“Hello?” The wall of books seemed to swallow up her voice.
She heard a series of shuffles, scrapes, and curses before Shannon shouted, “Be right there.”
“No rush.” She followed the sound of Shannon’s voice and found a half-open door at the back of the store. “It’s Lizzy. Do you need any help?”
Lizzy gingerly poked her head around the door, expecting to find a hopelessly cluttered storage room but was surprised to discover a neatly organized space with boxes lined up against the walls. One corner was set up as an office with a long wooden desk and a row of tidy filing cabinets. Quite honestly, she could understand why Shannon spent so much time back here. It was much more welcoming than the front of the store even with the dim lighting and one small window at the back wall.
“Hey, Lizzy. No, I’m good.” Shannon straightened from sorting through a box and stretched her back with a softoof.“This storage room used to be piled sky-high with boxes and boxes of books I inherited from the previous bookstore owner. It took me nearly two years, but I’m down to eight boxes to sort through.”
“Oh, wow. Do you ever find anything good?” Lizzy crouched by the open box and flipped through the books.
“Oh yeah. I’ve found some gems.” Shannon huffed something between a laugh and a sigh. “That’s why I persisted in going through all of them.”
“Ahh.” That was how the storefront became crammed with so many books. “Now instead of piles of boxes in the storage room, you have sky-high bookshelves in the store.”
“Exactly. It sort of… got out of hand.” Again that laugh-sigh. “This wasn’t how I envisioned my bookstore would be. I wanted it to be a cozy haven for fellow book lovers, not somewhere people came in as a last resort when they needed a book in a hurry. If things continue like this, I’m not sure how long I can keep Sparrow open.”
“Maybe the townspeople don’t know about the store yet,” Lizzy suggested, her heart going out to her new friend. It must be so hard to watch her beloved bookstore barely limping along.
“This bookstore had been around for a decade before I took over a couple of years ago. People know it’s here, but I don’tblame them for not beating down the door. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a mess. It could be so much more, but I’ve been overwhelmed with… life.” Shannon pressed her hand against her forehead. “Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe I’m unloading on you like this. I’m so sorry.”
“I can help out at the store,” Lizzy blurted before she’d thought it through. But as she did, she realized what a brilliant idea it was. “I have close to three weeks of free time that I don’t know what to do with.”
“The bookstore barely gets us by. I won’t be able to pay you.…” Shannon let her words hang and looked at Lizzy with hopeful eyes.
“I’mvolunteering.”
This was it. Her project. This was exactly what she needed. And she would be helping an indie bookstore—something she loved above all else—get back on its feet. A thrill went through her—the kind of thrill that had been missing when she won the trial. But she brushed aside her unexpected reaction. Her time in Weldon must be making her feel better already.
“Helping you build your book haven will be reward enough,” Lizzy said, meaning every word. “When do I start?”
Traffic added an hour to his drive home, but it didn’t snuff out a single ounce of Jack’s excitement. Hope was a dangerously intoxicating feeling, but he’d be damned if he didn’t enjoy the high. It really might happen. He nailed the second interviewandthe lunch—which they insisted wasn’t part of the interview but was definitely a part of the interview. He actually might become McBain Corporation’s newest—and lowliest (but who the hell cared)—business analyst. The opportunity to spread his wings and grow was dizzying.
He was dying to tell Lizzy, but he couldn’t. Not right now. First of all, there was nothing to tell her yet. He hadn’t actually gotten the job. He could technically share that he’d applied to entry-level analyst positions at several top consulting firms and had gotten this far with one of them. But he would hate to disappoint her if he didn’t get the job. He grimaced imagining her sad, sympathetic eyes. His professional life was already underwhelming compared to hers without adding a possible flop on top of it.
He wasn’t in any way ashamed of his job at Weldon Brewery. If taking over the family business had been his dream, he would’ve been damn proud of what he’d accomplished and thrilled to plan the next goals to conquer. But it wasn’t, and all he felt was stuck and lost. He wasn’t proud of being a thirty-year-old man who had no idea where his life was headed. That had to change before he told Lizzy any of this.
More important, he needed to tell his family, which he definitely couldn’t do until he got the job. The thought of breaking the news to them did what Los Angeles traffic couldn’t. It sobered him right up. Growing the brewery wasn’t his dream—it was Alex’s and Tara’s—but he was grateful they considered him a part of their team. The Park siblings versus the world.
What would they think if—no, when—he told them that he wanted to leave the brewery? Leave Weldon? Would they feel betrayed and abandoned? He wouldn’t blame them if they did. But truth be told,theywere what made Weldon Brewery what it was. Their passion, their vision. That was what propelled the brewery forward, not Jack’s conscientious bookkeeping. Would he be able to convince them that they could accomplish everything they set out to do without him? That Weldon Brewery didn’t need him? Thattheydidn’t need him?
Daylight was waning by the time he parked outside his family’shome. That was another thing. Their parents were getting older, and ever since the three of them took over running the brewery, they had been paying for the mortgage on the house. Mom and Dad worked hard to take care of Alex, Tara, and him, so now it was the kids’ turn to take care of their parents. Even if he moved to Los Angeles, he fully intended to pay for his third of the mortgage.
He shut off the engine and swiped his hand down his face. If he got the job offer, he wouldn’t be moving away to leave his family but to find himself. And he hoped that once the initial shock wore off, his family would be at least a little proud of him for leaving what was safe and comfortable to go forge his own path.
As he unlatched his seat belt and reached for the door handle, his cell phone lit up on the center console. It was still set to silent from the interview, but a new text message had arrived. Based on his alerts, Lizzy had sent him ten texts during his four-hour drive back home. He hurriedly scrolled down, hoping everything was okay.
Lizzy:Hey, you. Done with your errand?
Lizzy:Ok. I said no babysitting, but ignoring me is going a bit far.
Lizzy:Seriously, where are you?
Lizzy:Have dinner with me.
Relief rolled through him when he realized she was all right. That panic attack she had the day of her opening statement still had him a little jumpy.
Lizzy:I’m wasting away in protest to your silence.
