Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
LAUREL
L ong. Fucking. Distance.
I didn’t generally swear, but shit. No amount of hearing other people’s stories could’ve prepared me for how hard this was going to be.
“I miss you,” I said into the phone as I lay on my bed, talking to him before I’d spend another long, lonely night without him. “I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it’s bad. How are you?”
“It sounds like I’m about the same as you.” He chuckled darkly. “Going from day to day feeling like I’m missing a limb. I don’t know how I’m going to survive this long term.”
I smiled into the darkness and sighed as I rolled my head to look at the snow falling outside my window. “I don’t even know if I can make it to Christmas without seeing you, let alone surviving in the long term.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. A couple weeks has never felt so long.” He fell silent for a beat. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I know how much you love your store.”
“I really do.” I closed my eyes. When Leif was around, I was the best version of myself and I’d truly enjoyed showing him around my home over the weekend. “I also love Franklin.”
“So do I,” he said softly. “I love you more, though.”
“I love you more, too.” I’d been giving it a lot of thought ever since he’d left, and while I’d been spending the last few days working in the bookshop with Grace, I’d realized I couldn’t ever see myself moving away.
At the same time, though, I also couldn’t see myself living this far away from Leif indefinitely. As I opened my mouth to tell him that I’d been thinking about trying to figure out a way to navigate the commute between Denver and Nashville, he suddenly spoke again.
“Which is why I think I might be open to starting a firm in Franklin,” he said. “Obviously, that’d be down the line. It’s not something I can get done overnight, but it is something to think about.”
My heart leaped and jumped for joy, a wide grin taking over my face. “For real? You’ll consider moving here one day?”
“I have been, yeah” he said. “How would you feel about it if it happened?”
“I can’t imagine anything better.” Excited laughter bubbled out of me. “I’ve been thinking about the same thing, except that I’ve been trying to come up with a way that I’d be able to keep the store here and perhaps open another in Denver.”
“That’d be amazing,” he whispered, clearing his throat before he tried speaking again. “Ultimately, though, there’s only one of you but there’s two of us. Jack could hold the fort in Denver while I’m in Tennessee, but I’m not sure Grace would be okay basically running the store without you.”
“Well, like you said, it’s something to think about.” We spoke for about another hour before we finally got off the phone, but I tossed and turned most of the night as I considered everything we’d said.
Now that we’d had a good conversation about how we could possibly make our relationship work in the future, I felt more confident than ever that we would be together for a long, long time. Long distance wouldn’t beat us. We just had to keep our heads above the water for now and eventually it would all work out.
The next morning, I walked into the store with a whole new challenge ahead. I’d done several interviews as a writer, but today, I was being interviewed by a news channel for a segment on being a bookshop owner as well as a writer.
Grace was practically bouncing off the walls when I arrived, her eyes sparkling with excitement and a supersized smile on her lips. “They’re here. Laurel, they’re here. They actually came. I set them up in the sitting area.”
“Thanks, Grace,” I said, drawing in a deep breath as I unwrapped my scarf from around my neck.
As I slid out of my coat, she took it and the scarf from me, shooing me to the other side of the store where the reporter was already waiting. Spotting her as soon as I rounded the final shelf to the grown-up seating area, I smiled when I saw she was casually flipping through one of my first books.
“Hi, Anna,” I said, not wanting to startle her or make her think I’d been watching her from over here like some dangerous superfan hiding between the shelves. “It’s a real honor to meet you. I wasn’t expecting you here so early.”
She waved me off, returning my smile as she closed the book and rose to shake my hand. “Don’t worry. You’re not late. Our interview is still only at ten. I just like spending some time at the local businesses I do my segments on to get a feel for what they’re really like.”
“Can I offer you a coffee?”
“Your lovely assistant already has.” She grinned and resumed her seat after releasing my hand. “This is quite a place you’ve got here, Laurel. It’s well-deserving of all the hype.”
I laughed. “I didn’t realize there was any hype.”
She arched her eyebrows, giving me a look that said she wasn’t sure if she believed that. “There’s hype. A well-known writer of Franklin’s very own who gets at least some of her work done right here, in the store where you can buy her books and others, and watch her write? That’s gotten a few people pretty excited.”
“I’ve never thought about it like that,” I admitted as I sat down with her and thanked Grace when she came out with a coffee for each of us. As I focused back on Anna, I wrapped my fingers around my mug and prayed she was a gentle interviewer. “Are they as excited that they get to see you here today?”
She chuckled. “I’m not even sure anyone knows yet that I’m here. The producers usually only start running the ads after I’ve done the interviews.”
“Still, I’m sure there would’ve been hype if they had known.”
