Page 6 of Crazy in Love

Home. It had been a decade since he’d considered Green Valley Falls home. Except for the holidays and a few short weekends, he’d spent very little time there. And that was by design. The stifling, caged-in feeling of such a small town had driven him away as a young adult, and going back wasn’t something he looked forward to.

“Anything changed in the ten years I’ve been gone?”

“If you came home for more than forty-eight hours at a time, you’d know,” Tess said.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“All right,” his dad said. “It’s settled then.”

Nick sighed, knowing he didn’t have much choice. He couldn’t drive or even walk. And he couldn’t ask his family to move to Boston. Convalescing in Green Valley Falls seemed to be his only good option. So, like it or not, he was going home.

CHAPTER THREE

“Hey, Dad,” Faith said after getting his voicemail message. “Just wanted to make sure you remembered to take your medicine. Call me.”

Faith sat at her mother’s desk—well, her desk now—surrounded by boxes of books and mountains of paper. It had been a week since the funeral. Nine days since finding out she was the new, proud owner of Page Turners.

Honestly, she didn’t know any better than Grace and Joy what her mother had been thinking. Faith couldn’t run a bake sale—she’d proved that at the town’s Founder’s Day fundraiser. How was she supposed to manage a business? Heck, she barely even liked to read.

Over the last week, she’d been so busy with her hair salon schedule, taking care of her dad and younger sister, and coping with her loss, there hadn’t been time to go over the books. Today was the first full day she’d committed to really diving into the store’s financials. From what little she’d seen so far, things didn’t look promising.

She pulled the fortune-telling eight ball from her purse. “Are we gonna make it?” She shook the orb and looked into the glass window where the words “reply hazy, try again” flashed back at her.

“Not helpful,” Faith muttered to herself.

“What are you doing?” Tess asked, coming in the open door.

Faith glanced up. “Ah, thank goodness. I need you. Oh wait, first, how’s your brother?”

“Grumpy,” Tess said. “My folks brought him home last night, and he’s whining worse than a baby.”

“A lot of pain?”

“That too, but the crying is about being back in Green Valley Falls. He’ll get over it. How’s it goin’ here?”

Faith was no whiz at math. In fact, except for cutting hair and basketball, she wasn’t really a whiz at anything. But anyone with basic arithmetic skills could deduce Page Turners was hemorrhaging money at an alarming rate.

“Well, I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure you have to make more money than you spend to stay in business.”

“The store’s not profitable?” Tess’s brows creased.

“I’d definitely like a second opinion, but not from what I see. I haven’t gone back far enough to see if it’s only since Mom got sick or if it’s been this way for some time.”

“All right, well, Nick is settled, and I’ve caught up at the store. I can help. Wanna invite Juliet and Alex over tonight, and we’ll make it a party?”

“Oooh. Great idea. I’ll use the group chat and text them now.”

Alex managed a bunch of vacation rentals, and Juliet owned a dog boarding kennel. Tess had a business degree and ran the outdoor supply store next to Page Turners.

An orange and white striped cat jumped onto the desk, made a circle, and curled up over last quarter’s numbers.

“You got a cat?”

“No,” Faith said. “I don’t know whose it is, but every time I come in here, it follows me.”

“Wait, someone is bringing their pet to work and didn’t ask you about it? That’s not cool, Faith.”

Faith ran her hand along the cat’s back. “I know. I’ll figure it out.”

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