Page 29 of The Affair
This had been a trip down memory lane.
It was the meet-cute of the century, and when people had asked, we had always been more than happy to recall the story of how Reed had nearly run me over with his bike on that fateful day in August so long ago. I still remember coming to, my body sore from our collision and thinking I was the luckiest girl in the world to have met him.
Reed and I had loved telling this story so much that we’d even incorporated bikes into our wedding theme.
Yep, we had been one of those cheesy couples. The ones who’d oozed so much happiness that it made normal people sick. On top of our wedding cake had stood two antique bicycles with a little heart nestled between them—a symbol of the love I’d thought would last forever.
It was a story I’d planned on telling my kids and my grandkids.
But now, it was just a dream that robbed me of precious sleep.
“Hey, boss lady,” Sawyer called out, giving a quick rap of his knuckles against my open office door.
Looking up from my computer, I met his light-blue eyes.
“Yep?”
“Candace is here with a bunch of stuff. She said she was supposed to drop by the other day but couldn’t.”
I nodded. “Right. I can meet with her now. I was just finishing something up.”
I definitely was not falling asleep on my desk.
A smile set across his face. “What tricks or favors did she have to do to get such special treatment? I brought my plans by your house two days ago for my space, and I still haven’t gotten approval.”
I gave him a stern look. “I didn’t say no.”
“But you didn’t say yes either. I really want to get my stuff in.”
I knew he did.Was it wrong that I really wanted to stall him?The idea of changing things up in here terrified me.
What if I failed?
Rising from the worn-out chair, I grabbed my cup of coffee and headed for the door. “Fine,” I relented. “But I want to be here when you set up. And it has to be after hours. I don’t want customers disturbed with everything being moved about.”
I thought for sure he’d make some snide comment about the lack of customers he’d seen around, but thankfully, he knew better.
His smile just widened, and he nodded. “How about tonight? I’ll bring dinner again?”
My stomach flipped at the idea, and I mentally scolded myself. “Do you think food will make me more agreeable?” I asked as we both headed to the front of the store.
“No, but it’s worth a try.”
I tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it. “Just no pizza,” I requested before walking away.
“You got it!”
Thankfully, we went our separate ways at that point. I had business to attend to with Candace, and he went to go charm a customer into buying something. I’d discovered over the last two days of working with him that he was actually quite good at sales—something I sorely lacked. While I was more of theleave the customer to themselvespractice, Sawyer preferred to interact with them, striking up conversations on anything from the weather to the local history. He’d sold more in his two days here than I’d sold in the last two weeks.
I should be thrilled, but of course, I was annoyed.
Does he have to be good at everything?
“Hey, Candace,” I said, noticing the book in her hand. It was one we sold, and it told all about the local history of Pine Hurst.
She flipped open to the pictures, squinting to see the small, grainy faces.
Sawyer hadn’t been lying; she had a ton of stuff today. When I’d asked her to bring more, she’d listened.