I wasn’t even trying to be a brown-noser. It was simply true. Anna Conway had been making a name for herself doing these segments on local people all around the state. She had a legion of loyal followers—myself included—and I’d often turned to the businesses she’d featured when I was looking for something specific.
All around the world, people were becoming more and more aware of the importance of supporting local. Of choosing small businesses over the conglomerates.
Anna was one of the people who helped us, the ordinary public, figure out how best to do that and how to find the things we were looking for. “I love your segment. I think it’s so cool what you’re doing.”
“Likewise,” she said, motioning to a guy who was browsing in the gaming section and calling him over. “Jo, we’re getting started.”
She sent me an apologetic look. “That’s my cameraman, but I lost him as soon as he walked in. We might be leaving here with half your store if he has anything to do with it.”
I chuckled, standing up to shake his hand before I sat down again. “You’re both welcome to keep browsing. We can start the interview at ten as planned. I just wanted to come say hi.”
Anna shook her head. “We can always keep browsing after. You’re here now and it’s not that busy yet. Let’s do the interview. Then we’ll take a look around.”
“That sounds good,” I said, nerves blooming in my tummy. “Where would you like to do it?”
“Right here is perfect,” she said. “For now, anyway. If too many people start coming through, we’ll move.”
Jo went over to some equipment he must have stashed behind the counter before I’d arrived, and while he got set up, Anna turned back to me. “I looked into you while I was preparing for this interview. I’ve been reading your books for a few years and I didn’t even realize you owned a store until someone emailed the program about you. You’ve been keeping a low profile about it. Why?”
I frowned. “I don’t think I have? Not intentionally at least.”
One of her raven-dark eyebrows lifted. “Locals of Franklin seem to know and they love you, but not those further afield. I think this interview might help change that. If you’re interested, of course. We’re doing the interview anyway, but I haven’t quite decided which angle to take. Tell me more about your store, and we’ll take it from there?”
“What do you want to know?”
She shrugged before she motioned at the kids’ corner. Jo was ready to start filming too, shooting her a thumbs-up. He panned the camera toward it just as she spoke again. “That seems like a pretty fun place. Why don’t we start there?”
“Sure,” I said easily, smiling as I glanced at the colorful space. “Reading was one of my first loves. I knew the very moment I walked into this store that I wanted to share that love and hopefully inspire it in the local children who came to visit.”
“A noble ideal,” she murmured. “Has it been working? Do you have many children who come here?”
“Surprisingly, yes,” I said. “We have story time every week and we try to do some fun activities during school breaks. We also work with local educators and community programs to get books in kids’ hands.”
She glanced up at me. “Do you have any kids of your own?”
My heart stumbled over its next beat. “Not yet, but one day, I hope to have some.”
God—and Leif—willing. Something else he and I need to talk about. Probably before this interview airs.
Anna chuckled. “You and me both, sister. Alright, tell me about what you offer here. The books. The authors. Events. I also noticed you sell some other things. We’d like to hear all about it.”
As if she’d unlocked that compartment in my being where I stored passion, once I started talking, I couldn’t stop. I truly, deeply loved this store, and while I’d been serious about considering opening another in Denver if I had to, selfishly, I hoped Leif would follow through on his thoughts of moving here instead.
If not, then I supposed I would have to fall in love with Denver too. Which I could, I was sure, but Franklin and this store would always have a large part of my heart. I would never sell it, even if I did have to open a sister store in Colorado.
After the interview, Anna promised she would be in touch. Then both she and Jo bought armfuls of stuff before they left. Grace raved about them for the rest of the day, unable to get over how cool it was that we’d been interviewed by Anna Conway herself, and then she and I got back to work.
The end of the week arrived quickly after that, and as much as I still missed Leif with every breath I took, I was also super excited for the weekend. It was time for my, Gemma, and Mariam’s annual Gatlinburg holiday trip.
Every year, we went there to do some last-minute shopping. We booked a cozy cabin, stocked up on our favorite snacks and drinks, and took board games and books with us. For an entire weekend, once our shopping was done, the cabin was our hideaway and it was amazing.
I hadn’t been sure we’d be able to do it this year, what with Mariam moving to Idaho, but she’d called earlier this week to ask if we were still on and Gemma had pulled a rabbit out of a hat to make it happen. Tradition intact, Grace had happily agreed to look after Doodle for me again this weekend, and I left the store on Friday afternoon to go collect the girls from the airport.
“Okay, tell us everything,” Gemma said immediately after she climbed into my car, her seatbelt not even clicked into place yet. “How was the rest of Leif’s visit? Have you decided what you’re going to do yet?”