Epilogue
Molly frothed milk for a mocha and worked quickly to get a customer’s drink made.
She rarely worked behind the counter anymore, but helped when Katie was short-staffed.
And right now, they were short-staffed. With Katie on her honeymoon, Molly was helping as much as she could.
Her graphic design business was at an all-time high in sales.
She felt non-stop busy, but always tried to help at the store.
Katie would be home tomorrow, and then Molly could get a reprieve.
Lauren hadn’t stepped foot in the store again, but they heard she had been arrested in the town over for stalking a married man who worked at the hardware store. Her stalking had only progressed to more dangerous levels as she showed up at the man’s house and threatened his wife.
Molly was thankful Lauren had given up on Eli and hoped she would never come back. But they all kept an eye out regardless. But a year later, their concern that she would return had waned significantly.
“Here you are. A peppermint mocha, just the way you like it,” Molly said to Gavin, a regular customer she had gotten to know.
“Thank you, Molly. You’re the best.” He walked away, and Molly shifted her eyes to the bookstore. It was packed. Business had never been so good.
After Molly got the website up and running, they continued to get online sales.
It got to the point where they weren’t able to keep up and they had to hire extra help just to package orders.
The online store had since expanded to include bookish merchandise, such as bookmarks, sweatpants, sweatshirts, and much more.
Storyville was already a vacation town because of the hot springs, but now the store got more traffic from the tourists because of its online presence.
Eli looked up from the customer he was helping and smiled at Molly.
She smiled back. Seeing him every day was the breath of fresh air she hadn’t realized she needed.
Shortly after her parents had met Eli, he asked her to move in with him.
She said “yes” immediately, and everything had been amazing since.
He walked over to the counter and bent down to kiss her lips. “How’s everything going? Do you need some help? I can pull Michelle from the back.”
Molly looked at the group of customers entering the store and looking at the cafe menu. She smiled. “No, I think I can handle it. It’s like old times.”
“We’re still on for our date tonight, right?” Eli asked.
Molly smiled and tucked her hand into her pocket, her finger skimming over the round metal object. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Good.”
They stared at each other a moment longer before a customer cleared their throat. Eli chuckled and took a step away before walking back to the cash register to help knock down the line.
Molly smiled at the customer. “What can I get for you?”
But her hand remained in her pocket, skimming over the ring she would use to propose to Eli that night. She couldn’t wait.