Page 91 of Piece By Piece

“Now you hush. Listen, I’ve been thinking about this bookstore and about what happens next.”

She looked at her wrist.

“This thing is healing, but it’s not the only thing that’s been slowing me down. We all know that. My hands aren’t what they used to be. My knees aren’t what they used to be. And, well, I need real help, not temporary summer girl help.”

She looked at Liza.

“I want you to stay, not as a favor, but as a real part of this bookstore. You’d run the marketing, the events, the children’s section. I’d keep doing what I do best, and you’d do what you do best, which is all of that marketing stuff. And heck, maybe even some other businesses around here might could use your help too.”

Liza’s hand found Grant’s under the table.

“And Grant.” Dixie turned to him. “I want Books and Brains to be permanent, like a monthly thing, or maybe even weekly during the summer. Our two shops should work together regularly. Because what you built at the festival, well, that’s not a one-time thing. That’s a model for something great.”

Grant nodded. “I’d like that.”

“And Julie,” Dixie said, “I want to get the inn more involved. Maybe offer some guest packages where you stay at the inn and get a coupon to visit the bookstore and do a puzzle at the shop. Francine can handle the logistics.”

Julie smiled.

This was a rested smile, not the one that was running on fumes just a few weeks ago.

“I’m in,” Julie said.

Dixie looked around the table.

“So anybody else have anything else to say?”

Nobody did.

It was just the four of them, of course, in the bookstore, sitting in front of the sweet tea and cookies.

Dixie raised her glass.

“To Down Yonder Bookstore, over thirty years and counting.”

They raised their glasses.

The tea was too sweet, the way Dixie’s always was, but nobody minded.

The rest of the week moved with a gentle rhythm.

Julie called Liza on Thursday evening, and she could hear the smile before Julie even said a single word.

“I finished the manuscript.”

“Oh, Julie, that’s great.”

Liza pressed the phone against her ear and smiled. “How does it feel?”

“Like I remembered why I started writing in the first place. Dawson and I sat on the porch until the stars came out, and Francine handled everything at the inn. I didn’t even check my phone once. Not once.”

“Well, that might be a miracle.”

“It might.”

The next morning, Janine stopped by the bookstore with paperwork for the Seagrove Scholars Fund.

The first scholarship would be awarded in the fall.