Jeremy shot his mother an affectionate, indulgent look that said that yes, she was definitely embarrassing him, but he was willing to put up with it out of love for her. Even if June hadn’t already heard a thousand wonderful stories about Eleanor’s son, this look alone would have disposed her kindly toward him.
“Hi, Jeremy,” she said, shifting the box of donuts she’d brought with her over to one arm so that she could shake his hand. She hadn’t had a chance to cook for this week’s meeting, but her friends never acted disappointed when she brought something store-bought. “It’s so nice to meet you. Your mom is putting you on parade for the town, huh?”
Eleanor put a hand to her chest, pretending to be offended, but Jeremy laughed.
“When I encouraged her to go out and meet new people in her new town, I never considered that she would want to show me off to all of them,” he joked. “If I’d known, I might have told her to take up a nice,solitaryhobby like knitting.”
Eleanor slung an arm happily around Jeremy’s shoulders, even though she had to stand on tiptoe to do so. From inside the shop, Miriam called, “Don’t underestimate small town ladies, Jeremy! Knitting can be social too! You ever heard of a knitting circle?”
Jeremy pulled a playful face.
“Just kidding, Mom,” he said, wrapping his arm around Eleanor in return. “No knitting.”
Everyone laughed, then Jeremy disentangled himself from his mom in order to grab a scarf.
“Well, it was nice meeting everyone,” he called into the room, where the rest of the book club members were already waiting. “I don’t want to keep poor Uncle Shane waiting out in the cold any longer, since this is his first winter after living so long in California.”
“Have a fun dinner!” Winnie called. After Jeremy had given one last wave and left the room, she explained, “He and Shane are doing the sports bar dinner thing while we ladies have book club. I guess he didn’t want to hang around while we were doing our thing… though Shane always seemed to be hanging out, when he was staying with you,” she said to Eleanor.
“Funny, that,” Cadence said in an aside to Diana.
“It’s almost like he had a huge crush on someone in this book club,” Diana added from behind her wine glass.
Winnie stuck out her tongue playfully, but she still beamed with happiness. Her relationship with Eleanor’s brother Shane seemed to be going wonderfully, and Winnie was perpetually over the moon that he had decided to stay in Magnolia Shore instead of going back to his old job in San Francisco.
The meeting started, as everyone was brimming with theories about the book they were currently in the middle of reading, but June found her mind wandering. Thinking about Winnie’s newfound romance caused June to drift back to the new man in her life… and his unbelievable offer.
It had only been little more than a day since Levi had asked her to record a single with him, and in that time, June had gone back and forth on the issue about a thousand times.
It seemed downright bonkers that she might even be considering it. How audacious was she? She was a struggling single mother, and he was a famous country music star! She couldn’trecord a singlewith him. That was… it was unthinkable!
Every time she convinced herself that she really couldn’t consider doing such a thing, however, another side of her chimed in. That side said,What if?
What if she did say yes? What if it was wonderful? She was pretty sure she wouldn’t make a total fool of herself; Levi had made no secret of the fact that he had a soft spot for her, but he wasn’t going to gamble with his career by offering to record with her just because he liked her. He was too savvy for that. And besides, recording the single was only step one. If it turned out badly, they didn’t have to release it or anything.
But what if itdidgo well? Singing with him… it would be like a dream come true.
No, though. She couldn’t. Could she?
Her heartdidache at the idea of losing the connection with Levi, even though she’d been the one pushing him away this past week. She’d almost started crying when he’d sent the picture of a train just because he thought Benjamin would like it, and she’d laughed at his out-of-nowhere question about her favorite color. He was sweet, and he made her laugh. Plus, of course, he was drop-dead handsome and unbelievably talented. Wouldn’t it bea mistake to let this… thing between them disappear before she even truly knew what it was?
“Hello? Earth to June!”
June looked up to see Cadence and Miriam peering at her. Cadence was waving at June in a way that suggested that this wasnotthe first time she’d called her name.
“Sorry,” she said. “Sorry. I’m totally paying attention.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Miriam said, shaking her head. She pointed at June’s lap, where the book they were discussing was open to the right chapter—except the entire book was upside down.
“Ah,” June said, flipping the book so that the words became legible. “Right. Yes, fine. I might be the tiniest bit distracted.”
“Obviously we’re going to need you to spill,” Cadence said.
“Didn’t we move book club up this week because we were so excited to discuss this part?” June protested, mostly just to tease. She knew she would tell her friends everything, just as she knew that doing so would help. She tilted her head at Eleanor, Winnie, and Diana, who had their heads close together. “They’re engaged in the text. We shouldn’t get distracted.”
“Pfft.” Miriam waved a hand. “They’re talking about the historical fashion in the book, which obviously is right up Winnie and Diana’s alleys… and our Eleanor is just the most wonderful little sponge for any new information. They’re fine.” She gestured between herself and Cadence. “We are the horrible gossips. Please, spill.”
Cadence, rather than protesting this characterization, nodded eagerly, a grin lighting her face.
