Page 66 of The Summer We Started Over

“No, but his sister, Janny, helps me in the shop. She would tell me if he was seeing someone else. Besides, he’s in Boston most of the week.”

“I don’t trust him, Barrett. He’s too smooth, too rich, too summer person.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Barrett said. “I’m a big girl now.”

Eddie paused, then smiled. “We need someGilmore Girls. Bring the ice cream.”

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One morning, when Barrett took inventory in her shop, she was astonished at how many items had been bought during late July. Expensive items, too. She’d priced Paul’s boxes at two hundred dollars, and they were gone in a day. So were the bluebirds, priced at three hundred dollars. And five more of Louisa Sheppard’s sweaters had sold, not to mention a few pieces of fine jewelry, gold with pearls in a deep blue shell and a silver mermaid pendant.

She opened her door to let the fresh morning air in. She sat on her high stool behind the counter and skimmed the list of recent sales.

Janny came to work at noon, and stayed until five, three days a week. She was patient and charming with customers, and many of her friends dropped by, purchasing some of the most expensive items. When Barrett and Janny were alone in the shop, unpacking or dusting, Janny would talk about her wonderful brother, and sometimes she’d mention one of Drew’s former girlfriends.

“Ariadne is beautiful,” Janny would say, “but she’s kind of dim, and Drew needs an intelligent partner or he’d get bored. Besides, the children. I mean, he wants someone with a decent IQ, not just because he’s so smart but because he wants his children to be smart, too.”

Once, when it was raining and Janny was driving Barrett mad with her chatter, Barrett said, “I don’t know why he’s datingme. He hasn’t asked me about my IQ once.”

Janny hadn’t realized Barrett was being sarcastic. “Oh, Barrett, I’m sure he can tell you’re really smart.”

Also, Janny flirted withPaul. He stopped by the shop often, bringing iced coffee, asking how their day was going. Even though he clearly wanted to talk with Barrett, Janny crept in, batting her lashes, biting her bottom lip, leaning forward to show the view down her dress. It bothered Barrett because she knew Janny was only playing around. Janny would never love some working-class guy like Paul. She didn’t want Paul to get hurt. It was almost funny, how Barrett didn’t want Janny to be with Paul and Janny wanted Barrett to be with Drew.

But Janny was, if not invaluable, certainly helpful. Without someone else at the counter, Barrett could never take a break to use the bathroom or eat a sandwich or talk on the phone. On rainy days, she and Janny worked in sync, talking to customers, making sales, wrapping and boxing up purchases. Janny could be funny, too, and that lightened the days.

Janny was with Barrett Friday afternoon when Paul entered the store.

Before Barrett could speak, Janny leaned over the counter, her breasts bulging, and said sweetly, “Hi, Paul! Have you brought more of your gorgeous artwork for our shop?”

Ourshop? Barrett wanted to tell the younger woman to peel herself off the counter so Paul could set down the box he was carrying.

“Hi, Janny. Hi, Barrett.” Paul smiled at them both. “Right. I’ve brought in a few more things.”

He brought out picture frames of different sizes, the wood carved into rising and falling waves and painted blue. Curvaceous mermaids shaped into bookends. A wooden bird’s nest holding three robin’s-egg blue eggs.

Janny cooed, “These are lovely, Paul.”

A woman entered the store just then, and Barrett could have kissed her.

“Janny, will you help our customer, please? Paul, let’s take this box to the back room. It gets so crowded in here.”

Her worktable was piled with boxes, bags, heaps of tissue paper, and her store laptop. Barrett shoved them aside. While Paul held the box, she carefully brought out each carved piece and set it on the table. The back room was smaller than the shop area, and as she moved, Barrett was aware of Paul’s body so near to hers. Her hand accidentally touched his arm, and goosebumps rose all over her body. She wanted to tell Paul how perfect it was that he worked with wood, because he was so sturdy and strong himself, like a tree. And his carvings showed he could also be gentle and patient.

“How would you like to price these?” she asked him, her voice hoarse.

“I’ll leave that to you. You know better than I about such matters. I’ve got some more in my workshop.”

She studied Paul. He was tanned. His hands were blistered and scraped from construction work.

“Your nose is sunburned,” she told him. “You should wear a cap.”

“It’s too hot for a hat,” Paul told her.

“Your nose is going to peel.” Who was she? Barrett thought. His mother? She didn’t feel maternal toward him. She felt uncomfortably attracted to him. What did that mean about her relationship with Drew?

Reaching out, she took one of Paul’s hands in her own, opening it, running her fingers over the calluses. How would these hard, rough hands feel against her body?

“Hey, listen,” he said. “I know it’s short notice but someone gave me tickets to the museum gala tomorrow night. It will be a big deal. The tickets sold for three hundred fifty dollars each. Want to go with me?”

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