“You’ve seen his house?”
Mae glanced between Olive and Cara, standing shoulder to shoulder in front of her. She sensed she should not disclose that she kind of lived there.
“...yeah.”
“I’ve heard it’s gorgeous,” Olive said.
“Yeah, Liv’s the only one he ever lets visit. Which”—Cara tilted her lips in a gesture of non-judgment—“he’s a smart man. If I had to choose one person in this town to share my secrets with, I’d choose Liv, too.”
“Hey!” Olive said in offense. And then, a second later, shoulders dropping: “Yeah, I would, too.”
“So the rug,” Mae said, turning away. She wasn’t out of breath anymore, but her face still felt hot. “Want to help me position it?”
“Oh, sure,” Olive said, already on the move. “Now, you’ll want to get a floor protector underneath here, and I don’t sell those, but let’s see how she looks.” The rug was already half unfurled toward the counter before she’d even finished her sentence. Within another minute or two, after some adjustments from Mae and Cara, she stood back up, dusting off her hands. “Well, would you look at that. It’s perfect.”
Mae backed up until her butt hit the pride flag in the front window. She covered her mouth with her hands, shaking her head as she took in the whole view.
“Perfect,” she agreed.
“I’ll have Dustin bring that console over to ya in a few days, all right?”
“Of course. No rush at all.”
“And hey, if you can’t find that other table you’re looking for in my place, there’s a great flea down in Florence in a few weeks. I get a bunch of inventory from them each year. You should check it out.”
“I will. Thanks, Olive. And thanks for your help too, Cara,” Mae added as both older women made their way to the door.
“Sure thing,” Cara said. “This was a treat. You have an opening day in mind yet?”
Mae blinked.Opening day.As Cara would say: holy smokes.
“There’s a lot to do, and I’m still waiting on my license. But…I’m hoping to be open before the holidays.”
Both Cara and Olive’s faces lit up.
“That would be fantastic!” Olive gushed. “More local businesses to support during holiday shopping is always a great thing. Let us know if the SBA can do anything to help get the word out when you do have a launch date, okay?”
Mae nodded, heart racing. She felt Jesus behind her, jumping up and down, palms pressing down on her shoulders.
“Yeah,” she said. “I will.”
twelve
Slowly but steadily,Dell had been recovering.
The nighttime flashbacks had lessened; he was almost—almost—able to sleep through a regular night. Regular meaning whatever semblance of restless half sleep he’d maintained ever since the break-in.
The mind fog was getting better, too; getting that bookshelf installed that morning had helped him more than he’d likely ever be able to admit to Mae.
But it was when he walked back into 12 Main Street later that night after a few hours of rest at home and Mae looked up with a smile brighter than he thought he’d ever seen before—somehow, that lifted the last of the heaviness right off his shoulders.
And that was when he knew, truly, that he was in trouble.
“Am I glad to see you!” she said, bouncing off her chair behind the counter. “That champagne has been whispering to me for hours. Look! At! My! Rug!”
She spread-eagled her arms, twirling around on—Dell looked down to see—yes, a rug, stretching through the center of the room.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
