Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
REED
A sea of deep and light greens and pops of flowers surrounded Reed as Violet talked him through the best plant options for Bookish. He and Pearl had stopped by before Bloom opened.
“Now, you have low light in there, so you’ll want these snake plants.”
The soft opening was that afternoon. Reed figured the longer he waited to get the plants, the less likely they were to die between now and then.
Violet continued, “Now, for this little snake plant, his name is?—”
A scream sounded from upstairs, and Lily thundered down the top staircase from her studio.
“Rose is coming over! She got the email from the company!” Lily said, waving her phone.
“Oh, um.” Pearl shifted on her feet. “I can go. I’ll take the first batch of plants over.”
“No,” Reed said, holding out his hand and grabbing her arm as she turned. “Will you stay?”
He wanted somebody who really knew him, a friend, no matter what happened.
There was a softness in her eyes, a melting in them. They were on the same team no matter what, and she nodded.
Just a silent conversation between the two of them.
The back door of Bloom flew open, and Rose tossed her bags down as she jogged in.
“Well?” Lily asked, practically running down the spiral staircase.
“I haven’t opened it yet,” Rose said, tossing her hair out of the way.
“No matter what happens, we can always just be friends,” Violet said with a smile while rubbing Reed’s arm.
“Sure,” he shrugged. “I mean, the odds are so unlikely?—”
“Oh my god,” Rose said, her eyes scanning her phone. “It’s—You’re… We–we’re related.” The three women stared at him in shock.
He smiled with as much excitement as he could muster and gulped.
“Sorry?” He shrugged.
Violet yanked him down in a hug.
“What do you mean, sorry?” she said with a watery voice, crushing him. She pulled back. “We get a whole ’nother sibling.”
Relief washed over him.
They’d been so insistent, he thought they might be happy, but part of him felt like that six-year-old boy all over again, meeting his new stepfather’s family.
Hoping he could fit in. Hoping they’d love him despite…being himself.
Lily crashed into his other side, wrapping her arms around his middle and squeezing.
“I’m finally not the youngest!” she said with a smile as he hugged her back.
Rose smiled at her sisters. “You’ll get used to the hugging,” she said with a slow smile.
“What did your mom say when you told her about us?” Lily asked.
“Oh. I, um…” He scratched his head. “I didn’t want to bring it up until we knew. Didn’t want to get anybody’s hopes up.”
Violet walked around to the counter at Bloom and pulled out photo albums. “I brought these over a few weeks ago, just in case.”
Reed’s eye was magnetically drawn to the man that looked so much like him in the photos. Photos of them at Christmas, on boating trips, being silly, around the kitchen table.
“They’re all from around the same time period,” he said.
“Oh,” Violet said with a soft smile. “Our mom died a little after these were taken.”
“They were soulmates,” Lily said with a wistful sigh, “and losing her just took out all his spark.”
“There is a more recent photo at Pop’s. You may have seen it when you walked in. His photo’s on the wall. They were best friends,” Rose said.
“Oh, I, um”—he cleared his throat—“I haven’t been in there yet.”
“You haven’t been into Pop’s?” Lily said, aghast. “But the pancakes.”
“And biscuits,” Violet added.
“They do make a good cup of diner coffee,” Rose agreed, leaning over and flipping through the photos.
“Well, we need to have our first official family dinner,” Violet said, clapping her hands. “I’m happy to host. The guys can come, too. You’ll love Jack; he’s also a big reader.”
“Yeah, maybe sometime.” He tried to give as much enthusiasm as possible. He glanced at Pearl, who nodded encouragingly.
She mouthed, “Tell them.”
He looked away.
Violet’s face fell. “Oh, sure.”
“Hmm,” Rose said, her brows drawing together in thought. “I’ve seen you on runs around town. Do you want to go on a run together at some point?”
Excitement bubbled up in Reed. “I’d love that.”
Rose gave Violet a side hug, and a customer knocked on their door, peering in.
He grabbed the plant in front of him. “We should get out of your hair so you can open. I think we’ll take the six ferns and two snake plants for now.”
“It’s a gift,” Rose said just as Reed pulled out his wallet.
“I can’t.”
“Trust me,” she said, putting her arm around his shoulder and walking him to the ferns in the front. “Our dad loved supporting local businesses. As an official member of the Parker family now, we want your soft opening to be amazing. We insist on these being on the house.”
