Happy.
And he hadn’t even made it to his sister yet.
He was absolutely, one hundred percentnotgoing to tell her how right she had been, though. They might be grown, Ellie with a grown child of her own, but he would always be her little brother. It was just the principle of the thing.
He kept walking, his pace making it more of a stroll than anything else, pausing to look at this and that as he went. It was only when he caught himself looking at the properties advertised at Sunrise Realty that he shook his head at his own self-indulgence. Of all the things he should be spending time looking at, real estate was the last choice. It wasn’t as though he was staying, after all. He might have found a cute bakery and some charming dogs, but a town like this wouldn’t hold a city guy like him, not for the long term.
He pulled away from the cheerful flyers showing adorable seaside properties for sale or for rent, then continued the rest of the walk to Eleanor’s bookstore.
His first sight of the place made him grin broadly. It was the perfect fit for his sister, with its cheery shutters and window boxes overflowing with flowers. The front door opened as he watched, and a little kid with an armful of books skipped out, followed by what had to be her grandparents, who looked happy and indulgent as they walked arm in arm.
It was idyllic, like something out of a movie. And Shane was thrilled. His sister deserved every bit of this happiness and more.
If he lingered out here much longer though, his surprise was going to be ruined.
He went in through the business entrance, reflecting that it was extremely nice, for the purposes of surprises, to have a door that was open to the public.
Inside, there were perhaps a half dozen customers milling about, which Shane thought was probably a pretty good showing for a weekday afternoon at a small local bookshop. He peered around the browsers, some of whom gave his suitcase a brief, quizzical glance before returning to their perusal.
And then he saw Eleanor. She was standing with her back to him as she restocked shelves. He grinned as a mischievous idea occurred to him.
He pitched his voice lower than its usual register.
“Excuse me, ma’am, do you think you could recommend a book for someone who needs to take a nice, relaxing break?”
Eleanor started responding before she turned. “Of course, sir, let me just—aah! Shane!” Her shriek was half surprise, half excitement… and one hundred percent loud. Several of her customers looked over in surprise, and Eleanor waved at them apologetically.
“Sorry, sorry,” she called out. “I was just surprised by my punk little brother.”
Shane heard a few commiserating chuckles from the customers as Eleanor threw her arms around him. He squeezed her tight, breathing in the familiar scent of the same kind of shampoo she had used for the past decade or more.
“Hey, Ellie,” he breathed. “I missed you.”
“I missed you,” she said, pulling back to look at him in a way that felt extremely maternal. He supposed the skills translated between big sister and mom. “But what are you doing here?”
He pulled a face. “Wait, did you not want me to come? I could have sworn that you invited me once or twice… or seventy million times.”
She shoved his arm affectionately. “Of course I want you here, you brat. I meant why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I could have gotten you from the airport!” She looked alarmed. “I don’t even know if there are clean sheets on the guest bed!”
He laughed. “Well, given that it’s only about two in the afternoon and I have been putting my own sheets on for years, I think, between the two of us, we can tackle that problem before bedtime. As for the impromptu arrival…” He gave her a sheepishwince. “I got approved for the time off, and I just sort of took a wild hair. Next thing I knew, I was at the airport.”
She gave him an understanding, sympathetic look.
“You have been under way too much pressure,” she said in commiseration.
This was true, but being away from the pressures of his job felt so good that Shane didn’t want to talk about it right now.
“Never mind that,” he said hurriedly. “Show me the shop. I am only realizing right this minute that you’re a fancy businesswoman now, and I am showing up at a bad time?—”
“Not a chance,” she said vehemently, cutting him off. “There is not any bad time for you to come here. Not now, not ever. I do have to do a little bit of work still today, but do you know what’s one of the great parts of being your own boss? You can take a pause to show your little brother your store.”
He looked at her… lookeddownat her. “I’m your younger brother,” he teased. “But am I really yourlittlebrother?”
“Oh, hush,” she said. “Come see the store.”
Eleanor tucked Shane’s suitcase, which fortunately was small, behind her cash register area, and then spent a pleasant half an hour showing him every single detail of her store.
“Oh, you would notbelievethe hassle that was getting this bookshelf,” Eleanor said as Shaneoohed andaahed over the intricate carvings that depicted scenes from fairy tales. “Back and forth and back and forth with the delivery! I was pulling out my hair. And then, right before I was set to open, I get a call. The truck is broken down… two hours away! Luckily, Garrett has a truck, so he helped me haul it back here, and then my friends helped me put it together. Winnie, who I first had some arguments with about permitting stuff, is a total genius at assembly, it turns out.”
