Page 3 of This Heart
Jake and Opal Magoffin walked into the bookstore with Winnie Turner. She was the two-year-old daughter of Liam and Hope Turner. Hope and I had become friends not long after she moved to Moose Village with her husband, Liam, who had grown up here. My heart instantly broke as I zeroed in on Winnie. Hope passed away back in February from a battle with cancer, and I hated knowing she would grow up not knowing what a wonderful person Hope was. I had been trying to help Hope and Liam as much as I could, mostly taking Winnie out and about to give Liam some time to do what he needed and to allow him and Hope to spend time together. Toward the end of Hope’s battle, she had pushed me away entirely, and I hadn’t known why until Liam had told me one evening in the most horrible and embarrassing moments of my life. I hadn’t spoken to him since that night. That meant I hadn’t been able to see Winnie except for when she came to storytime, or if I happened to see Opal or Mary—Hope’s younger sister who had moved to Moose Village after Hope’s death to help Liam with Winnie.
Jake saw me and waved. I smiled and waved back. Jake was Hope’s father, and Opal was his wife. She used to own Batter Up Bakery but sold it to one of my best friends, Cadie, who recently became Cadie Carter after marrying Kian, Opal’s nephew.
Behind Jake and Opal, I saw Mary. When our eyes met, she grinned. The one person missing was Liam.
Again.
“Did you all come in for storytime?” I asked, rounding the counter and giving them each a hug before bending down to say hello to Winnie. She wore a wide smile as she reached for me. Her light blond hair was pulled up into pigtails, and her bright blue eyes sparkled with happiness. She was dressed in a darling pink romper made of light material. “Rora!”
Glancing up, I asked, “May I get her out?”
“Of course you can,” Mary said, smiling down at her niece.
I lifted Winnie out of her stroller. She cupped my face with her hands and kissed my nose. She took one of my blond strands of hair and twirled it in her fingers. It was something she has done since I first started watching her for Hope and Liam.
“I have missed you, little angel.”
When I looked back at Mary, Jake, and Opal, they wore identical smiles, but something was wrong. “Is everyone okay?”
Mary replied first. “Yes. It’s all fine.”
Opal cleared her throat and turned away. Jake fiddled with his hat he had taken off. Clearly, they didn’t really believe that I bought that blatant lie.
Deciding I wasn’t going to dive into something I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, I said, “James is coming to do the storytime this morning.”
Mary’s eyes lit up. “He is?”
It didn’t take a scientist to see that Mary was attracted to James Quinn, who was a good friend of mine and also a police officer in town. I wasn’t sure about how James felt, though. Plus, Mary didn’t live in Moose Village permanently. She had been staying with Liam since Hope’s passing to help him and had mentioned that she would soon have to return to New York City or risk losing her position. She had taken a leave of absence, but it had been nearly five months since she had arrived.
“Aurora?” I glanced to see my younger sister, Lou, standing there. She was also the manager of the bookstore. “We’re almost ready to start. James is here. He’s in your office.”
Turning to Mary, I held out Winnie. “Find a good seat, and we’ll chat before you leave.”
Winnie went to Mary, and the four of them set off for the children’s side of the bookstore.
“Thanks, Lou,” I said, squeezing my sister’s arm. “Oh, will you make sure the drinks and snacks are all set up for me? I know Granny was going to do it but…”
Lou grinned. “I’ll check on it all.”
Where I had blond hair, Lou had brown. My eyes were blue; hers were the color of a meadow in early spring. We both favored our mother with our looks, and our father with our personalities.
Granny Larson was our great-aunt and had been working at the bookstore since my grandfather first opened it. Her first name was Minnie, but she preferred to be called Grans or Granny.
I quickly made my way back to my office. When I opened the door, I saw James sitting behind my desk, his feet kicked up, and a Yoo-hoo chocolate milk in his hand.
Folding my arms over my chest, I glared at him. “Those are for the kids, you know.”
He finished it off. “Lou brought it for me.”
I pushed his feet off my desk. “Of course she did. She’s been crushing on you since she was ten!”
James stood. “Can I help it if I’m charming, good-looking, and wear a uniform?” He leaned closer and whispered, “I think it’s the uniform.”
“Has to be because you have zero charm.”
He feigned hurt. “That wounds me, Aurora.”
“James, stop messing around. Are you ready for storytime?”
