Page 2 of The Luck of Finding You
MoReads:Okay, I am slightly stoked that I am the one who told you about the new book! Also, we should read the whole series together to get ready for the final book. And I think you’re wrong about Mondays, you just need to find something good about them.
Mo’s words make me smile. I love that he’s always looking on the bright side of things, even though I can’t ever seem to do that myself.
Olivia appears in my peripheral.
“Could you cover the shop on October 1? It’s a Saturday and—“
Olivia cuts me off. “I saw the Simone news. I can cover for you.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” I’m stunned. Besides Mo, Olivia is the one who shares all things from the online book world with me, because even though I’m a book blogger, I try to spend as little time online as possible since it takes away from my actual reading time.
“You don’t like to talk in the mornings.” Olivia shrugs. “Plus, I figured you’d already seen it.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“But I can cover—if you’re still running the store and I still have a job after this afternoon.” Olivia says this with a smile, even though I know she’s more anxious than I am. But she loves working here just as much as I do. The shop is important to both of us.
I give her a tight smile. “It’s all going to be fine.” In exactly three and a half hours, all of this will be over, and we’ll know what’s happening with the shop. Gran told me to hope for the best, that maybe Marsha left me her shop. My gut is telling me that it won’t be that simple. Marsha loved the shop, and she knew I loved it too. But she also has two grandkids who she might have given it to. Two grandkids who have never even visited the shop in the two years I’ve been manager, I might add. So, yeah, do I think I kind of deserve it? A tiny bit. Okay, more than a tiny bit, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. Bad things happen when I get my hopes up.
I’ve spent the last week trying to convince myself that it’s okay if she didn't leave me the shop. Olivia was hopeful at first because she knew how much Marsha liked me, and it makes sense from a logical standpoint. I’ve been the one running the place for the past two years, but with each passing day, Olivia’s nervous energy has mingled with mine, and now there’s a tension surrounding both of us that I’m sure customers have been able to feel.
I’ve put my heart and soul into this shop for the past two years, and even though we’re still barely making ends meet, I don’t want to lose it.
“We’ll know everything in a few hours.” I say it more to myself, forgetting that Olivia is still standing beside me.
“I wish we could jump ahead in time so that we could just know.” Olivia tugs on one of the ends of her braids. Her curly red hair is almost always in some sort of braid, and today she’s got two. “You’re sure Marsha didn’t mention anything about you being in her will?”
I let out a frustrated sigh. We’ve been through this. I’ve been through this a million times in my brain. “Nope. Not a word.”
Olivia nods. “It’ll all be okay,” she says, repeating my words.
“Right.”
Olivia heads back to the office, tugging on her braid as she goes. I look back down at my phone, my hands shaking from the anxiety of what might happen today.
TheNoraReview:Yes, I’m glad you told me :) And I’m not much of a buddy reader…but maybe for you.
I push down the uneasiness that’s started to bubble in my chest. I don’t have time to feel nervous today. It’ll all be over soon anyway.
MoReads:Aw ;) That makes me feel so special.
I can’t help it, I smile again. This is exactly what I needed this morning. Talking to Mo makes me feel like today is almost a normal Monday.
Dad thinks it’s weird that I have an online friend whose face I’ve never even seen. Holly thinks I’m going to have my ownYou’ve Got Mailromance happen in real life, and almost every time I see her, she asks when Mo and I are going to meet in real life. Gran hasn’t shared her thoughts, but she generally only shares her opinion when asked.
I wonder what Mom would say. I’d like to think she’d be happy that I have a friend who is under the age of sixty—if he really is twenty-six like he said.
But I’m not going to meet him. Mo is my best friend. I tell him pretty much everything (minus the super-personal details like where I live and that my name is actually Tally) and he does the same. I’m definitely attracted to his personality, like how he finds a way to make me laugh, even on my worst days, but you can’t really fall in love with someone you’ve never seen, right?
When we started talking, it was only about Simone’s books, but now we talk about more than that. It’s perfect that he’s the one who told me about the new book. While the idea of reading a book with him sounds fun, I make a terrible reading companion. The only book club I’ve ever been a part of is completely unconventional, and no one reads the same book each month. I don’t really like hearing what other people think as they read whatever I’m also reading. It’s part of why I’m not huge on Bookstagram.
Reading is so personal. It’s a way to escape, to be in our world but to be somewhere completely different and magical at the same time. Reading is what got me through some of the hardest times in my life, and while I lurk on the online book community, I mainly share reviews on my blog—which does have quite a bit of traction, thanks to Pinterest—but other than that, I’m not super social. I made a Twitter account so I could follow my favorite authors and sometimes share my reviews.
But maybe reading these books with him would be different since we’ve both read them before.
TheNoraReview:You know I love ya :)
I hit send before I fully realize what I’ve said. By the time I see the wordlovestaring back at me, it’s too late. He’s already seen it. We’ve never sent that word before, but I have to trust that he knows me well enough to know that I mean it completely as friends.
