Eleanor hummed abstractly to herself as she filled some gaps on the shelves in her bookstore. Those gaps were one of her favorite things to see at the end of the day, as each one signified a book that had been sold and was now in the happy hands of an eager reader.
Gosh, she loved this store.
When Eleanor had first moved to Magnolia Shore, she hadn’t really planned on opening a bookstore. She had thought this house would be her new home and nothing more, only to discover that the person who had posted the photos online had made the place lookconsiderablysmaller than it actually was. Eleanor had spent a little while rattling around the space, trying to figure out how one person was supposed to occupy so much square footage before realizing that she was asking herself the wrong question.
She had realized that the best way to use the space wasn’t to keep it to herself, but to open a place for the whole community.
There had been a few hurdles along the way. Absolutely, there had. But they’d all turned out the right way in the end.
For one, Eleanor had proven to have remarkably low talent for home improvement. That could have stopped her grandplans right in her tracks, but instead, it had brought her to Garrett Wilder, local hardware store owner, town grump…
And Eleanor’s boyfriend.
Oh, they hadnothit things off right away. But now that she and Garrett were happily in love and starting to think seriously about a future together, it made Eleanor laugh to think about how very much they had not hit things off to start with. She had driven poor Garrett half nuts with her chaotic approach to renovation, and her lack of skill had led her to accidentally bopping him on the head… more than once.
But circumstance had kept throwing them together, and love had blossomed.
Eleanor’s humming was accompanied by an awkward, happy little dance as she thought about it.
The second hurdle had also offered a happy ending. Winnie Burnett, who worked at the Magnolia Shore Historical Society, had brought various limitations to Eleanor’s attention, given that her house was old enough to have historical considerations. This had led to some friction between the women, as Eleanor had assumed that Winnie was highlighting these obstacles just to be difficult.
But after a few misunderstandings and a couple of tough conversations, Eleanor had learned that Winnie was just shy, and that she hadn’t known how to bring up the issues without causing conflict. Eleanor had stretched herself to find forgiveness inside her, and Winnie had stepped out of her comfort zone enough to be more vulnerable about the women of the book club. This had turned out wonderfully for everyone, as Winnie was now the newest member of the club and growing closer to the women in the group every day. She had even recently started dating Eleanor’s brother, Shane, which meant that Winnie had a permanent pass in Eleanor’s book, since shedid not think that Shane would have stayed in Magnolia Shore if not for his budding romance with the local historian.
Long story short? Everything was pretty incredible in Eleanor’s book.
She never would have expected that her life could be this wonderful less than a year after she’d very unexpectedly been served divorce papers by her ex-husband. At the time, she’d been shocked and had felt that her life would never recover. But now, she considered that Brian, her ex, had done her a favor. He hadn’t necessarily had the bestprocess,but the results were undeniable.
She was happy. She was beyond happy.
And her work was very satisfying. She reflected on this as she took a step back, admiring how the shelves looked with all the crisp, brightly colored spines staring out at her. This was the science fiction section, which was one of her most popular sections, following the romance shelf and the kids’ room. Those she had restocked just before closing, since tonight was book club night, so she didn’t have much time before she needed to start getting ready.
Her phone rang loudly from the spot where she always left it next to the cash register, and she crossed the room to answer it. She grinned broadly when she saw the name on the caller ID.
Tonight might be book club night, but she would always make time to answer a call from her son.
“Jeremy, hi!” she said as she answered.
“Hey, Mom,” her son said from the other end of the line. Jeremy was in his second year of college in Pittsburgh, and while Eleanor was so proud of him that she could practically burst with it, she did miss him terribly. She hadn’t protested when Jeremy had gone back to Indianapolis to spend Christmas with his father, especially since all his friends from childhood were back in Indiana, but she had a little bit of a blue Christmas withouther son, although a long video chat with him, a celebration with Garrett, Shane, and Winnie, and visits from their friends had cheered her up a lot.
“Did you head back to Pittsburgh yet?” she thought, running through his school schedule in her mind. “Or are you still at your dad’s?”
“I came back to Pittsburgh for the winter intersession,” he explained. “But I actually had an idea about that.”
“Oh yeah?” she said, idly tidying a pile of papers while she talked.
“Yeah, so I’m taking a new class for the winter session,” he said. “Woodworking.”
She felt herself grin. That was out of character for her mathematically-minded son, but wasn’t that part of what college was all about? Trying out new things?
“That’s awesome, honey,” she said. “Are you liking it?”
“I really am,” he said. “But that’s not actually why I’m calling. Basically, the class only meets for in-person classes for the first part of the session. Then, in the second half, we’re just working on our projects independently. And I can do that wherever, so I was thinking, if it was good with you, that I might come for a visit.”
Eleanor let out a delighted shriek and fumbled her phone. When she pressed it back to her ear, she heard Jeremy cracking up on the other end.
“I’m guessing that’s a yes?” he said through his laughter.
“Yes, yes, of course it’s a yes!” she exclaimed, practically vibrating with excitement. “You don’t even have to ask, baby. I’ll always be your mom, and anywhere that I have a home, you have a home. You arealwayswelcome here.”
