Page 23 of The Story of Us
To Jamie’s immense delight, theWaterford Chroniclearticle about True Love Books & Cafe was splashed across the front page of the Arts & Culture section the following morning. A photograph she’d sent the editor was printed alongside it—Jamie, standing by the bookstore’s front counter and holding up the box of Valentines she’d found behind the piano.
The response to the story was overwhelmingly supportive, beyond anything Jamie could have possibly imagined. To her complete and utter astonishment, the story went viral shortly before noon, with enough tweets, retweets and Facebook posts to spread news of the impending threat to her bookshop far and wide.
Customers poured in, not just from Waterford, but from the surrounding towns as well. They lingered by the cherry tree display at the front of the store where Jamie and Lucy had strung up the old Valentine cards from The Story of Us box, securing them with glittery gold ribbon and pink clothespins. Some customers stayed for hours, reading each and every handwritten message while sipping coffee or nibbling one of Rick’s heart-shaped cookies. They bought books, too! Love stories by the armful. Jamie darted back and forth between the storeroom and the sales floor, trying to keep up with the demand. Meanwhile, the cupcake supply dwindled at an alarming rate. By two o’clock, she was forced to make an emergency run to Rick’s Bistro to pick up more.
She took advantage of her time away to make a quick stop at Anita’s Flowers to share the exciting news with her aunt. The store had been so busy that Jamie hadn’t had a spare second to talk to her about the article, much less the sudden boom in business. Her fingertips flew over her tablet, opening the newspaper’s webpage. She practically shoved it at Aunt Anita the minute she stepped inside her shop.
Anita insisted on reading the article aloud, even though Jamie had practically memorized every word of it.
“‘Is romance on your mind? True Love Books & Cafe in Waterford may be the place to go. With dozens of proposals and successful first dates in its history, some say the bookstore and café is love’s lucky charm. While we’ll never know for sure, many former customers believe in its romantic magic so much, they’ve been sending thank-you Valentines to the store for decades.’” Anita paused for a breath before getting to the last line, Jamie’s favorite part. “‘Isn’t this just the type of Waterford legacy worth saving?’”
Jamie liked those words more and more every time she heard them. She’d actually done it! She’d managed to completely change the narrative surrounding the proposed Ridley development. No one in town was talking about Sawyer’s fancy plans anymore. Now they were talking about things that actually mattered—things like True Love Books and romance and community.
“Oh, this is wonderful, Jamie.” Anita looked up, grinning from ear to ear. “Was the article your idea?”
Jamie nodded and hugged the tablet to her chest when Anita returned it to her, then followed her aunt to a display cooler filled with long-stemmed roses. “I did the interview yesterday. I probably should’ve thought of it before, but it didn’t occur to me until I found the Valentines and with the vote coming up—which, did you hear?”
Anita shook her head as she pulled the cooler door open. “No.”
“It got moved up,” Jamie said. The town council had announced the new date less than an hour ago. “To February fourteenth.”
“Valentine’s Day?” Anita plucked a few white roses from a vase and frowned. “So soon?”
“I guess Ridley is putting pressure on them to make a decision.” Jamie was convinced the sudden interest in True Love was behind the abrupt schedule change. “But honestly, this article has generated so much interest in the store. We have people coming in from Portland. And Eugene! Lucy called this morning and said there was a line already outside the door.”
Jamie couldn’t believe it. The last time she’d seen anyone form a line outside a store anyplace in Oregon was at the popular donut shop in Portland—the one with the pink boxes and all those crazy donut flavors. This kind of excitement and enthusiasm for her shop felt like a miracle.
“Will it be enough, though?” Anita chose two more white roses and closed the cooler door.
Jamie followed her to the counter where a floral arrangement sat waiting, half-assembled. “What do you mean?”
“If you stop Ridley Properties this time, won’t a development team just come right in behind them?” Anita placed the flowers on the counter and peered at Jamie over the top of her glasses. Something about the look in her eyes dampened Jamie’s glee over True Love’s sudden popularity. “I mean, it sure seems like the council has their sights set on wiping this whole area clean and starting over.”
No, that couldn’t be true. Jamie refused to believe it. “Actually, it’s pretty evenly split. Which means that Eric will have the final say, and he’s very open to listening.”
He’d been so attentive at the cooking class. Granted, she hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to him about the Ridley situation since Sawyer had been within earshot for practically the entire night.
Anita smirked. “Or he notices a pretty woman is the face of the opposition.”
“It’s not like that,” Jamie corrected. There was no room for anyone named Eric in a romantic hiatus. Zero.
Anita shook her head and laughed. “Oh, honey. I saw how he looked at you at the cooking class. Sawyer saw it, too.”
She shot an amused glance at Jamie and then strolled toward the other side of the flower shop, forcing Jamie to scurry after her.
“Sawyer?” Jamie cleared her throat, lest she sound overly interested in anything he might think. “What did Sawyer say?”
“He didn’t say anything.” Anita paused at a shelf full of colorful glass vases and chose a frosted green one for her arrangement. “I mean, after your little spat…”
“It was not a spat.” Jamie rolled her eyes so hard it was almost painful. “Coupleshave spats. We had a…vigorous disagreement.”
“However you want to put it.” Anita waved a dismissive hand. “The point is, Sawyer kept watching both of you through the whole class.”
Why did this inconvenient nugget of information send a little thrill skittering through Jamie’s veins? And why did she suddenly have to bite down hard on her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling?
She squared her shoulders and reminded herself how much she was starting to loathe Sawyer O’Dell and his hideously modern architectural aesthetic. “Well, there’s nothing going on between me and Eric. Especially after…”
Anita arched a single, accusatory eyebrow. “Sawyer?”
