Page 88 of Come Back to Me

I turn around to see Laura.

Her dirty-blonde hair is pulled back into a low ponytail. She’s wearing a white tank top, dark-wash jean shorts, and gray sneakers.

“Violet is going to Grayson’s homecoming game tonight,” Willow spits out.

“You have such a big mouth,” I tell her.

“What? She asked us what we were talking about.”

Laura steps infront of me with her back facing towards me. “Hey Will, can you see if we have more copies of theRebel Blue Ranchseries by Lyla Sage in the back?”

Willow nods, walking away from us and heading towards the back of the store.

“How are things going with you and Grayson?” Laura asks me.

“Things are good.”

“I can tell you’re hesitant about going to his game tonight, and I understand why.”

“Can you elaborate more on that?” I sit down on one of the bean bag chairs in front of the store.

Laura sits down on the bean bag chair next to me. “You two have a lot of history, and I know you’re scared considering what happened after the last time you went to one of Grayson’s homecoming games.” She pauses for a few seconds. “He wants you there, which tells me how highly he thinks of you. Just remember to take deep breaths. Okay?”

Laura Kaplan always knows what to say to me when I’m upset, anxious, or stressed out. She’s the person I confide in when I need advice.

I don’t know what I would do without her.

“Okay,” I say.

“While I have you, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

As I look around the store, there are a couple of teenage girls looking through the sports romance section and a trio of twenty-something women in the romantasy section.

When Laura first opened Sweet & Salty back in the early 2010s, the shelves were organized by color. After I joined the team, we set up the shelves by subgenre since romance as a genre has grown immensely over the past several years.

It’s quieter than it usually is on a Friday afternoon, which is strange. Our busiest days are Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Maybe it has to do with the homecoming game or something.

I lower my eyebrows. “What’s up?”

“This store is the first romance-only bookstore in Sunset Cove, and I’m so proud of that. We’ve been through a lot as a team, and I’m lucky to have such dedicated employees. Violet, I’ve been super impressed by you over these past several years. You joined the Sweet & Salty family when you were just thirteen years old. You were so young. And yet, you had so much knowledge about the romance genre. You knew things that I didn’t know. You’ve accomplished so much here in a decade.” She breathes in and out before she continues on with her train of thought. “You’ve been one of my booksellers for several years now, and I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a few weeks, so here it goes…” She trails off, building suspense. “I’m promoting you to assistant manager of Sweet & Salty.”

Am I dreaming?

“Are you serious?”

“Oh, honey, I couldn’t be more serious if I tried. Honestly, I’d love for you to be our new store manager, but we’re going to do this one step at a time.”

“This isn’t a joke?”

“No, of course not.”

I scream and jump from the bean bag chair to express my excitement, and she stands up to meet me.

Laura hugs me tightly. “I’m so proud of you,” she whispers in my ear.

All of our potential customers in our store are staring at me and wondering why I’m crying my eyes out.

“Everybody, I’d like to introduce you to our new assistant store manager, Violet Prescott!”