Over the past few months, Eleanor had made a new home for herself and started a business, something that impressed and amazed Shane. He shouldn’t have been surprised, though. Ellie had always been willing to work for the things that she wanted. It was what had made her such a wonderful mother to his beloved nephew, Jeremy, who was now going to college in Pittsburgh… something that made Shane feel very, very old to think about.
Eleanor kept up her happy prattling.
“And he’s not totally a ‘book guy’, since he is pretty much only happy with at least one tool in his hand, but I recently found him this book about how they built boats at different points in history, and he’s been really interested in that. I’m going to have to see what else I can find for him that he would like. There’s this companion text that’s coming out next year that does the same thing, but it talks about old farming tools.”
“Next year?” Shane observed mildly.
Eleanor broke off, clearly growing flustered. “Oh, uh. If we’re still together then, I mean. Things are going well—I think it would be nice—I’m just not sure…”
“I’m just pulling your leg,” he said, putting her out of her misery. “I’m not badgering you to propose tomorrow.”
“Har de har har,” she said dryly. “Remind me why I called you again?”
“Because you love me,” he said in a singsong voice.
He could hear her smile. “Yeah, I do. Plus, I need a break from this inventory. I love books, you know I do. But this is math, Shane. I do not like math! Nobody told me there would be this much math.”
“Actually, I think that’s a fairly well-known part of owning a small business.”
“Aw, what do you know?” she said dismissively. “You’re a tech guy. Speaking of, how is work?”
Shane didn’t really want to discuss work. He didn’t want to think about work more than he had to. But if he had indulged in his ‘little brother pest’ routine, this was Eleanor’s ‘protective big sister’ edition.
“Real subtle,” he teased. “Not at all your secret reason for calling.”
“Not at all,” she agreed. “Now. Spill.”
He sighed. “It’s… well, it isn’t great. I feel really burned out, and I can’t seem to get ahead. There’s always another client, or another program that needs debugging, or another update that needs to be pushed. It’s just…”
“Wearing you down?” she supplied gently.
“Yeah,” he admitted.
“Do you know what you need?” Her tone was too innocent, like this was a brand-new idea that she had just come up with, not something that she had been nudging him about for a while now.
“Is it a vacation?” he supplied dryly.
“Itisa vacation,” she said brightly. “Have you heard of this adorable little town called Magnolia Shore? It’s agreatvacation stop. Lots of people go there every single year.”
“Don’t they mostly go in the summer?” he said, his protest only halfhearted.
“Oh, pish,” she said. “You live in California. You don’t need to travel to go to the beach.”
“I haven’t been to the beach in… a decade?”
“Okay, well then, we can go to the beach. It’ll be cold, but we’ll manage. But more importantly, it’s a great place to justtake a break. You need a break, Shane. I know you have about a billion vacation and sick days saved up. Use some of them. Come here for a few weeks. I’ll pick out books that you would like.”
It soundedsogood. But a part of him was almost afraid to take that step. If he went to Magnolia Shore, if he took a few weeks for himself, how would he manage to drag himself back to the office?
“Taking a vacation won’t fix everything, Ellie,” he said.
“I know,” she said easily. “I don’t think itwillfix everything. But I do think that having time away will give you some clarity. Distance gives perspective.”
“I don’t know…” he hedged.
“At the very least, you’d get some sleep,” she pressed. “I make a mean cup of chamomile tea. Come on, Shane. Let me do the sisterly coddling thing for a little bit. You might find that some time away from the hustle and bustle will do you some good.”
Shane wasn’t certain why, in that moment, something clicked in his brain, but it did. And then, all of a sudden, all of his many reasons for putting off Eleanor seemed foolish.