“That’s so nice.” He’d been planning to spend at least three or four hundred dollars here to make the bookstore look as good as possible before the grand opening.
“It’s what we do in Fairwick Falls.” Rose smiled as she unlocked the door. “We take care of each other.”
He and Pearl loaded the plants into his car and drove it over to Bookish.
“You know,” she said, pulling the plants out of the back seat of his car, “you could tell them.”
He didn’t even need to ask what she meant.
But all that work to explain it .
Half the time, people didn’t even believe him; the other half, they thought he was being overly dramatic.
“I don’t know. It takes me a long time to trust that people won’t judge me for it,” he said, hefting two large ferns to take back inside.
“You told me, didn’t you?”
“That’s different,” he said, bringing them inside. “You’d never judge somebody for doing what was best for them.”
It was one of the things he loved most about her: the radical acceptance of others’ differences. She’d ride at dawn for anybody who needed it. She’d bitch and moan on the way, but she’d be there as sure as the sun would rise every morning.
Wait…loved?
He needed to get his head straight between her and Bookish.
“Hey, I, um…” He set the plants down in their new spots. “I’m going to take off the long weekend for Fourth of July and close the store. I know it’s right after we open, but I have something I’ve got to do.”
“Oh.” She set down the three large snake plants on the front checkout desk. “Yeah, I was going to let you know that I needed to be gone then, too.”
Maybe if he met Bookish in person, he could finally put all the lusty, distracting thoughts of Pearl behind him.
Bookish cared about him. They had chemistry.
He was in love with her.
This thing with Pearl and his attraction, it was probably just unspent lust. And her friendship was so important to him. It would all resolve itself when he could finally meet Bookish in person and make a decision.
Reed’s heart was vibrating somewhere outside of his body as he saw the clock count down to three. He turned around in his bookshop. It gleamed. Plants were on every surface, filling in spaces in the bookshelves.
The nook had been finished with books looking like they were flying out over the small stage. Lily had finished the final installation of the papier-maché tree in the kids’ space two days ago, and though it was still a little wet to the touch, he hoped it could withstand any kids that stopped by.
They’d invited the business owners around the square. Pretty much anyone that Reed bumped into that he could tell about the bookstore was invited to the soft launch.
He stared at the photo on his phone, his thumb hovering over the send button. He’d gone outside earlier that day, feeling sentimental, and taken a photo of the sign for the store. In inscribed letters, it said “Bookish, a Fairwick Falls Bookstore.”
Sentimental feelings clogged his throat. He wanted to tell ImpossiblyBookish just how much she meant to him, how much she’d inspired him, and how much she’d gotten him through all the times he’d doubted himself.
“Ugh,” Pearl grumbled. “The one day I’m running every-fucking-where, and I wear a skirt without any pockets because the patriarchy doesn’t want me to be able to find my keys. It would make me too powerful.” She slammed her stuff down. “Can I just toss everything under the counter? I need to go back out and bring in the last of the cookies.”
“Of course.” He stood back from the register so she could dump her phone, keys, and purse on the shelf underneath.
His heart pulled back to his screen.
Was he brave enough? Would she think he was a creepy fool for naming a whole store after her?
Only one way to find out.
Hemingway_CanSuckIt
My big project launches today, sort of. That’s why my head’s been everywhere and I’ve been a little absent.
I hope you’re not weirded out by this, but I just need you to know how much you mean to me. How much all our rambling late-night conversations about nothing have meant to me.
I’ve honestly never had a lot of friends. I think I can be a bit much in person sometimes.
It’s why I’m nervous to meet you, but I’m so excited.
I’m literally counting down the days.
…
Oh god, I sound like such a loser.
I promise I’m not a loser, just…awkward.
Anyway
I didn’t want to tell you about the specifics of my big project because… I don’t know. I thought, maybe, I didn’t want to get anybody’s hopes up in case it failed, but it’s coming together.
And I wanted you to know…
He gulped.
Hemingway_CanSuckIt
Well, you were my muse, so I thought it was only fitting that it would have your name.
He sent a photo of the sign to her.
Hemingway_CanSuckIt
It’s a bookshop.
I’m still in the process of launching it, but I hope it’ll end up just like you.
