“You can do this,” she told her reflection. “You can do this.”
The bookstore was an adorable building, Winnie’s meddling notwithstanding. Eleanor had done an incredibly nice job turning the downstairs floor of her home into a business. The front picture windows gleamed with light, and Winnie could see the bustle of the women who had beat her to the meeting moving around inside. She took a steadying breath and then turned into the back seat of her car to grab a bag with a few bottles of wine in it. She wanted to bring something a little bit nicer, partiallyto show her appreciation to the group and partially because she genuinely did enjoy cooking. But with the late tour she’d given this afternoon, she hadn’t had time to return home and whip something up before the meeting. So she had texted the book club group thread that she would be the one to bring the wine this time around.
It had made herverynervous to send that text, but she had gotten nothing but compassion in return. Everyone in the group had been extremely understanding. They’d all been there, they’d promised her. It happened.
But that little flutter of nerves? It was still there.
Gathering her courage, Winnie took her offering of wine and entered the bookstore, a smile naturally crossing her face as she walked into the cheer and chatter. The group was standing in a casual, lopsided circle, listening while June Caldwell told a humorous anecdote about a customer at the diner where she often took on shifts.
“So this guy orders a French dip, which, it’s a diner. Nobody ever orders the French dip! But, as it turns out, this guy didn’t want that either. He wanted a Reuben. But he wasadamantthat he knew the name of the sandwich. So, he kept asking these pointed questions. ‘Why does this come with juice? Where is the cheese?’ It took us forty minutes to figure out what he really meant.”
The group laughed.
“Did he leave you a good tip, at least?” Cadence Meadows asked, flicking a strand of her strawberry blonde hair that she had recently trimmed into an adorable bob. This had been part of Cadence’s quest to reinvent herself after she’d separated from her husband, with whom she had recently reconciled. It seemed as though the separation had been good for the couple, not that Winnie had known them particularly well previously. Still,she couldn’t imagine a couple happier than Cadence and Tyler seemed to be.
“Oh, yes,” June said, chuckling. “The poor guy felt so bad that he left me twenty bucks, which was basically a two hundred percent tip.”
For a moment, Winnie hovered, not sure how to enter herself into this cluster. She often had this feeling, that pause where she felt like she didn’t entirely belong.
But then Eleanor spotted her, and a smile spread broadly across her face. “Winnie, hey!”
Eleanor had a naturally friendly face, and Winnie felt so grateful to now be the recipient of her smiles and welcomes. She came over and gave Winnie a quick hug, her wavy auburn hair briefly tickling Winnie’s cheek as they embraced.
“Come on over,” she said brightly. “I’m sure that running historical society tours gives you as many ‘wacky customer’ stories as working at the diner does.”
“Also, you brought wine,” chirped Miriam Landers. “We always are happy to see someone bring wine.”
Eleanor’s welcome had broken the ice; Miriam’s addition shattered it. The other women warmed visibly.
“Yeah,” Diana Madsen added, putting her hands in her well-tailored pockets. Diana ran a local boutique, and Winnie was, if she was honest with herself, totally jealous of her sense of style. “We need your insight on whether the history in this book was accurate.”
“Oh, never,” Winnie said immediately. “I mean, historical fiction becomes a lot less fun when you are forced to remember that there was no deodorant.”
Diana scrunched her nose, but it wasn’t disapproval for Winnie.
“That’s a good point. Yuck.”
Eleanor looped her arm through Winnie’s, then began to lead them all toward the circle of comfortable chairs where they generally sat for book club meetings.
“Come on, ladies,” she said. “Let’s pick Winnie’s brain for this one, huh?”
Winnie flushed with pleasure. She really was lucky that Eleanor Ridley was such a good friend… the first and very best friend that Winnie had ever had.
CHAPTER TWO
Shane Ridley held it together right until the door to his apartment clicked shut behind him. Then, he dropped his keys into the bowl on the nearby table, let his briefcase drop to the floor, and flopped face first onto his couch.
Goodness, it had been a hard day.
But the problem was that most days had been hard recently. Nearly all of them, in fact.
How had this happened?
For years, Shane had absolutely loved his life working for a big tech company in San Francisco. It was his professional dream, after all. Beyond that too, he loved the challenge that came with coding. It was like a puzzle, one that required thinking in new and exciting ways each and every day. It was always novel, always fresh.
But recently, it was always draining. Each day, he felt like he came home from running a marathon, when really all he had done was sit at a desk.
For hours. And hours. Andhours.
