Page 85 of More Than Words
“I got this.”She gave me a soft smile, and I nodded gratefully before I turned to greet the new customer.
My heart caught in my throat.“Quinn.”
She raised a mittened hand.“Hey, bookstore lady.”
“Hey, yourself.”
I hadn’t seen her since the other day in the plaza when I’d run into her and Ethan.It had been awkward and awful.Besides, she was way too smart not to have figured out that something was wrong.Which probably explained her absence from the store.I couldn’t help but wonder what Ethan had told her.
“You haven’t been around for a while.”
She shifted her weight from foot to foot, like she wasn’t sure what to say.
“I’ve missed you.”
Her head shot up.“You have?”
“Of course.”I took a few steps toward her, afraid she might turn around and bolt.She seemed so uncertain and not at all like the Quinn I’d gotten to know.
“I almost didn’t come.”
“You know you’re always welcome here,” I said softly.“No matter what’s…” I couldn’t finish the thought, but she did it for me.
“What’s going on with you and my dad?”
I nodded, and she shrugged.
“I’m mad at him,” she blurted after a moment.“Like,reallymad.”
That hurt my heart in a way I hadn’t expected.
“Oh, Quinn.”I reached for her and led her to the oversized chair she preferred.She sank into the soft cushions immediately, and I perched across from her on the ottoman.“You don’t need to be mad at him.”
“Yes,” she said softly but firmly.“I do.”She took a deep breath.“You don’t understand.Dad and I…we tell each other everything.We always have.But now…this thing with you guys.”She waved her hand around.“Well, it doesn’t feel good.And it doesn’t feel good the way he won’t talk to me about it.”
I nodded because it was the only thing Icoulddo.She was right.None of this felt good.
“I thought maybe if I stayed away from here, he might tell me…well, it doesn’t matter.It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid,” I said quickly.“None of this is stupid.I’ll be honest, I don’t know what the right answer is either.”
“You don’t?”
I shook my head.“But I do know what the wrong thing is.”
She looked at me, waiting for the information that would make it all better.Unfortunately, I didn’t have it.But I hoped what Ididhave to say might ease things a little.“Being mad at your dad isn’t going to help things,” I said gently.“I know it might feel like it will, but it won’t.And the other important thing is that you don’t have to pick sides.That’s not fair to you.None of this is your fault.”
She swallowed hard and nodded, ducking her head.
“So you and me,” she said after a moment.“We can still be friends?”
My throat burned, and I blinked hard, determined not to cry in front of her.
“We better still be friends,” I said with a smile.“Because we never stopped.”
She smiled then, even if it was a little sad.
I squeezed her hand and just held it for a moment before clearing my throat sharply.“Now, are you ready for a new book?Because I just got my last inventory shipment in and I’ve been holding a few behind the counter for you.”
