Chapter 23
On Friday evening, Via stood to the side and watched as Leo ran Second Chapter as if he were born to be a bookstore owner.
Harvest Fest was in full swing, and it was busier than ever this year. But she barely noticed any of it. Her stomach was a
wreck, and Dora had commented on how tired she looked. She wasn’t just tired—she was physically ill. Keeping Percival’s offer
from Leo all week had been a nightmare. On the outside she was cool, making sure to stay so busy that anytime he approached
her to take a break or offer her a meal, she refused, claiming there was too much to do.
But the reality was, she couldn’t be around him, not without being tempted to tell him about the offer. And she couldn’t do
that. Not yet. She’d mulled it over in her mind constantly, losing hours of sleep, and she always came back to one thing—Leo
would sell to Percival.
The shop was busier than she’d ever seen it. Everyone in Pecan Corner seemed to want to visit Earl’s legacy one last time.
She’d made the right decision to wait to talk to Leo about the offer. Now to get through the next two days.
Leo was talking to Zander and Charlie by the cookbook section, the first one he and Via had set up in the shop. As if he felt her watching him, he turned. Winked at her through his sexy glasses. She was surprised when he showed up wearing them. “Do I look nerdy enough?” he’d asked.
His tone was light, but she could see a touch of anxiety in his eyes. It might seem like a little thing to wear glasses in
a bookstore, but to Leo, it was huge. She set aside her stress and gave him a brief kiss. “There’s nothing nerdy about you, Harvard Boy.”
Her chest ached. She wanted to go back to Harvard Boy and Smitten Kitten. Her nickname was absolutely accurate. She was smitten
with Leo all right. More like in love, and it felt nothing like her feelings for Trevor. Which made withholding the offer
so much worse.
“Great turnout,” Bennett said, coming up beside her.
Via crossed her arms. She’d grabbed the first thing she found in her closet—a rose-and-periwinkle striped shirt. Definitely
not fall themed. The last thing she was thinking about was her bucket list.
“I’ve been wanting to compliment you on your accomplishment.”
She turned to him. “What accomplishment?”
“Helping Leo gain his inheritance.” He turned to her, his crinkly blue eyes filled with their usual kindness.
Confused, she was about to say she had no idea what he was talking about. Then a cold frost went through her. Leo had never
said anything about stipulations. “Yeah,” she said, looking at Leo laughing with his new friends. “That’s me. Helpful.”
“Tomorrow, Leo will have fulfilled his thirty days. He’ll take the quiz, the property will be officially his, and—”
“Remind me about the quiz again?” Via said, turning to face him and pretending that, once again, a man she’d fallen in love
with wasn’t doing something behind her back. “Leo hasn’t mentioned it in a while, and we’ve been so busy I forgot about it.”
“Oh, of course. Earl not only wanted him to live here thirty days, but also get to know the bookstore and the community. He
even had a list of books for Leo to find. The titles were interesting to say the least.” He chuckled.
Shock coursed through her. All this time Leo didn’t even own the bookstore because of stipulations? Stipulations that just
happened to line up with how she’d offered to help him?
“In typical Earl fashion, he wanted to make sure it stuck, so he developed a quiz. I haven’t seen it yet. Tomorrow I’ll give
it to Leo and the deal will be done. Also—”
“Via!” Sally rushed over to her. “Hi, Bennett, sorry to interrupt. I just had to tell Via how happy I am that Second Chapter
is open one last time. Pecan Corner hasn’t felt the same without it. And if Earl can’t be here . . .” She turned and looked
at the bustling shop. “This is the next best thing.” She hugged Via. “Now to give that man of yours a hug too. I wish the
bookstore could stay open forever, but Earl knew what he was doing when he left the bookstore to his nephew.”
“Anyway,” Bennett said after Sally left, “as I was saying, tomorrow I’d like for you to meet me—”
“Excuse me.” Via pushed past him to the side door. “I’ve . . . I’ve got to go.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be in touch . . .”
But she barely heard him as she rushed to the door, bumping into several people along the way. She ran up the stairs to her
apartment. Sir Meow and Squeaks were there, instantly meowing. She thought they would behave themselves better up here than
downstairs. “Not now,” she snapped at the cats. They backed away.
Her fists clenched. She felt so stupid. He’d lied to her for a month.
Technically a lie of omission, but that was just as bad.
She understood him not telling her in the beginning.
They didn’t know each other. But after they became friends .
. . after the corn maze . . . how could he not say anything then?
How could he keep a secret that big from her? Like Trevor—he’s just like Trevor.
A knock sounded on the door. “Via?”
