Page 3 of More Than Words
I took a breath and backed up from the rickety old front counter so quickly, it almost toppled over.
With a silent curse, I mentally movedfixing the counterto the top of my to-do list.Not that it would help me get to it any sooner.
“Okay, Delaney,” I said to myself.“You can do this.”
I tugged my oversized sweater tighter around me like armor.
Time to be brave.
Or at least fake it well enough to get through the next few minutes.
I hadn’t been in Trickle Creek for very long, and I still didn’t know a lot of people.At least not many I’d call a friend.I’d been so focused on starting up the shop and building it into a business I could be proud of—and pay my bills with—that there wasn’t much time for leisure activities.
Everybody I’d met so far had been beyond welcoming of me and so supportive of the shop.So really, I didn’t have any reason to be nervous as I left the comfort and safety of Plot Twist and went next door to what had once been a Chinese food restaurant.
According to the few people I’d asked, the shop space had been vacant for almost fifteen years.It was good for the town to have the vacant storefronts filled with new businesses, and it spoke to the recent revitalization the town had undergone.
Trickle Creek had once been a mining town, and when the mines shut down and so many people lost their jobs, the town’s future had been uncertain until businessman Michael Carlson had come along and seen the untapped potential for tourism.Over the span of a few years, the ski hill had been improved, a golf course had opened, and new condo units had been built.
What was once a town on the decline had become a thriving little vacation destination.It was the main reason I’d chosen Trickle Creek to be my new home and the base for my bookshop.
That and it was on the opposite side of the country from anyone who knew me, or my ex.
The door was propped open, so I stepped inside, instantly blinking against the dust and noise.
My shoes crunched over debris as I carefully picked my way through the mess.And then I saw him.
Bent over a pile of wood, muscles flexing under a thin gray T-shirt, he looked up at me through a thick lock of hair that had flopped over his eye.
He stood slowly, wiping his hands on a rag as he turned toward me.The second our eyes met, something sparked deep inside a long-forgotten part of me.
Something hot and entirely unwelcome.
He smiled like he knew me.
“Hey,” he said, his voice deep and easy.“You must be Delaney.”
“Delaney Hart.”I blinked and narrowed my eyes.“How did you know that?”
He shrugged, unbothered.“You own the bookstore next door, right?I’ve seen you around.”
That should have creeped me out, but it didn’t.Instead, it only annoyed me.
“Well, seeing as you know who I am already, I’m surprised you didn’t come introduce yourself before interrupting my day.”I jutted out my hip and crossed my arms over my chest.“Since you’ve been watching me, you may have noticed that I run a peaceful, quiet business that doesn’t involve a lot of sledgehammers.”
I shot a look at the offending tool propped up against the wall next to him.
His grin only deepened.“Fair.But I’m on a tight timeline.The work needs to get done.And the noise bylaws prohibit me from doing it in the middle of the night.”
Never mind the fact that my tiny apartment was upstairs from my shop.I’d never sleep again.
I didn’t bother to offer up that little piece of information.
“I have a book club starting in a few minutes.”
“And you want me to shut it down.”
“I want you to be considerate of your neighbors.”I’d been nervous from the moment I heard there was a brewery moving in next door.Construction noise was one thing.But rowdy patrons who’d been drinking all afternoon were another thing entirely, and not exactly conducive to a peaceful, quiet reading sanctuary.I really hoped that this wasn’t a precursor to how things were going to be once they opened.
