Page 106 of Just Let Go

“What isreallygoing on with you?”

Quinn groaned. “Don’t do that, Lucy.”

“Do what? I’m your friend. You’re obviously not telling me something.”

Quinn faced her. “There’s nothing to tell. Can you have Grady unload the two boxes out there and just set everything on the counter? We’ll arrange it all once it’s unpackaged.”

Lucy stood in the doorway for too many seconds. “You’re hiding something. You know how I know?”

Quinn assumed the question was rhetorical.

“Because you’re terrible at it.” She took a step closer. “Did something happen with you two?” Thankfully, she kept her voice low.

Quinn pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. “It was nothing.”

Lucy gasped. “I cannot believe you didn’t say anything at breakfast.”

“Well, I was a little preoccupied, what with losing my chance to see my mother and all.”

Lucy’s face softened. “I know, and I’m sorry about that, though if you really want to see your mom, there are other ways.”

Quinn dropped into the chair behind her desk. “I don’t want to see her. I want her to see me.”

The realization nestled itself inside of her. She didn’t even want to talk to her mother. She just wanted to prove to the woman that she made a mistake in leaving them behind.

And now she couldn’t.

“We can figure all that out later, but right now, you’ve got an incredibly good-looking Olympic skier in your shop. And he’s not here for me.”

Quinn looked up sadly. “He’s here because the court ordered himto be here.” It was true, more or less, though helping with the shop wasn’t exactly part of his community service.

Lucy squeezed her shoulder, then slipped out of the back room, leaving Quinn alone, in hiding, and wondering how everything in her perfectly comfortable life had been turned upside down soquickly.

The day wore on and Quinn did a really good job of avoiding Grady. There was the time they’d both reached for the same box, but that had been easily remedied because at almost the exact same time, the FedEx guy showed up.

She’d never been so thankful for a FedEx delivery in her life.

More than once, Lucy had prodded her about whatever it was that had happened between the two of them. Hailey had shown up with lunch from Hazel’s for all of the workers, though Quinn noticed Grady chose his packed lunch instead.

He packed his own lunch?

By late afternoon, her help had thinned out, but the shop was beginning to look exactly like it had in her mind. How would she ever repay these people for donating their time to make this all happen?

Even Grady, though his time wasn’t exactly a donation, had been a huge help. She could be angry with him and grateful to him at the same time, couldn’t she?

A few times, she’d caught him looking at her, but she would not be swayed by his piercing eyes or that perpetual smirk that played at the corner of his mouth.

Quinn spent the entire day hyperaware of where he was, of whom he was talking to, of what he was doing. She made general announcements to give him tasks instead of instructing him directly. She was being childish, and she knew it.

She forced herself to stop thinking about Grady and startthinking about tomorrow. Her grand reopening. It was a big day for Forget-Me-Not, and for her.

Why couldn’t she keep her mind focused on that?

Around 4p.m., Judge wandered in. His face brightened when he met Quinn’s eyes. “Look at this place.”

She pulled her hands away from the display she was styling and met him at the center of the store, so much more put together than it had been that morning. They’d fashioned the gifts into the most beautiful displays, making it easy for shoppers to see all the possibilities.

“We aren’t done yet, but it’s almost there.” Quinn let him pull her into one of his usual fatherly hugs.

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