Her phone buzzed in her back pocket again, and she pulled it out as she headed back up to the kitchen. A notification from her blog. She’d posted it a few days ago, so most of the commenting had eased up, but she’d still get a few here and there as traffic hit her site. She clicked to see the comment.
Why? Why do you have to crap on something that other people love? What do you get from doing that? So you don’t like reading romance. That’s fine, it’s your prerogative. But other people do, and you mocking them for it is just childish. Grow up.
“Well, okay then.” Obviously, it wasn’t the first time she’d received a comment that disagreed with her—that was par for the course—but she was pretty sure nobody’d ever called her childish before. The comment came from somebody who called themselves “Romance BookLover.” “So creative,” she said with a slight eye roll. Ah, well. Life of a blogger. Nature of the business. Came with the territory.
Before she could dwell on it any longer, a text message buzzed through.
Walk thru done? All good?It was Colton Reeves, her coworker and the person she was closest to aside from her sister.
All good. There now.She held up the phone and snapped a photo of the kitchen to send with the text.
Bangin!he sent back, and Sawyer laughed. “Dude, it’s a kitchen,” she whispered, but still appreciated his excitement.Text me the address again.She did.BTWs, I hate when you leave me here alone. SO BORING.
She grinned as she typed, eternally grateful for the goofy friendship they shared. Colton could always make her laugh.I’ll try not to let it happen again.
SEE THAT YOU DON’T.
She laughed again.
Hoping at least one of your movers is hot…
Shaking her head at his comments was a regular occurrence, and she typed,…and gay?
He sent a laughing emoji.Oh, honey, they’re only straight until they’re not.
They finished their conversation, confirmed times, and signed off. Sawyer pocketed the keys David Oliver had given her and took one last look around before she headed for the front door.
“Until tomorrow, new house. We’re gonna be good together.”
Chapter Three
Business always started to pick up in the fall.
People buying Christmas gifts for others or for themselves, or simply stocking up on books to read once the weather turned and the snow fell, and being home, all tucked up and warm with something to read, was the best thing in the world.
Jenna switched hours with Delia every other Saturday, and this weekend was her turn to open. Normal hours were ten to seven, but she tended to go in early. Her favorite time in BookLove—aside from when it was packed full of customers—was when she was there alone. The smell of the books, being surrounded by all that sexy love and desire just spilling off the pages…it did things to her. Good things. Most of those early mornings were spent doing paperwork, placing orders, reading reviews and notes on upcoming releases, but once in a while, she’d simply wander. Stroll around her little bookshop slowly, run her fingertips along the spines of the books. Sometimes, she’d even pull one off the shelf, sit in the little lounge area, and read a chapter or two. Could be a brand-new novel. Could be an old classic. She’d lost track of how many times she’d readPride and Prejudice.
BookLove was definitely her happy place. She could think of no other place where she felt more alive, more like herself, than at her little bookshop, and she knew just how very lucky that made her.
A look at her watch told her the date, and she realized she hadn’t called her parents in over a week. With a sigh, she headed back up to the counter, found her cell, and dialed. It rang three times before her mom answered with what sounded like an irritated “Yes? Hello?”
“Hi, Mom. It’s Jenna.”
“Hello.”
“Just calling to say hi, see how you and Dad are doing.”
“Your father is coming down with a cold.” As if on cue, she heard the trumpeting sound from her youth that was her dad blowing his nose.
“Oh no. Do you need anything?”
“Nathan is going to the store for us.” Her brother was taking care of it; she wasn’t needed. Simple and to the point.
Jenna stifled a sigh. “Okay, that’s good. Just remember that I’m closer, and because I’m the boss here, I can leave more easily than Nate can.” She kept a smile in her voice so her mom wouldn’t think she was trying to tell her what to do.
“Yes.”
Yes? What does that mean?“Things are good here,” she said, because if she waited for prompting, she’d turn old and wrinkled on this call. “Business is good. Got some signings coming up. You should stop by next time you and Dad are out and about.”
