The Good Ones Page 25

  “You can’t,” Savy said. “Unless you make yourself heard.”

  “Exactly,” Maisy said. “I don’t know if I’m up for that.” She glanced at her friend and added, “I don’t think Quino is like that, by the way.”

  “Doesn’t matter, I’m not dating him,” Savy said.

  “Why not?” Maisy asked. “He’s cute, he’s here, and you’re going to be here for . . .”

  Savannah rolled her eyes. “It’s not going to work. I’m onto you, Maisy Kelly. You’re trying to figure out how long I’m going to be staying and you think if I start dating the hot stable owner guy maybe I’ll stay longer.”

  “Me?” Maisy asked. She put her hand over her chest in a protestation of innocence. Savy shook her head, clearly not buying it.

  “You,” she said. “Listen, I haven’t gotten any job offers worth taking but when I do, I will have to go. I’m a city girl, M. I love it here and all, but I’m subways and sushi not trail rides and barbeques.”

  “I know. I just like having you here,” Maisy said. “Try to screw up all of your job interviews for at least a few more months?”

  “I’ll do my best,” Savy said. “Not.”

  * * *

  • • •

  OPENING day was a blur of last-minute panic attacks and freak-outs. Maisy had planned to wear a cute summer dress, but then she thought it didn’t look professional enough, so she put on one of her professor outfits but it was too uptight. She reached for jeans, but they seemed wrong. Finally, Savannah came in and picked out a skirt and blouse that were flirty and fun, but also demure and professional.

  Jeri brought three boxes of donuts from Big Bottom Donuts, which was in the center of town right next to the Perk Up coffee shop. It was a place Maisy tried with little success to avoid. She popped open the first box and, wham, there was a cruller staring right back at her. Knowing it was a losing battle, she tucked in.

  “Wipe that guilty look off your face,” Jeri said. “You’re going to be working it off today, so don’t worry about it. Enjoy your life, Maisy, every bit of it.”

  Reassured, Maisy took a second donut and washed both down with coffee. Duly fortified, she had everyone gather in the main office for a quick meeting.

  “Okay, does everyone know where they’re stationed for the day?”

  “Cash register by the front door,” Jeri said.

  “Outside, working the book display tables on the front porch, while maintaining the supply of coffee, tea, and lemonade,” Savannah said.

  Maisy looked for Perry, who had volunteered to be on the second floor to help people. She wasn’t in the room.

  “Jeri, would you mind monitoring the second floor, too?” Maisy asked. “Perry isn’t here, and I don’t want the second floor unsupervised on our first day.”

  “Roger that,” Jeri said.

  “It’s almost time,” Savy said.

  “All right, people,” Maisy said. “Man your stations. I’ll be moving around the store all day, so call me if you need me and be sure to take breaks.”

  The three women scattered and Maisy took a deep breath. This was it. Her first day as a bookstore owner. She was the last one to leave the office. She had the keys in hand and went to the front door to do the official unlocking. Ryder and his crew had taken the day off, so as not to dissuade customers with a lot of banging. The framing of the turret was done, but it still had a ways to go before completion. Maisy refused to think about the fact that once it was done, Ryder would be gone, too.

  Jeri took her spot at the vintage counter Maisy had repurposed from an old hotel to use as their primary purchase point. In a glass display case behind it were all of Auntie El’s treasured signed books by her favorite authors. Those were not for sale. Savannah went to the kitchen, which they’d modernized a bit, on the first floor to grab the cart with beverages and cookies to wheel outside to the porch.

  Maisy wiped her hands on her skirt. She glanced around the shop, disappointed not to have Ryder here to share the moment with her. He’d been such an integral part of the remodel, helping her choose the best flooring and colors for the walls, fixing up the windows and light fixtures while maintaining the integrity of the old house’s origins.

  Maisy turned the knob on the newly installed dead bolt and unlocked the door. She glanced at Jeri, who smiled and nodded at her as she opened the door. Now, it wasn’t that she expected a horde to be out on the lawn waiting to get in, but with the balloon arch they’d fastened over the walkway, the GRAND OPENING sign out on a sandwich board on the street, and the article that had run in the local paper a few days ago, she had hoped for at least a few people.

