“That sounds absolutely perfect,” she said, her smile radiant and her eyes bright with an emotion that stole his breath.
Bryce gazed at Emma, his heart swelling with joy and contentment. After years of longing and missed opportunities, he finally had everything he had ever dreamed of. The woman he loved by his side.
As he held her close, Bryce suddenly knew without question that this moment, forged in fire and loss and pain, marked a beautiful beginning to the life they would share together.
Chapter Forty
Andrew
The day after the fire at The Rainy Day Bookshop, Andrew sat in a beach chair next to Rosie on Crescent Beach, watching the three children giggle as they raced back and forth trying to avoid the waves licking at the sand.
It was a beautiful summer afternoon on the Oregon coast, pleasant and sunny, with high clouds that rolled across the sky.
He leaned back in the chair, breathing in the scent of sea and sand. “I’m glad you decided to stick with our plan to come to the beach, Rosie. I thought for sure you would want to cancel, with everything you have going on,” he said.
“I needed this,” she said, lifting her face to the sun. “My brain has been caught in an endless loop of worry and stress. A distraction is exactly the thing to take my mind off it all. Olive needed it, too. She was so upset to find out about the bookstore. She loved that place. We called it our magical land of books.”
“That describes every bookstore, doesn’t it?” Andrew commented.
Rosie smiled, though her eyes remained sad. Andrew wanted to take all the pain away from this woman—this strong, courageous woman who had endured so very much in her life.
“Have you figured out what you’re going to do yet? Is the bookstore beyond rebuilding?”
“No, actually. Surprisingly, for all the flames and fuss last night, it sustained little actual structural damage. Most of thebrick is still intact and the actual fire was mostly contained to the office and the new section Bryce was renovating.”
“That’s a relief, I imagine.”
“Because of the smoke and water damage, the books are all a loss, unfortunately. If we do rebuild, we’re going to have to start over with all new inventory.”
“That’s too bad.”
“That’s the part I hate the most. It feels like a tragedy. I know it’s not. They’re only books, not people, but it still hurts.”
“Books are priceless to those who love them. I get it, maybe more than most people would. I lost years’ worth of books in the wildfire. Research books, my own early backlist titles, some signed first editions from friends and fellow writers. It’s an incalculable loss that all the insurance in the world could never cover.”
“I feel silly being so depressed about a business loss when you and your children lost your home and your memories.”
“We still have the memories. Just not the tangible ones. And you’re not silly. The bookshop was beloved, not only by you but by the whole community. I’m sure everyone in Wood Briar is hoping you decide to rebuild.”
She sighed. “It won’t be that hard to rebuild. I just don’t know if it’s worth the effort.”
“What is your gut telling you?”
She gave a rueful smile, looking soft and lovely in the afternoon sunshine. “The same thing my gut told me when I wanted to buy the bookstore a decade ago, despite it never really making a profit. Towns like Wood Briar need a bookstore. It’s more than pages and shelves. It’s a sanctuary, a bridge to other worlds, a beacon of knowledge that lights up the whole town.”
“There’s your answer.”
She released a breath, smiling as she watched her granddaughter kneel in the sand to point out something to Finn and Zara.
“Emma suggested last night that I should step away from the construction company and handle the renovation of the bookstore myself. She said that way I can truly fulfill my vision for what I wanted it to become when I bought it.”
“What do you think about that?”
Her laugh sounded ragged around the edges. “It sounds wonderful. That’s one of the things chasing around and around in my thoughts. When Lucas Construction began to falter a few years after Gary died, I buried my dreams for the bookshop. I didn’t feel like I had any other choice. I felt I had an obligation to our employees as well as our community. We had signed contracts we weren’t going to be able to fulfill if I didn’t step up.”
“Makes sense.”
“And at the time, I was so lost in my grief and so busy worrying about Emma, it didn’t really matter what I did. The construction company or the bookstore. I didn’t really care about any of it.”
