Page 8 of All Because of You

As Madison opened her mouth to reply, a sixty-something Hispanic couple breezed in through the front door. Goodness, she let one guy in and the whole town thought it was a free-for-all. “We aren’t—”

“Open, we know.” The man, who wore a sheriff’s star pinned to his green law enforcement uniform, had the decency to give a sheepish grin. “You’re Chrissy Price’s girl, aren’t you?”

“Her niece, yes.”

“I’m Sheriff Rodriguez. You going to be in town long?”

“Well . . .”

His wife swatted his arm. “Don’t be so nosy, José. You’re off duty as of ten minutes ago.” She returned her attention to Madison. “I promise we didn’t come here to interrogate you. We just helped jump-start the car for a sweet man and his daughter, and he said you let him buy some cables. We’ve been in desperate need of a plunger and haven’t had a chance to drive to the nearest store. Would it be a terrible inconvenience if we just . . .”

Inwardly sighing, Madison gestured toward the first aisle. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Thanks, young lady.” The sheriff tipped his hat to her and disappeared around the corner with his wife.

Ashley leaned against the counter. “You sure you want to sell? People around here have been itching for a new hardware store. You’d have built-in business.”

“I don’t know anything about running a hardware store. Besides, I just finished my master’s in library science. I had a job in Oregon lined up, but the funding fell through. So I’m just here until I figure out what to do next.”

“That must have been disappointing.” Ashley’s face lit up, and she snapped her fingers. “We may have a librarian job opening here sometime soon. It also depends on funding, though, and it could be months before we get it approved, if we even do.”

Too bad it wasn’t a for sure thing—though, from now on, Madison was going to have a hard time trusting any job that relied on grant money. And besides, a library job in Walker Beach would mean she’d have to stay . . . in Walker Beach. No thanks. Too many bad memories.

She cleared her throat. “What happened to Mrs. Wildman?” The volunteer librarian had been Madison’s first boss when she’d worked as a library aide in high school. Though she hadn’t been paid in money, she’d gotten the first pick of all the old books being cast-off to make room for new ones. She’d felt like she’d won the lottery every time.

“She’s ready to retire. I guess she’s been wanting to for a while, and she’s gotten a taste of what that would be like over the last six months.”

“Why is that?”

“The library has been closed.”

“Closed?”

“Sorry to interrupt. I’m ready to check out, dear.” The sheriff’s wife shuffled forward with a plunger and a power tool of some kind while the sheriff took a call outside. “He saw the drill and remembered our son wants one for his birthday. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, OK. Sure.” They were doing her a favor, really. Fewer things to inventory, right?

The woman paid her suggested price—which she’d pulled out of thin air—and walked out, only to be met by a few other townspeople who entered. Madison didn’t even bother telling them she wasn’t open.

She turned back to Ashley, whose lips were tugged in a smile.

“Seems like you’re doing fine for someone who doesn’t know anything about running a hardware store.”

Madison rolled her eyes. “So, what were you saying about the library?”

“The earthquake last year nearly destroyed the building and lots of its contents.”

Chrissy had told her about the earthquake. She’d only experienced a small bit of damage to her store, with things rattling and falling off the walls. Other shops hadn’t been so lucky.

“The library flooded as a result. We were renting a space from a local realtor, and it turns out the renter’s insurance policy we had wasn’t great. Bare minimum, in fact.” Ashley tapped her earbud against the desktop. “And we haven’t been able to reopen.”

A town without a library. What a shame. “Why not?”

“Several reasons. All the insurance stuff took forever to come through, and we need a new location, which has been hard to find. Hey, if you have any time while you’re here, I could use your opinion on books that would be great to order for our new collection.” When Madison shot her a confused look, Ashley rushed on. “I’m actually one of the newest members of the Walker Beach library board. The town was hard-up for committee members, so I volunteered. The rest of the board is older, and their tastes aren’t exactly in line with those of the younger generations. And I’m not a huge reader, so I’m a bit lost on what to get.”

“Sure, I’m happy to point you in the right direction if I have time.”

“Great.” Ashley pulled her phone from her jacket pocket and clicked it on. “Oh man, I’ve gotta run. I’m meeting my brother Ben’s girlfriend and my cousin Shannon for dinner. Do you remember Shannon? She’s a year younger than us.”

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