  On this bright, beautiful Saturday morning in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, while the birds were singing and the sun was shining and the smell of freshly mown grass mingled with the scent of lilacs on the air, she had thought there might be a handful of people at the opening. There was just one.

  Her braid was messy, her glasses were drooping off her nose, she wore a baggy cardigan sweater that hung off her shoulders as if it, too, were in despair. Perry.

  “Hey, kiddo, are you all right?” Maisy asked.

  Perry nodded but when she glanced up at Maisy, it was easy to see she’d been crying. “Oh, Maisy,” she sobbed. “I just want to die.” With that she threw herself into Maisy’s arms and began to weep.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “OH, no, what happened?” Maisy asked as she hugged the teen. She stepped back and studied Perry’s face. “Are you all right? Is your father okay?”

  “I’m f . . . fine,” Perry cried.

  “That is not fine,” Jeri said. She twirled her finger to encompass the sobbing girl and said, “I’ve got things down here. Go ahead and take her upstairs to see King George. He’ll perk her up.”

  “Are you sure?” Maisy asked.

  Jeri nodded. “If we need you, we know where to find you.”

  “Thanks,” Maisy said. She put her arm around Perry and led her upstairs. King George was in the hidden room, enjoying the insane cat tree that Ryder had built for him even though he was too small to do much more than swat at the soft pom-poms that swung from the lowest branch.

  Maisy and Perry went upstairs, entered the last bedroom, and crossed over to the bench. Like a pro, Perry popped the seat open and scooted into the opening. Maisy followed a bit more carefully since she was in a skirt. The hidden room had been transformed in the weeks that they’d been working on the house. It was King George’s daytime play area, so there was a soft carpet, food and water, a litter box, and the crazy cat tree with perches and cubbies and toys.

  “Hey, George,” Perry called.

  A soft meow sounded. King George was curled up in his cat bed, which was actually a huge fish with a soft fleecy lining that he enjoyed kneading. Two front paws poked out of the fish’s mouth and a small head with enormous ears followed.

  Recognizing his favorite person’s voice, King George bounded forward and jumped on Perry’s foot. She bent over and scooped him up, nuzzling her face against his soft fur. Maisy reached over and rubbed George’s head. A deep purr was her reward and she knew if anything could make Perry feel better, it was this little guy.

  “Oh, Georgie, what would I do without you?” Perry asked him. As if he could sense her stress, the kitten licked her face, making her smile.

  Maisy let out a pent-up breath and sank onto one of the chairs in the room. Perry took the one beside her, still holding George. The kitten rolled onto his back, letting her rub his tummy while he swiped at her fingers.

  “So, what’s going on?” Maisy asked.

  “I broke up with Cooper,” Perry said. Her voice wobbled a bit but she managed to get the words out without breaking down. “I’m leaving soon and it just didn’t seem fair to him.”

  “Oh, that is rough,” Maisy said. “Is it your first breakup?”


  “First boyfriend, first breakup,” Perry said. “It’s brutal. And there’s this girl, Taylor, she’s just been waiting for us to break up so she could make her move. She’s all busty and blond, and she laughs at everything Cooper says. It makes me want to vomit.”

  Maisy nodded. She’d known a few Taylors in her time.

  “What did Cooper say when you ended things?”

  “He was upset. He said he didn’t care that I was leaving and that having this time together was better than nothing at all, but I don’t think it is, because the more time I spend with him the more I like him and when I leave I’m going to be crushed and with Dad moving to Charleston and Mom in Los Angeles, I’ll never come back here to Fairdale, so seriously, what’s the point when we’ll never see each other again?” Perry collapsed against the seat back, out of words or air or both.

  Hearing it put so bluntly that Maisy would never see either Ryder or Perry again was like getting hit with a bucket of ice water. It seemed so final and she hated it. She hated everything about it. But she said nothing. This wasn’t about her.

