“Eh, don’t let it go to your head. Listen, I gotta get back to the store. Just wanted to stop and say congratulations. So, congratulations, Mae. This really is a hell of a thing. Hope it stays around for a while.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
With another, softer chuck on Mae’s arm, Liv was gone. Mae smiled at her retreating form until she was out of sight. And then the smile faded, as she thought about Lanh and Lanh’s family.
She didn’t have much time to dwell.
Because a few minutes later, the door burst open with Bay Books’s loudest customers of the entire day.
“Honey!” Theo shouted. “We’re home!”
And before Mae could even comprehend what was happening, Ben was wrapping her in a hug.
“Bay Books?” Theo continued. “More likeGay Books, am I right?”
“He’s been practicing both of those lines for the last two days,” Ozzy said.
“But—” Mae looked back at Vik and Jackson, who were smiling behind the counter, to Theo and Ozzy and Ben and Alexei. “But I didn’t know—you didn’t have to drive all this way!”
“And miss the opening of Bae Books? Bitch, please.” Theo kissed her on the cheek. “And anyway, you know I love an excuse to start the weekend early.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “Did you think only Vik and Jackson got to partake in the fun?”
“Well.” Mae placed her hands on her hips. Let them drop. “Well. Thank you and I love you.”
“Aw, it’s even more special when you sound angry about it,” Ozzy said. And then he kissed her cheek, too. “Congratulations, Mae.”
“Let’s go buy somebooks!” Ben clapped his hands, and the group dispersed to look around. To browse with friends.
Except for Alexei. Who hung back by the window with Mae.
“Thank you,” he said. He gave a long glance out the glass before looking back at her. “For giving us a reason to come back here. It feels like getting to visit them, you know?”
Mae nodded, throat thick.
“Yeah,” she said. “I know.”
“Lex! Mae!” Ben called. “Youdidconnect with Emerson!”
Alexei and Mae exchanged a smile before turning to meet Ben at the table of local merchandise, including some salsa, jam, and other preserves from Short King Farms. Ben held a jar of pickles, mouth open in glee.
“Of course I did,” Mae said.
“The pickles. Have you tried them? The pickles are so good, Mae.”
“We already have a jar of Emerson’s pickles at home,” Alexei said.
“But we haven’t purchased a jar of Emerson’s picklesfrom Mae,” Ben said. And Alexei shrugged, smiling at him helplessly.
“Where should we go to celebrate?” Theo asked after he’d made his purchases.
Mae almost opened her mouth to point out that there weren’t necessarily a lot of places in Greyfin Bay to celebrate that were open past seven. That she felt comfortable enough in to be celebratory.
She’d contemplated maybe going to the brewery by Lincoln City with Vik to celebrate, the one Liv had told her had a gay bartender. But she found, in her exhaustion, that she only wanted to be with the dogs.
“Jodi and Felix are here, too,” she said. “Is just some takeout at the house okay? There’s a Thai place that’s pretty good.”
“Sexy mountain man’s house?” Ozzy asked, and Mae almost corrected him. She no longer thought of Dell as a mountain man, as a man at all. She only thought of him as Dell.