Interesting, kind to all, thought-provoking, and something that feels a lot like my soulmate
So thank you.
Thank you for just being you in this world.
He put his phone down on the counter immediately. I can’t handle watching her read the message. Imagine her deleting her account and blocking me for being fucking weird.
A light rap sounded on the closed bookstore door. The clock read 3:05. “Shit, we’re late.”
He tossed all the stuff on the counter, his phone and coffee cup, extra books and papers, under the register.
He opened the door and no less than fifteen people were standing outside in the afternoon sun.
“Welcome to Bookish, Fairwick Falls’s first bookstore,” Reed said, feeling like he was having an out-of-body experience.
The two older ladies he’d seen in the Historical Society Committee beelined it to the mystery section. A couple of bikers Reed recognized from the Thirsty Beaver wandered in with two kids.
“Yinz got any kids’ books? The lil’ one loves dragons,” one of the women said, pushing her sunglasses up to the top of her bandana and pointing to a kid with their hoodie up and excitement in their eyes.
He practically bounced on his toes. “Tons. Check out the kids’ section back there.” They wandered in with impressed faces, and Reed felt so proud.
Violet and her husband were walking down the sidewalk, and Reed waved. “Welcome!”
Her husband, Jack, was wearing their son in a baby carrier, and Violet carried a plant with her. “I hope you got the romance section ready for me.” She laughed and gave him a big hug and the plant. “Happy soft opening.”
“Violet, you already gave us too much.”
“Heard you’re part of the family now, mate,” Jack said, sticking out a hand with a smile.
“Happy to be here,” Reed said. Jack pulled him in for a quick hug. Reed was careful not to squish the baby.
Oh my god, I have a nephew. He was thunderstruck at the idea.
“You don’t happen to play football, do you? Er, soccer,” Jack corrected himself.
“I do,” Reed said with excitement.
“Finally.” Jack hit Reed’s chest companionably as they walked in. “I’ve got a pickup game on Sundays. I’ll get your number from Vi and text you the details.”
Reed stared after them.
Instant family is…crazy.
Rose and her husband, Gray, were walking across the town square, and Reed waved them in.
Rose shooed him. “Go. You have customers. We’ll talk later.”
Shit, she was right . He wandered through, making sure folks were finding everything they needed. Pearl had been up baking all night, and people swarmed around her cookie table.
Not knowing what else to do so he didn’t bother people, he just stood behind the checkout counter, his eyes not fully believing what he was seeing.
People were happy, enjoying perusing the old and new books they’d found. Pearl came up to stand beside him.
“This opening doesn’t feel soft at all. It’s getting rather hard, actually,” she said with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
He shook his head at her indulgently. “Your cookies are a hit.”
“People love free shit, but yes. They are,” she said with a proud smile, drumming her hands on the counter in front of her. Reed heard two zhush notifications under the counter.
Bookish responded.
He grabbed his phone from under the counter and swiped up to open it.
It didn’t open.
Wait. What are my messages doing on the lock screen?
A photo preview was on the lock screen with a message from Hemingway_CanSuckIt.
Beside it, a notification said, “Today’s your six-month anniversary of connecting with Hemingway_CanSuckIt. Tell them hello!”
Why would his phone show him the preview that he sent ?
Pearl grabbed her phone from under the counter and muttered, “What the fuck?”
Wait a minute.
He turned the case over, confusion clouding his thoughts. The case was black and spiky.
This was Pearl’s case.
Why was Pearl’s case on his phone?
“I, um…” Reed muttered.
“Oh my god.” Pearl was staring at a phone in her hands, jaw slack and breathing heavy. “This is impossible.”
Blood rushed in his ears.
She shoved the phone in her hand at him. “This is yours.”
On his screen, there was a similar notification saying, “You and ImpossiblyBookish have been friends for six months. Say hello!”
Reed felt dizzy. “Then, that would mean…”
She grabbed her phone from him, and her eyes scanned the messages. An image filled her screen—the one he’d taken outside the bookstore.
That would mean…
“Holy. Fuck.” Pearl’s voice was sharp as she looked at him in panic.
“Uh, this where we check out?” the grizzled woman said as a kid piled three books onto the checkout counter.
That would mean…
…Pearl is ImpossiblyBookish.