  “I hear what you’re saying about not wanting to get hurt. But don’t you want to know if what you feel is real? What if Cooper is right?” she asked. “What if the weeks before you leave are just fun? You don’t want to miss that. And maybe you’ll get to know each other well enough that when you leave it will be a relief because what you felt wasn’t real after all. I mean, what if it turns out that he’s a terrible boyfriend?”

  “We’re fourteen, how terrible can he be?”

  “Maybe he never texts you or he blows you off to hang out with the guys. Maybe he forgets his deodorant all the time and he starts to smell like rancid bologna and it makes you sick. Maybe you find out he’s a whiner or a complainer or a terrible tipper,” Maisy said.

  Perry looked at her as if she was crazy, but her tears had dried up and a shadow of a smile graced her lips. “Maybe.”

  “Just think about it, okay?”

  Perry nodded. George wiggled out of her grasp, and she put him on the floor, where he scurried to his food bowl. Maisy and Perry watched him eat, and Maisy was pretty sure the crisis was averted, which was fabulous because she really needed to get back downstairs.

  “Can I ask you something?” Perry said.

  “Sure.” Maisy relaxed back into her seat, hoping she didn’t look like she was about to run.

  “What about you and my dad? Do you love him?”

  Oh, boy, what should she say? Maisy decided on the truth.

  “I might have if things had worked out differently,” Maisy said.

  “He cares about you,” Perry said. She gave her a sly look. “A lot. Maybe you need to spend time with him, so you can discover his bad habits.”

  “Nice try,” Maisy said. “It’s different when you’re an adult. You jump in a little bit deeper and tangle up a little bit tighter. Extricating yourself from a relationship can be brutal.”

  “You mean there’s sex involved,” Perry said.

  “Uh—” Maisy stalled.

  “How’s everything going down here?” Savy asked. Her feet showed up on the stairs and the rest of her followed. Praise the Lord! She was carrying a tray with sweet tea and cookies. “I thought you might need some sugar to chase the blues away.”

  “Thanks,” Maisy said. She wanted to ask how business was, but since Savy was here and not serving the shopping masses at their door, she figured she had her answer.

  Perry took a glass of tea and a cookie and Maisy did the same. George pounced on Savannah’s flouncy skirt and she laughed as she scooped him up and kissed his nose. He put his paw on her lips as if to say Stop it, and they all laughed.

  “Are we having a party?” Jeri came down the steps, taking them all in. “I love parties.”

  Perry looked around the room. “I suppose we are. It’s a breakup party.”

  “Who broke up?” Savy asked.

  “Perry and Cooper,” Maisy said. “First boyfriend, first breakup.”

  “Oh, that’s a tough one,” Jeri said. “But you know what you have to do.”

  “Eat copious amounts of ice cream?” Savy offered.

  “Buy a new outfit or four?” Maisy suggested.

  “No, no, no,” Jeri said as she helped herself to a cookie. “You need a dance party.”

  “A what?” Perry looked equal parts intrigued and horrified.

  “Tonight, here in the secret room, let’s have a girls-only dance party,” Jeri said. “Now, all of you get your butts back up there. I’ve got a carload of librarians, a new moms’ group, and a professional women’s club all here and I can’t help them all by myself. I’m good, but I’m not that good. Let’s move out, troops!”

  “What?” Maisy jumped to her feet. “We have customers?”

  “And more arriving,” Jeri said. “Thank goodness the boys showed up to check on their turret, or I couldn’t have left. Ryder and Seth are down there by themselves. We’d better go before they make a mess of it.”

  Maisy turned to Perry. “Can you handle this? You’re welcome to stay here with George if it’s too much.”

  “No, I’m good,” Perry said. “A dance party will be fun to look forward to. I’ll feed George and play with him and then I’ll be right down.”

  “Atta girl,” Maisy said. She gave her a quick hug and then dashed up the stairs to return to the shop.

