Chapter Four
“Do you know what all these plants are?” Cheryl asked as she followed Jax through the large sunroom off the back of the bookstore.
Racks of books on gardening were interspersed with displays of lush live plants. There were cute gardening tool kits, a couple
of those rolling benches for working outside and tall spinners with colorful packages of seeds.
“Not a clue,” Jax admitted cheerfully. “That’s why we have the signs.”
She pointed to a large, bright sign that read: “Easy care. Prefers full sun. Water weekly.”
“I can fake my way through most conversations with those. If the customer wants more details, I give them one of Maggie’s
cards.”
Maggie was the person who brought in the plants and cared for them. Like the jewelry sold in the Local Artist section of the
store and handcrafted items throughout, the plants were sold on consignment. The practice allowed her various vendors to experiment
with unusual offerings at a fairly low risk to both them and Jax.
“You have quite the empire,” Cheryl said with a smile. “I’m impressed.”
Jax laughed. “I’m just following in the footsteps of those who went before.”
They returned to the main bookstore and walked to the center where the tall brick wall stood.
“You heard this has to come down?” Jax asked. “I tried to talk Marcus into fixing it without removing it but he basically
said that when I had my degree in architecture he’d listen to my opinion.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Maybe not in those words,” Jax admitted, “but it was what he meant.”
Cheryl stared at the brick wall. “They think they can take it down and keep track of which bricks went where?”
“That’s the plan.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I’m suspicious by nature,” Jax admitted, placing her hand on the bricks. “But it has to be done. Marcus swears it will be
fine, so I guess I’ll trust him. We have time to prepare. We’ll send out a notice on Port Palmas Talks to let everyone know when they can come get their diaries.”
“What about the ones that aren’t claimed?” Cheryl’s eyes brightened with amusement. “We could read from them.”
Jax shook her head. “No, we couldn’t. We’re giving people the opportunity to claim their diary to protect their privacy, but
even for those who don’t, the diaries are private. The ones that aren’t claimed will stay in their slots and then be put back
in place.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ll bet there are a few juicy secrets buried inside.”
“And they’re going to stay secrets.”
“I agree it’s the right thing to do,” Cheryl told her. “But aren’t you the least bit tempted? Secrets can change lives.”
“There are things I don’t need to know,” Jax said with a laugh. “I like my worldview just the way it is. I don’t want anything earth-shattering changing how I look at my neighbors.” She patted the wall. “All right. Enough with the diaries. How’s the summer schedule coming?”
Cheryl brought her up-to-date on all the special events they had planned. Jax liked to add extra offerings, especially for
families with younger kids. While the children enjoyed their time off, all those weeks with no school could be overwhelming
for a lot of parents. The Painted Lady Bookstore offered everything from classes on cursive writing to afternoon crafts, along
with the traditional story hour. Wednesday First Chapter book lunch—where the first chapter of a book was read aloud in the
store and on their YouTube channel—would continue, although in the summer, Jax preferred to feature lighter beach read–type
books.
Cheryl flipped through her notes. “The store is staying open on the Fourth of July?”
“Yes, just like every year. Ramon doesn’t like it when the store is closed. He needs people around and things to keep him
entertained. We’ll close at six, but otherwise, it’s a normal workday. It’s usually pretty busy, especially with the tourists
in town for the fireworks show.”
Cheryl nodded. “I’ll make a note. This is my first summer home in years. I’ve always traveled while on summer break. It will
be nice to see how everyone celebrates the holiday.”
“They shoot the fireworks off from the end of the pier,” Jax told her. “The kids are with their dad this year, so they’ll
stay on the beach with him and I’ll watch from the widow’s walk. It’s prime viewing. We also have a sleepover in the store
to be with Ramon. He does all right with the fireworks from the show, but the random ones at three in the morning bother him.”
“They would bother me as well,” Cheryl said. “No one needs to be shooting off fireworks at that time of night!”
“Excuse me.”
Jax turned and saw a thirtysomething woman with an auburn bob and thick drugstore lashes. “Hi. Can I help you?”
“Yes. I was wondering if Marcus was working in the store today.”
“He was here earlier, but I think he left. Do you want me to take a message?”
The woman shook her head. “No, that’s fine. I just wondered if he was here.”
She turned and walked out of the store. Jax stared after her.
“Okay, that was strange. If she’s a client, why doesn’t she just call him?”
