grin.
Sawyer donned her own coat and met Jenna’s gaze. “I’ll get these two out of your hair, but thanks for letting us hang.”
Jenna waved a dismissive hand as both Courtney and Ally nodded and gave her their thanks as well. “I’m just so glad you all came,” she said as she hugged them both. Giving Sawyer a little wave, she stood there as the door closed behind them. She turned the sign from Open to Closed and watched as they moved down the street and out of sight.
“Was that a sigh?” Lily asked, and Jenna turned to her, surprised.
“That was most definitely a sigh,” Marina agreed.
“She sighs like that all the time after she’s around that one,” Delia said, and Jenna whipped her head around to look at her traitorous employee in shock. “What? It’s true.” Delia shrugged.
“There’s definitely something there,” Lily said, waving a finger toward the door. She was cleaning off the signing table, straightening the remaining books and gathering her cup and pens.
“Stop it,” Jenna said, taking things out of her hands. “You do not clean up. You’re the guest.”
Lily looked at Marina. “She’s ignoring the subject.”
“Absolutely, she is,” Marina agreed.
Jenna could feel the heat climbing up her neck from her chest as she threw things in the trash and moved Lily’s cup over near the Crock-Pot for washing. When she turned back, all four of the remaining people in the shop were looking at her. “What? I’m not sighing on purpose, okay?”
“Well, I wouldn’t blame you if you were,” Lily said, hooking her hand through Marina’s arm. “She’s gorgeous, and you two have some serious chemistry going on.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “We do?”
Dee snorted a laugh as Lily and Marina both nodded. “Yeah. Big time.”
Jenna looked at Dee. “You think so, too?”
“I have eyes, don’t I?” Delia was never one to sugarcoat anything. Jenna remembered that from school. Then Dee addressed Lily and Marina. “Did you guys know that she lives next door? In the other side of Jenna’s duplex?”
Jenna watched as Lily’s mouth dropped open. “No.”
“Yup.” Delia hit some buttons on the computer to tally up the night. “Just a wall separates them. One measly wall.”
Lily stepped close to Jenna and wrapped an arm around her. “Sweetie, I am a romance writer, and I couldn’t come up with something more perfectly romantic.”
Was it her gentle tone? Her choice of words? Jenna wasn’t sure, but whatever it was about Lily Chambers in that moment, it relaxed her, made her lose the edginess and the defensiveness and just breathe. She felt her shoulders lower under Lily’s arm, and she simply nodded. “Yeah.” She couldn’t get into more, she didn’t have the ability. How could she explain something she didn’t quite understand herself? Sawyer was not somebody she’d liked…initially. And now?
Well. Yeah.
Now.
She sighed again, and that made Lily laugh and wrap her up in a full, two-armed hug. “You are by far my favorite bookseller, Jenna Murphy. I’m so happy I got to spend time in your shop again.” She let go and held Jenna at arm’s length. “Speaking of which, I need about a dozen of those candles.” She pointed behind the front counter. “They smell amazing.”
“Don’t they? I have another shipment due in next week.”
Lily pulled out her phone. “I’m making a note to place an order.”
Marina leaned close. “Bella, we’ve got to go if we’re going to meet your Chloe for dinner.”
“My niece,” Lily said by way of explanation, then gave Jenna one more hug.