  Jeri was not kidding. Every room had customers in it. Music was playing. When had that been arranged? People were talking and laughing and perusing Auntie El’s old books as well as checking out the copies of the new ones Maisy had recently acquired from the local sales reps for the big publishers.

  A few of the publishers had authors they were looking to push and had gladly paid Maisy to put up some sweet waterfall display racks with lots of promo materials. Considering the women flocking to the rack, it looked to be a solid investment.

  “Congratulations.”

  Maisy turned around to find Ryder standing there. He was smiling at her but there was tension in his face, and she could tell that he was feeling as awkward as she was.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Perry is up in the hidden room with George.”

  He nodded. “I figured she’d be here. She’s been upset about, well, honestly, I don’t know because she’s stopped talking to me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Maisy said. “I know that must be hard. The ladies and I are trying to cheer her up. In fact, we’re having a girls’ night tonight.”

  “Another movie?” Ryder looked eager and Maisy shook her head.

  “Tonight is girls only, but I promise we will do our best to lift her spirits, and if she says anything I think you should know, I will encourage her to talk to you,” she said.

  “Thanks, I—”

  “Maisy, there you are.” Kathy Tisdale sprang at them from behind a shelf of books, interrupting Ryder. “This is fantastic! A bookstore devoted to books by women, about women, for women. I love it.”

  “Well, men are welcome, too,” Maisy said. She gave Ryder a side eye and decided to have some fun. “In fact, Ryder, here, was just reading some romances, weren’t you, Ryder?”

  Ryder’s blue gaze met and held hers, letting her know that if she was going to challenge him, he was going to rise to it. “I was,” he said.

  “No, sir,” Kathy said. Her eyes were wide in disbelief and then they narrowed, “Who is your favorite romance author?”

  “Well, you can’t go wrong with Jane Austen, she is the mother of the romantic novel, after all,” he said.

  Kathy blinked. “Go on.”

  “But there is a whole diverse world of romance novels nowadays,” he said. “You’ve got your sweet romances, romantic comedies, historical romances—I’m partial to the ones with pirates myself—paranormal romances . . . do you like vampires?”

&n
bsp; Kathy turned from Ryder to Maisy. “I love him. Does he work here?”

  “Sort of,” Maisy said. “He’s my architect. He’s building the turret addition for me.”

  “And he’s an architect,” Kathy said. She put her hand over her heart as if she couldn’t take it all in.

  “And he’s from Texas and frequently wears a cowboy hat,” Maisy added.

  “Stop,” Kathy said. “It’s too much.” She began to fan herself with one of the paperbacks in her hand.

  “There’s lemonade and sweet tea out on the porch,” Maisy said.

  “Good, that’s good,” Kathy said. She glanced at Ryder, who gave her a low bow. Kathy giggled and waved a hand at him. “Oh, you.”

  She walked outside and Maisy turned to Ryder and said, “Well, you have a fan for life. When did you get so savvy about romance novels?”

  “I’ve been reading up,” he said. He gave a careless shrug as if it weren’t the single greatest thing any man had ever said to her.

  Maisy tried to ignore the flutter in her chest that she was pretty sure was her heart springing to life in the eternal hope that something was going to happen between her and Ryder. She tried to mentally beat it down, but it was a persistent little bugger.

  “Perry’s been bringing home stacks of them,” he said. “So, I figured I’d better get hip to what she was reading so we could have something in common.”

  At that, Maisy’s heart simply would not be shut down. This guy, it said, I want this guy. She tried to hide it by putting on her professor facade.

  “I’ve seen some of the books Perry’s been borrowing,” she said. “She seems partial to the historical ones. Some critics argue that romances give women unrealistic expectations in relationships. Aren’t you worried about that?”

  “Hell, no,” Ryder said. Maisy blinked. “From what I’ve read the heroines are fierce and feisty and the heroes who are lucky enough to win their hearts treat them with respect and value them, or they learn to pretty darn quick. If my daughter grows up expecting a man to value her and cherish her, why would that bother me? It just means that every boy who isn’t up to scratch will get kicked to the curb. Honestly, I think romance novels should be mandatory.”