Page 47 of The Moment They Can't Forget

“No worries.”

The phone rang, so she waited while Mrs. C answered it.

“No! I’ll head there now.” Cutting the call, Mrs. C looked at Zoe. “My damned fool son has burned himself heating last night’s leftovers. I need to go. Can you watch the shop until lunchtime, Zoe, and then close and lock the door?”

“Ah, sure,” she said, hoping they didn’t get a rush of customers.

“You won’t be busy, because most people are at the school fair,” Mrs. C said. She could see the worry on the woman’s face. Mrs. C might moan about her son, but she loved him.

“Go.” She waved her out the back. “I’ve got this, and I’ll call if I need you.”

She left, and Zoe wandered about the shop, getting a feel for the place. It was full of so much stuff, it was hard to walk freely. You couldn’t see the displays, and aesthetically it was unappealing. The first thing she needed to do was draw up a plan. If Mrs. C didn’t like it, she could put it all back when her foot was better. But first she would call Lil.

Smiling two minutes later, she put down her phone. Lil was at the school fair but coming here now and excited to help.

Zoe got out a notepad and pencil, and then sat and drew up what she thought the store should look like.

“What are you doing?” Her brother Dan stood in the doorway dressed in uniform.

“Working. I’m helping Mrs. C out, and her idiot son just burned himself, so she’s gone to check on him.”

“Yeah?” Dan grinned. “It suits you here.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not staying, Dan.”

“Hey, I can live in hope. See you later, Zoe. The fair will bring out some idiots, so I need to be on patrol.”

“Bye, DD,” she said with a smirk.

This was the brother who had more nicknames than anyone in their family. But Double D was her favorite.

He rolled his eyes and left, looking handsome in his uniform. Not that she’d tell him that.

Lil rushed in next. “I’ve just helped your brother wrangle goats. He found me while I was walking, and I was lost, so it was lucky that he did, but don’t tell Sawyer I admitted to that. So what’s going on here?”

Zoe blinked. “There’s a lot to unpack in that.”

Lil waved a hand about as if to say it was no big deal.

“I’m helping Mrs. C out until her foot is better.”

“I could be wrong, but didn’t you tell me last night that you weren’t sure if you wanted to work and stay here in Lyntacky?”

“I’m still not sure, but I don’t enjoy doing nothing.”

“Okay, that makes sense. What are we doing about the aesthetics in this place?” Lil did a turn on one foot. “It needs a shake-up in here, Zoe.”

“I drew this.” She handed her friend the piece of paper she’d been working on. “You have straw in your hair.”

“I got it picking up JD’s goats for Ally.”

Zoe frowned. “JD owns goats?”

“Apparently. That guy is really hot, FYI. If I was sticking around, I’d be happy to spend some time with him.”

Not by a flicker of an eyelash did she show the bite of jealousy Lil’s words made her feel.

“You should,” Zoe said.

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