Page 3 of All Because of You

“Oh. Right.” Pulling the key from his pocket, his fingers brushed her palm as he handed it to her.

“Thanks.” Madison rubbed away the fire that fanned from the spot where he’d touched her to the tips of her fingers.

They stared at each other until the ringing of her phone shattered the silence between them.

Madison pulled the phone from her back pocket, swiveled on her heel, and marched inside the store. She closed the back door in such haste that it slammed.

Why had she let the man rattle her so much? Or maybe it was simply being back here, in a place she couldn’t help but love because of its previous owner. Yes, that had to be it. Evan Walsh was nothing to her. She needed to remember that.

The phone continued to blare. Oh, right. Without looking at the Caller ID, Madison clicked the green button on her screen. “Hello?”

“Is this Madison?”

“Yes. Who is this?” Madison slid into the nearest chair at the two-person table in the break room.

“Courtney Lambdon at Lola Public Library.”

Her future boss. “Hi. How are you?”

“Not so great, actually. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the grant money we were planning to use to fund your position fell through. I’m afraid we can no longer offer you the job.”

“What?” This had to be a sick joke. She’d already sublet her apartment in L.A., quit her job at the bookstore, packed. “There’s nothing you can do?”

“I’m sorry, but no. We will, of course, search for other grant opportunities, but there is no guarantee we’ll get one. If we do, I will let you know as soon as possible.”

That wasn’t good enough. She needed a job now. Maybe she could reach out to other libraries. She’d prefer to stay on the West Coast, but it didn’t matter where, really. It wasn’t like she had any real roots tying her down.

But that would take time and a bit of luck. She’d been lucky to find the job in Oregon.

Madison issued a weak thank you to Courtney and hung up the phone. Groaning, she rubbed her temples. What was she going to do now?

Her eyes caught sight of a sign hanging over the doorway: Follow Your Dreams. How many times had Aunt Chrissy told her that?

“Yeah, I tried, Aunt Chrissy. And look where it got me.”

Back in the last place she wanted to be with nothing but a house and a store she’d never asked for.

The meeting had to go off without a hitch if Evan was going to snag this deal for Walker Beach.

And, simultaneously, a win for his dad.

And possibly a promotion.

Yeah, there was definitely a lot riding on the next hour of his life.

“You ready, son?”

Evan glanced up to find Jim Walsh in the doorway of the tiny office inside City Hall that Evan shared with two other workers.

“Be right there.” Evan closed Excel and locked his computer before standing then snatched the stack of spiral-bound proposals from the edge of his desk.

“Good luck,” Alex Rosche, a financial analyst for the city, said as Evan passed.

Their other office mate—his boss, Denise—was currently out on maternity leave, though rumor had it she wouldn’t be coming back. If it were true, of course he’d miss her, but that left her job wide-open for the taking, so long as the board didn’t go with an outside hire.

Evan would just have to continue to prove his worth.

“Thanks, man.” As he stepped outside the office into the hallway, Evan’s dress shoes squeaked on the polished floor. In this moment, he’d give anything to be in a T-shirt and shorts, running bases and hitting balls in the glorious outdoors.

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