Page 72 of Stay this Christmas
Most of the store held aisles of books new and old, but the front corner morphed from bookstore into café, with a few tables and chairs set up in the picture windows. They served coffee and tea, along with a small selection of pastries Miles made every morning. Apparently, he was a writer, too, which went pretty perfectly with Georgia making book covers.
From the way he watched her, I suspected he thought they went pretty perfectly together, too. Given Georgia’s total ignorance of his admiration, the guy didn’t stand a chance.
Finn eyed the tiny scones and cinnamon rolls as he passed the glass case. “Can we have something to eat?”
“Aren’t you still full from your banana split?” I asked.
Georgia raised her eyebrows at me. “Banana splits? In these outfits? Do you want Ava to rum-pum-pum you right in the face?”
In hindsight, the banana splits hadn’t been one of my brighter ideas, but since things had worked out, I figured we could let it go.
“They did okay.”
She got them situated with plenty of napkins for any cocoa drips, and Miles set a little plate with two scones on it between them. So glad it wasn’t just me ruining their appetites tonight.
Georgia returned to Harper and me. “Thanks for helping Sam out today, Harper. I hope he wasn’t too much trouble.”
She just laughed. “He wasn’t too bad. The kids were great, though.”
“Surprised to see Miles has made a miracle recovery.” I nodded at her boss who had returned behind the counter. “From your call this afternoon, I would have thought he’d be hospitalized by now.”
Georgia tilted her head. “Might have exaggerated a tiny bit.” She flashed aToo badlook before turning to Harper. “I’m starting a romance book group in January—would you be interested? The plan is to choose books from a different trope every month. Kind of mix it up with all the flavors of romance through the year.”
“I would love that,” Harper said, a genuine smile breaking across her face. “I’ve never been in a book club before, though.”
“It’s going to be really casual, just a bunch of romance readers getting together to talk about the latest swoony hero. If you don’t have time to read the book, just come and chat with us. No big deal.”
“Okay. I’ll plan on it.”
“Great.” Georgia turned an overly-satisfied smile to me. “Maybe we can get Sam to join in sometime and give us the male perspective.”
“You joke, but I’d do it.” Didn’t need to say I was already reading one of Georgia’s romances, or why.
The guy in this one had been paid off by the woman’s evil mother to skip town, and had come back five years later ready to grovel. Seemed convoluted to me, but I could relate to the need to grovel. I hadn’t done nearly enough of that yet.
The chimes over the door rang as Dad and Ava walked through. I felt my smile slip and my back stiffen reflexively. I could hope that in time, seeing them together wouldn’t give me the sudden urge to be airlifted out of the vicinity, but so far, it wasn’t my favorite.
“There’s my babies!” Ava buzzed over to Finn and Willa, taking each of their little faces in her hands and kissing their cheeks as though they’d been apart for months. “Did you have a good time with Georgia and Sam?”
“Georgia had to work,” Finn said, licking the last of his scone from his lips.
“But Samuel and Harper took us to see Santa and on a wagon ride,” Willa added.
Ava turned to us, but Dad had already crossed the room, his hand extended.
“Harper Webb. It’s been too long.” He shook her hand hard. “How have you been?”
“Things are good.”
Ava joined Dad, who made introductions. “Harper, here, is a doctor over at the retirement community.”
He sounded as proud as if he were bragging on one of his own kids. Not me, of course, but the others. I appreciated the support he showed her, even if it burned a little he’d never talked that way about me. I’d never really given him a reason to, but still. You wanted your parents to be proud of you.
“That’s impressive,” Ava said with an appropriate level of awe.
“I’m a physical therapist,” Harper said as if the clarification made her less extraordinary.
“Still,” Dad said. “A doctor’s a doctor. Your parents must be proud.”
