AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I tipped my head to the side. “I hit a nerve.”
“A little.” Whitney held up her fingers a tiny bit apart. “Scott barely sings at church. Same reasons as you—he says he can’t carry a tune in a bucket. But he’s wrong, just like you, and I want Beckett to grow up and keep belting out the words like he does now. Even when he doesn’t always know the words, he sings out, loud and proud, because it’s coming straight from his heart.”
I smiled. I’d heard Beckett sing—anymore, he was liable to sing instead of talk—and Whitney was right. He did belt it out unapologetically. He still struggled occasionally to find the words he wanted if he was on the spot, but he was doing so much better than he was a year ago when he and Whitney had showed up on Scott’s doorstep.
Whitney took a long drink of her coffee, then set it down. “You don’t think I’d be running away?”
It took me a moment to figure out that she’d returned to the idea of vacation. “I don’t. You’re regrouping. Recuperating. And Scott mentioned the idea of combining the trip with looking at vacation homes, so you could even call it reconnoitering, if you wanted to keep with the ‘r’ theme.”
Her smile actually reached her eyes this time. “I like those three Rs better than the usual ones.”
“Don’t get me started on ’rithmetic.” I shook my head. “We have a hard enough time teaching people to spell. Do we really need to get cutesy with the foundations of schooling?”
“Sounds like you’re getting yourself started.”
“Sorry. I’ll stop. I’m just saying.” I took a breath and let it go. “My original point was that you shouldn’t feel guilty about needing time to recover and rest—more ‘r’ words for you—and Scott is happy to take you wherever you might be able to do that better. And Beckett has two sets of grandparents who are more than happy to help while you do.”
“You’re right. Maybe we can all go to the island and look at the properties together. My folks could use a break. My sister’s at a point now where I think they’d be willing to leave her and not worry.” Whitney bit her lip. “I guess I’ll head home and talk to Scott. Thanks, Megan.”
“You know I love you, right?” I stepped around the counter and held open my arms.
Whitney rolled her eyes, but she let me hug her. “Back atcha.”
“You’re such a guy.”
Whitney laughed as she stepped back. “I love you, too. Better?”
“Much. Give Beckett a smooch from me.”
Whitney studied me. “I hope I didn’t scare off your customers sleeping on the couch like that.”
“No one even looked like they were going to stop in.” I shrugged. “I’m thinking of closing Mondays anyway.”
“You should. You deserve a two-day weekend like everyone else.” Whitney opened the door but stopped and sent me a smile. “Thanks. Really.”
“I want to say ‘anytime.’ But also? Not for this reason if we can help it.”
“Amen.” Whitney waved and stepped out onto the sidewalk.
I watched her until she disappeared from sight then blew out a breath and looked around the store. I should finish dusting and straightening the shelves. And then? I was going to go ahead and update the website with new hours. Closing on Monday wasn’t going to hurt the bottom line. With savings on the utilities, it might just improve it.
9
CODY
“Chocolate or strawberry?” I put the two samples of mousse down on the counter by the register and dug the two individually wrapped spoons I’d brought along out of my laptop bag.
Megan’s eyebrows disappeared under her bangs. “Hi. Nice to see you, too.”
I grinned. “Sorry. Hi. How are you?”
“Good. It’s been slow today. I officially decided to close Mondays as well as Sunday, and now I’m wondering if I just need to close all together.”
She looked so despondent I wanted to gather her into my arms and just hold her for the rest of the day. But that would only bring a whole host of questions I wasn’t willing to answer. Even in my own mind. I settled for resting my hand on her arm. “I’m sorry.”
Megan shrugged one shoulder. “I know it’s how things go. Every day can’t be Christmas. At the same time? I wish it could. Maybe I need to have a sale.”
“That might get people in the door. Flip side, of course, being that then they won’t come back until your next sale and then you have people who only buy things when they’re discounted and maybe that’s just as bad as having a smaller number of full-price customers?” I didn’t know for sure that was how retail worked, but it seemed likely.
