A few minutes later, they arrived at Diana’s boutique. She took down a sign that announced she’d stepped out for lunch and would be out imminently, then led Shane over to her computer.
It took him four minutes to figure out her problem. Not that he was bragging or anything, but he was pretty pleased with that. It had to be a personal record.
“Basically,” he said as the computer rebooted following his quick programming fixes, “your inventory software updated in a way that made your anti-virus software think that it was a bad bug. I just made sure to greenlight the inventory program on the protection program, and voila. You’re all set.”
Diana pressed her hands to her head.
“I mean this in a totally normal and platonic way but, oh my gosh, I love you. I love Eleanor for being the reason you came here. I am so happy that I love everything and everyone. You are a hero. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
He laughed at her exuberance. “You are more than welcome.”
“Now I just have to do about a bazillion hours of inventory,” she said wryly, although the smile was still broad on her face. “I don’t know if you’ve decided when you’re going back to San Francisco, but you should consider advertising your computer services if you’re going to be around for a little while longer. We don’t have somebody local who does this kind of stuff, which is what got me into this pickle in the first place. I was calling around, but all the folks in the surrounding towns were booked up. And Iknowthere are local businesses who would definitely be as grateful for your services as I am.”
The refusal was on the tip of Shane’s tongue before he stopped to really consider the idea. Fixing Diana’s computer had been downright fun. And hewaslooking for a new direction to take his career. He didn’t know if doing tech support was the kind of thing he wanted to do long term… but then again, wasn’t that the point of trying it out? To see if he liked it? To see if it was a possible avenue for what came next?
“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “I’ll give that a think. Thanks, Diana.”
“I’m motivated entirely by selfishness,” she teased. “I thought I was going to be stuck here all night doing inventory. Now I’ll only be stuck herehalfthe night.”
He gave her an amiable laugh, then poked around the shop a little as she dove into her inventory. It was mostly idle curiosity. Diana sold a few items for men, and she had a tiny nook for kids’ clothes, but most of her inventory was dedicated to women’s items. He was just about to head out, maybe to wind his way back around to Eleanor’s bookshop for a while, when something caught his eye.
He reached out and stroked a gentle finger down the light pink cashmere sweater. It was just like the one that Winnie had said her mother always wore.
He was carrying it to the cash register before he fully realized what he was doing.
Diana glanced up.
“Oh, Ilovethat brand of sweater,” she gushed. “I have it in about four colors. It’s so soft, and it pairs with just about anything.” She paused. “Although, if it’s for Eleanor, I’m not sure that’s her size.”
Shane cleared his throat, feeling awkward for the second time that day. “It’s, uh, not for Eleanor,” he said.
If Diana noticed his discomfort, she was too polite to say as much. She just shrugged.
“Got it. Okay, hang on, let me save what I’m doing…” She clicked around on her computer for a few moments, then rang up the sweater for him before wrapping it carefully in tissue paper and putting it in a bag that was branded with the store’s logo.
“Here you are,” she said brightly.
“Thanks, Diana,” he said. She was already busy at work at her computer again, but she shot him a quick wave goodbye.
Shane wandered back out into the cool autumn air, his bag clutched in his fist. He wasn’t entirely certain that this gift wasn’t too much, given that he and Winnie had only spent time together a few times, and never in a romantic capacity. He hoped it wasn’t… and he wondered about the hope that maybe they would find things a little cozier between them the next time they met.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Should we eat fish this week?” Eleanor asked, peering at the fish counter at the Country Corner Market. “The salmon looks good, but we had salmon last week. I’m tempted to splurge for the sea bass. Is that nuts?”
“Yeah, you’re a wild creature,” Garrett teased from behind her, enough fondness in his tone to make her look up and smile at him. “What’s next, huh? Sea bass today, tomorrow… go crazy in Vegas?”
She made a face at him. “Oh, yeah, you make your jokes. I went to Vegas once, you know. Accompanied my ex on a lawyer’s conference… must have been fifteen years ago now. And I really let myself slip the leash.”
Garrett raised an incredulous eyebrow. “You don’t strike me as the gambling type.”
She couldn’t hold the façade. “No, I’m not,” she agreed. “I did see abunchof shows while Brian was doing boring lawyer stuff, though. And I ate alotof delicious things. I had this one macaron, you know, the French kind? It was as big as my head. I ate the whole thing. No regrets.”
“Goodness, woman,” he joked. “You can’t go around admitting to that kind of madness. Think of your reputation.”
She laughed… and then went ahead and ordered a pound of the sea bass. What was life, after all, if you didn’t take the opportunity to eat the things you really wanted?Thatwas the lesson she’d learned from her brief time in Las Vegas.
Garrett carried their basket as they strolled through the aisles of the market, planning what they wanted to eat for the week as they went. Even though they still each had their own places to live, Garrett had been eating dinner with Eleanor nearly every night recently. She liked it, liked the patterns that had emerged between them.
