“Oh, no problem!” Wren said.
“I told her not to bug you on your moving day,” Kelsey said, “but she insisted on checking in.”
“It’s my first apartment renovation in town,” she told Kelsey. “And I need to make sure it holds up.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes and turned back to me. “She’s incredible at what she does. You’re living in the best place in town. Minus possibly the library.”
“Thank you,” I replied. “That makes me feel better.”
“Still, I need to make sure you can contact me if somethinggoes wrong.” Wren reached into a pocket of her overalls and pulled out a card. “Here you go.”
“Nothing will go wrong,” Kelsey added. “But she also does house calls for friends.”
“That I do. Someone has to take over for the town handyman.”
I slowly grabbed it from her, careful not to get too close. I hated the fact that my body couldn’t tell the difference between being beaten to death and grabbing a card from a stranger.
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s a little scary moving to a new place.”
“You’ll love it here,” Kelsey replied. “We all take care of each other.”
“Good.” I took in a breath, hoping I didn’t appear as nervous as I felt. “Tomorrow, I’m gonna try to be brave and go do something in town. Any suggestions?”
If I said it to others, I was more likely to do it, Scarlett had said.
Or something like that.
I mostly felt like throwing up.
“You should come downstairs to The Reserved Bean!” Kelsey said. “If you like coffee, of course.”
“I really do. Is it good?”
“More like life-changing,” she replied.
Wren nodded. “It is.”
“The town was lacking in good coffee and the resident handyman finally fixed that problem. Who knew he liked coffee so much that he would open his own shop?” She shook her head.
Slowly, I nodded. “It sounds nice.”
“And if you’re nervous, Kelsey works there!” Wren said.
“Thank God,” Kelsey added. “I was working with my mom at her diner, but I’m the worst at it. Really, Theoshouldn’t have hired me, but he did, and it’s goingsomuch better.”
Knowing someone who would be there made the idea of a new place easier.
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” I said. “Or I’ll try to.”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” Kelsey said. “I promise. Everyone here is nice and the coffee is so worth it.”
It did sound fun, and it was just downstairs.
Hopefully it didn’t go horrifically wrong.
Wren and Kelsey welcomed me to town one more time before they headed to the library. I gave them a wave and watched them link arms as they walked down the stairs.
They seemed close. Kind of like Joey and I were.
