“Can you stay a while?” His dark brown eyes held hers, and she was tempted to say yes.
“I have to get back to the shop,” she said instead.
OK,he signed.I get it.
‘Io was back a moment later with her drink. “Here you go!”
“Thank you. How much do they cost?”
“No charge,” Kekoa said and signed.
“How much?” she asked again, looking at ‘Io.
He glanced at his dad, then looked back to Laurie and shrugged. “It’s free, I guess. We haven’t added them to the menu yet. We just got the soda machine today.”
Laurie pulled a few bills from her pocket and put them into the tip jar.
Thanks!‘Io signed.
She winked at him and then looked at Mia.We need to go.
“Come to the store later,” Mia said to ‘Io. “We have the newWings of Firebook!”
“Awesome! See you later.”
Laurie waved goodbye to Kekoa.
See you later,he signed.
She smiled at him, and he winked at her before ducking back inside.
Back at Paradise Books, they settled in for a cozy afternoon. Laurie stood at the front counter with her laptop open to the fantasy novel she was currently proofreading. Across from her, Mia sat in a cozy chair reading a Nancy Drew book.
When a big family came in, Mia launched herself into book ideas for the kids. They ended up buying a whole stack,andthey left a tip in Mia’s jar; she had taken a huge plastic cookie jar from her grandma’s house and painted the wordRecommendationsacross the front in glitter glue.
Beaming with pride, she walked around the counter to give her mom a celebratory hug before settling back into her reading chair.
Laurie took a break from proofreading to open a box of books, and Mia helped her stock the shelves. It was exactly the sort of afternoon that Laurie had envisioned when she first dared to dream of opening her own book shop.
Mia was such a fantastic publicist that roughly half of their sales came from the families that made up the Pualena Playschool co-op. Laurie had to buy a big box of children’s books every week to keep the shelves full, and she loved that. Whatever people might say about the newest generation,thesekids were doing just fine.
‘Iolani came through the door near closing time, and Mia jumped up to greet him.
“Come see the new book!” She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the graphic novels.
Kekoa walked in a moment later, and Laurie closed her computer to greet him. He took up a tremendous amount of space, and yet he seemed to fit perfectly into her little book shop – probably because he was the one who had built it.
They had started with a run-down dance studio, and Kekoa had taken out all of the broken mirrors and replaced them with gorgeous wooden shelves that now held a wide selection of books. She wouldn’t have been able to do it without him… or maybe she could have, but shewouldn’thave.
He had believed in her, and his encouragement had given her the courage to take a chance on her dream.
Hey,Kekoa signed,I forgot to tell you before.
What?Laurie asked.
I found a car.
I don’t need a car.