“She’s not.”
Jax looked at Cheryl. “How do you know?”
“She’s one of the lookers.” Cheryl grinned. “Haven’t you noticed? Whenever Marcus is here, random women show up to watch him
work.” She lowered her voice. “He’s a very handsome man.”
“I’ll admit he’s got something going on, but I didn’t know about women stopping by to stare.” That couldn’t be comfortable
for anyone.
“I’m old enough to be his mother and I do my share of looking.” Cheryl seemed pleased with herself as she spoke. “I can appreciate
a handsome man as much as the next girl and this one is right there in front of me.”
“I admire your attitude.” Jax laughed. “We should charge admission, or make them buy something if they spend more than ten
minutes ogling him.”
“That’s a great idea. Or you could invite him to coffee.”
“What?” The word came out in a too-loud yelp. Jax cleared her throat and lowered her voice. “I mean why would I do that?”
“You’re single. He’s single. I’ve only been working here a few months, but from what I can tell, you don’t seem to have a
man in your life.”
“The divorce is too new. I’m still adjusting. Harris and I made huge changes and it’s taking time for me to figure it all out. Besides, I have the kids and the store and Ryleigh and Ramon. I’m good.”
Cheryl seemed surprised. “You don’t date at all?”
“Not really.” That was more a Harris thing, she thought, still surprised he’d been so accepting about Shawna spending or rather
not spending the night.
“But you’re young. Don’t you want to be in a relationship? Or aren’t you the type to get lonely?”
“I’m not lonely. Trust me, my life is plenty busy, which is how I like things.”
Although if she were to ever change her mind, she wouldn’t mind seeing if Marcus was interested. He was easy on the eyes and
she enjoyed talking to him. Even his smackdown of her idea for the wall had been delivered with the right amount of humor.
But as she wasn’t interested, there was no point in wasting time thinking about the man.
Conversation returned to the summer schedule. When they were done, Jax started for her office. Ramon flew toward her and she
automatically held out her hand for him. When he’d landed and pressed his beak to her cheek, she told him about what Cheryl
had asked.
“She wanted to know if I was dating. Who has time? I’m busy with my kids and my business and my friends. I’m happy just the
way I am.”
Ramon watched her without responding.
“What?” she demanded. “You disagree? Do you think I should be dating?”
He turned away as if the conversation wasn’t the least bit interesting to him.
“I listen when you rant,” she pointed out, then sighed. “Besides, I don’t need a man. I’m fine. Better than fine. Dating would
be so . . . so . . . Well, I don’t know what but something weird.”
“Weird is as weird does.”
“Actually it’s pretty is as pretty does, which I’ve never understood.”
“Tomorrow is another day,” he said in a fair imitation of a Southern accent.
“Thank you, Scarlett.”
“You’re welcome, Rhett.”
Ryleigh stood in the center of her apartment living room. She’d managed to drive home from school and walk inside. After flinging
her backpack and purse on the sofa, she’d tried to figure out what to do next. But her mind was still in shock and empty of
thought, so she’d stayed where she was now, standing, wondering how she’d messed up her life so thoroughly so fast.
Part of her wanted to call Dustin and tell him she’d totally changed her mind. That she’d had a brain hiccup and hadn’t been
herself. That of course, yes, they should get married and be happy together.
But even as she thought the words, she felt that tightness in her throat and knew that for whatever reason, there was no way
she could accept his proposal.
“But it’s what I wanted,” she whispered to herself. “Him, us, the future. Kids.” Mostly kids, she thought sadly, sinking down
to sit on the coffee table. She wanted two or three running around, making noise and messes and hugging her with sticky fingers.
She wanted the memories, the hopes and dreams, the plans. She wanted to feel so much love that her heart felt as if it could
burst. She wanted—
Someone knocked on her door. Her heart immediately started pounding as she wondered if it was Dustin coming to talk to her.
That thought was immediately followed by the need to run and hide because she absolutely couldn’t deal with him right now.
The knock came again, reminding her that whoever was there would have seen her car in her parking space, so not answering only made her look like an idiot—which she probably was.
She stalked to the door and flung it open only to find Alex there.
He was so not whom she expected to see that for a second, she simply stared at him blankly.
“Hey,” he said with a smile as he stepped into her apartment. “You left your favorite black cardigan at my place the other