Laurie chewed her lip, searching for another reason to turn him down.
“It’s my house, isn’t it? I can build a bookcase for it if I want to.”
Laurie narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose, but he just smiled like she was cute.
“I’ll build it in my shop, so I won’t be in your way.”
“Okay,” she relented. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He started towards the front door, then paused. “You know that old dance studio on Paradise Road?”
Laurie frowned in confusion. “Sure.”
She had fond memories of that place. The Aloha sisters had spent countless hours there as kids. Laurie did gymnastics there for years, and later she would go to see Halia perform the hula or sit through another one of Oakley’s ballet recitals.
“It’s been sitting empty for years.”
“Okay… and?”
“It would make a great bookshop.”
For the briefest moment, her heart leaped at the thought… and then it came crashing back down. “There’s no way I’d be able to afford it.”
“It’s just sitting empty,” he told her. “It’s owned by a local auntie. She refuses to lease it out to some chain… but a bookstore? I think she’d like that.”
Laurie’s mouth worked open and shut, but her voice was mute.
Is it possible?she wondered.Is there any way?
“You’re not paying rent here, right?” Kekoa pressed.
“I’m not a charity case,” Laurie snapped. Though, on second thought, she supposed that’s exactly what she was. “I’ll pay what I can.”
“My point is, if you don’t have to pay here, maybe you can afford the bookshop?”
“I can’t skip out on rent just to use that money someplace else! Your mom–”
“My mom wouldlovea local bookshop, are you kidding me?”
“But— but books, shelves, all the startup costs…”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” He winked and finally walked out the door. But then he popped his head back in and added, “Think about it.”
10
Anne
When Thursday rolled around, Anne was a nervous wreck. She had guests checking in around dinnertime, so Noah had offered to pick her up for a lunch date.
Adate. With Noah Kapono.
What sort of wild thirty-year time warp was this?
She hardly remembered the girl he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
And yet he looked at her in just the same way he had then.
Despite their history – or maybe because of it – she felt incredibly anxious. She tried on every outfit that she owned, cursing her own foolishness the whole time. Who was she trying to impress?
