Page 4 of Just Let Go

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“WELL, THAT WAS ... EXCITING.”Quinn Collins picked up an overturned chair and put it back on its feet. She straightened the table and surveyed the rest of the damage.

Betsy Tanner, the owner of Hazel’s Kitchen, let out a substantial sigh. “What am I gonna do?”

“You’re going to make that guy pay for the mess he caused,” someone said from the other side of the restaurant.

Nate Kelley appeared in the doorway, and Betsy’s whole demeanor changed. “Nate.”

“What happened?” He walked toward her. “Got a text saying a fight broke out?”

“It’ll be okay,” Betsy said. “Maybe Lane can help me redecorate. Maybe it was time for a face-lift.” Never mind that the current decor wasn’t all that old. Quinn knew Betsy was trying to make herself feel better.

Quinn picked up a few more castoffs from the fight as the crowd continued to recount what they’d just seen—two grown men acting like imbeciles and ruining poor Betsy’s business.

Quinn had admired Betsy for a long time. She’d taken Hazel’s and turned it into something even better than it had been before. Her pies put the place on the map, and she’d even been profiled in national magazines. Someone said they were going to get that spiky-haired blond guy to come out and feature her on the Food Network. After all, this place was a local favorite and definitely deserved the recognition.

What Betsy had done with Hazel’s was exactly what Quinn had been longing to do with the Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop for years. Her hand slid to her back pocket, where she felt the keys, still safe where she put them after her closing just an hour before.

She was officially a business owner.

Somehow seeing Betsy in this state of disarray did nothing to squelch her excitement. This was what Quinn had been praying for, dreaming of. Even knowing there would be difficult times like the one Betsy was going through at that moment didn’t dissuade her.

She was ready.

Finally, her life could begin.

She walked out of Hazel’s Kitchen and into the cold evening air. Harbor Pointe was smack in the middle of winter, and the evenings were brisk and cold. She pulled her jacket a little tighter around her.

Lane Kelley.Lane had moved back here not too long ago to start her own interior design business. Quinn hadn’t thought of calling in a professional, but if she could fit it in her budget, it might be worth it. After all, she wanted to completely overhaul the flower shop. Mimi Hudson had wonderful taste twenty years ago, but nothing much had changed since. Quinn knew because she’d tried, more than once, to update the displays, to paint the walls, to bring Forget-Me-Not into this century. But Mimi was a creature of habit.

And she was cheap.

Quinn walked a few doors down to Forget-Me-Not, and a swell of memories rushed through her. How many times had she come here after school, setting up her own little station for creating adorable bouquets from the cuttings her mother couldn’t use?

It still amazed her how easily her mind transported her back. She’d done her best to box up all the feelings (and there was a mix of them) and stuff them away, but sometimes, when she wasn’t careful, one would sneak through, like light underneath a door in a dark room.

She was seconds from inserting her key when a glow at the back of the shop caught her eye.What in the world...?

When she tugged the door, it opened, and the big bell Mimi had installed overhead jangled. Loudly.

Shoot.What if it was a thief?

Well, that was a ridiculous thought. What kind of thief would rob a flower shop?

No sense pretending she wasn’t standing here now. “Hello?”

After a few seconds, she heard a noise in the back room. A moment later, Mimi’s face, wearing a sheepish expression, appeared in the doorway.

“Mimi, you scared me to death,” Quinn said.

“I’m sorry, hon,” Mimi said. “I was just coming to say good-bye.” She was smiling, but there was sadness in her eyes.

Quinn shifted her purse from one shoulder to the other. “Don’t tell me you’re regretting your decision to travel the world with Barry.”

“Of course not,” Mimi said. “I’m thrilled we get to go on these adventures while we’re still young and limber enough to enjoy them.” She stilled. “But this place was my whole world for so many years.”

Quinn nodded. Hers too. For as long as she could remember, the Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop had been a part of her life. And she’d been waiting for the day she could officially call it hers.

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