Leo. She refused to answer.
“Meowmeowmeowmeowmeow—”
Now the cat was back in love with Leo? “Sir, will you shut up!” she shouted.
That only made him meow harder.
“I saw you run up here after talking to Bennett,” Leo said through the door.
Squeaks was now joining in with Sir, and the chorus of meows was making her head pound.
“Did something happen? Talk to me, Via. Please.”
Leo sagged with relief when Via opened the door. Thankfully, the caterwauling stopped too. He let Sir and Squeaks do their
sniffing, rubbing, and weaving around his ankles as he looked at her. He’d never seen her so angry. What in the world had
Bennett told her? “Via, what’s wrong?”
“You had stipulations.”
He stilled. “Bennett told you?” What kind of lawyer was this guy, violating client privilege like that?
“Don’t blame him—he thought I already knew. Because I was being so helpful to you.”
“That’s what you’re mad about?” He tried moving closer, but she backed away. “They were nothing—”
“How could you lie to me like that?”
“I didn’t—”
“You made me think you owned Second Chapter and Earl’s apartment.”
His stomach clenched. He hadn’t thought about it that way.
Her eyes filled with tears. “Was everything a lie?”
“No!” He went to her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize . . . I didn’t think you needed to know.”
Her expression turned to ice.
Uh-oh. Wrong thing to say. “Via,” he crooned, moving closer to her. “Swing and a miss, right?” At her confused look, he said,
“I told you, I reserve the right to be wrong once in a while.”
The look in her eyes turned hollow.
Leo was more than familiar with shutting down emotions, and Via was doing just that. He could see why she was hurt. “I should
have told you,” he said, taking another step to her. Then another, until they were almost touching. “Babe, c’mon. We can work
this out—”
“Don’t you dare turn your charm on me.”
He didn’t understand her response at all. “I’ve apologized, Via. What else do you want me to do?” His cell started buzzing
in his pocket and he muttered a curse. It had to be Percival again. The man had called him three times in half an hour this
morning. He didn’t want to answer him at all, and whatever offer the guy wanted to make, Leo wasn’t taking it. He’d told Via
he wasn’t selling to Percival, and he meant it. But if he didn’t get rid of the man, he would never leave Leo alone. “Sorry,”
he muttered, yanking out his phone. “Percival won’t stop calling.”
“What?”
He barely heard her—he was rehearsing his get-lost-Percival speech in his head. He slid his thumb across the screen.
Via hurried to him. “Leo, don’t—”
“Brewster here.”
Via’s heart sank to her knees, snapping her out of her anger and plunging her into quicksand. Up until then, she was furious at Leo’s effort to try to appease her with his pleading eyes, sensuous voice, and sexy glasses. He sounded so much like Trevor, it freaked her out.
But all that disappeared as Leo answered the phone. “Percival, I’m busy right now . . . Wait. What offer?”
She watched his eyes get big, then she sank onto the couch, unable to look at him. Logic overtook emotions, and she was thinking
with more clarity than she had been since Percival gave her the offer on Tuesday. As Leo listened, his eyes narrowed. She
closed hers. She had royally screwed up.
He ended the conversation noncommittally. Slowly he slid his phone in his pocket. Turned to her. “Where’s the offer?”
His coldness was devastating. When she looked up, she saw a different man. The warm, sparkling, shiny Leo was gone, replaced
by a man who was a heartbeat above a statue. “My office. In my desk.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
That propelled her off the couch. “Yes, I promise I was. After the Harvest Fest.” Her defensiveness came back. “Were you ever
going to tell me about the stipulations?”
He stared at her. Not a glare, not a smirk. Zero emotion. “The fact that you think the two are on the same level . . .”
“Leo, I’m—”
But he was already out the door.
Via fell back on the couch again. Sir meowed at the door, Squeaks right behind him. She heard his apartment door slam. There
was still some emotion inside him. Anger. Incredible anger.
Dora was wrong. Via’s decision to keep the offer from Leo didn’t just bite her in the butt. It ruined their relationship . . . forever.
Harvest Fest was a huge success, according to everyone in town. Via didn’t know. After Leo left her apartment, she called
Dora and told her she was ill and to let everyone know she wouldn’t be available. God love her sister, she didn’t rub it in,
although Via was sure Dora knew something had happened.
On Saturday morning, Second Chapter was closed and Leo’s Turismo was gone. Bennett called her right away and asked what was
going on. She only told him that Leo had to leave, stopping short of telling him that Leo wasn’t coming back. He hadn’t returned
a single one of her frantic calls and messages.