“I still haven’t,” he admitted.
She walked from behind the counter to a shelf marked Pulitzer Prize Winners. She pulled a copy and brought it to him.
He took the book from her and shifted his feet uncomfortably. “I’m not here for a book recommendation,” he said.
“Oh?” Her green-gold eyes were wary. Or maybe it was just the way the sun was hitting them. “So why are you here?”
“To apologize.”
She looked at him warily, as if waiting for the punchline.
A customer carried over an armful of books, and Shelby rang her up, slipping a bookmark into the novels and packing them into a recyclable Land’s End paper bag. When she was gone, Shelby said, “What do you have to apologize for? I was under the impression I was the bad person.”
He sighed. “I never said you were a bad person, Shelby. I was hurt. How would you have felt if things had been reversed?”
Her face softened. “I would have been hurt. So, that’s what I mean. You have nothing to apologize for. Unless it’s about the bookstore, in which case you should apologize to Colleen. She’s really stressed about Hendrik’s. It’s the last thing she needs right now.”
Yes, he’d gotten that message loud and clear from Doug.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I was maybe shortsighted when I shot down your petition to use the beach for book events.”
“Really?” she said, looking directly into his eyes. He hated to admit it, but the past few years had only made her more beautiful. Her face had become defined, losing the last remnants of adolescent roundness. A lot of time had passed. It was time to move forward.
“Yes. So if you’re still interested in it, I’ll talk to the committee.”
She gave him a big smile. “This will make Colleen really happy, Justin. Thanks.”
“No problem,” he said. “Ah, but I’m not going to need this.” He putThe Overstoryon the counter.
“Consider it a gift,” she said. “On the house. A token of bookseller gratitude.”
He smiled. “I can’t guarantee I’ll read it.”
Her face turned serious. “There are never any guarantees, Justin. We’re all just doing the best we can.”
She was right. So maybe instead of resenting her or trying to pretend she didn’t exist, he should try something else. Something that made a lot more sense considering how intertwined everything and everyone was in Ptown.
“This is probably something I should have said two weeks ago. And I hope it’s not too late: I’d like us to be friends.”
She smiled with a new warmth in her eyes, and her gaze felt as strong as a physical touch.
“I’d like that, too.”
In that instant, he knew that he’d said the absolute right thing. And he also knew that it would be impossible for him.
Thirty-Three
Shelby looked up from her laptop, realizing it was dark and she hadn’t even noticed the sun setting. When the world around her disappeared, that was when Shelby knew she was writing productively. And after a quick email exchange, Claudia signed off on the idea of two competing Provincetown bookstores with romantic tension between the protagonist and the newcomer. She suggested the titleBookshop Beach. Shelby felt back in business.
Seagulls lined up on the wooden planks and thick twine dividing the shrub-filled sand and the bookshop. Emily stood on the beach, wondering why her competitor agreed to share the space. She wanted to take the gesture at face value, but it was difficult to trust Jackson Lowe. It was even more difficult, after the news from her doctor, to trust herself. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the summer...
Colleen knocked on the apartment door. She’d been expecting her; she wanted to tell her the news about the beach space in person. And Colleen wanted to get out of her place for an hour or two.
“Hey. Come on in,” she said, opening the door for Colleen.
She was dressed in baggy jeans and one of Doug’s Center for Coastal Studies T-shirts. Her hair seemed to have grown inches in just a few days. Her eyes looked slightly puffy.
“I would’ve been here sooner, but Doug was late. He wanted to have dinner together. Anyway, thanks for agreeing to meet up here instead of my place.”
