Page 51 of The Library of Second Chances
Lucy
Lucy had checked the Little Free Library quickly before she’d gone down to the beach, and she hadn’t seen the letter, so she assumed he’d taken it. She’d gone straight to the Little Free Library from the beach, and checked it again, but there was nothing there from Gatsby’s Ghost.
Maybe he had seen it but something terrible had happened. Maybe he’d been in an accident?
Sighing as she let herself into the bookstore the following morning, Lucy locked the door behind her and plopped her purse on the worn wooden counter that had been handmade by Annie’s grandfather. She leaned down to pet Alice, who was circling around her ankles. When she started leading Lucy to the back of the store by walking a few feet and then turning around to meow, Lucy knew she was ready for breakfast.
She was feeding the cats in the back of the store when she heard someone knocking on the front door. It was still nearly an hour until she opened, so she figured it was someone she knew.Her breath caught for a moment as Logan popped into her mind, his green eyes sparkling. Maybe he’d come to check on her this morning. Just as quickly as hope had surfaced, it faded. It would be a pity visit because she’d been stood up, and she didn’t want his pity.
She was relieved when she rounded the corner and spotted Taylor with her hands up against the glass door, peeking inside.
“Morning!” Taylor gave her a quick hug as she came in, then headed for one of the blue armchairs by the front window. “Sorry I didn’t answer your call last night. Jack and I went to the movies.”
“What’d you see?”
“Some stupid sea monster movie. It was terrible.” She rolled her eyes. “Tell me about last night! Was he handsome? Are you in love?” She leaned forward, grinning as she waited for details.
Taylor was the only person Lucy had dared tell about her attempt to meet Gatsby’s Ghost.
“Quite the opposite.” Lucy fell into the other armchair. “He never showed up.”
Taylor’s mouth fell open. “What? Did he leave a note? Did something happen?”
Lucy shook her head. “Nope, no note. I checked again this morning. I waited for half an hour, and there was no sign of him. I guess he could have seen me and changed his mind and left.” Lucy shrugged.
“You mean because he was so intimidated to find out his pen pal is a hottie?” Taylor wiggled her eyebrows at Lucy.
Lucy frowned. “No. You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Stop it. You’re beautiful. I can’t believe he just left you sitting there all alone.”
“Well”—Lucy paused—“I wasn’t exactly alone. Logan walked by while I was sitting there.”
Taylor groaned. “I still can’t believe what he did to poor Mildred and Marty.” Taylor had missed the community forum because she was doing hair and makeup for a bride-to-be with an evening engagement photo shoot.
“He actually cleared that up. Turns out Mildred was the one keeping it from Marty. It wasn’t really Logan’s fault.”
“I see.” Taylor raised an eyebrow. “So now we’re Team Logan again?”
Taylor still hadn’t met Logan, so her opinions of him were informed entirely by what Lucy had told her, which included both his generosity in helping her buy the building, but also the way he seemed to be trying to manipulate everyone into doing things his way.
“No, we were never Team Logan.” Lucy shook her head, trying to dislodge the voice reminding her how kind he’d been the night before and what he’d shared about his past. “We just need to get along until we come up with a viable plan for the waterfront, and then we can wave goodbye and let him go mess with some other town.”
“Are you going to let him finish helping you with the building?”
“I don’t know. I jumped to conclusions about the whole Waterway Café thing. I shouldn’t pretend to know more about what Mildred and Marty need than they do. I’m just going to stay out of the way unless they ask me for help. So I’d probably need to apologize to Logan if I’m going to ask him to keep helping me. And, man, I hate that because I know how much he’ll love it.”
“I would say Jack could help you, but he’s so busy with the renovation at the hotel I barely even get to see him. Our hiking trip was supposed to be a little quality time together in the midst of all the chaos, but we didn’t even get that.”
Lucy bit her lip. “Do you think he’ll get a new assignment once the renovation is over?” It was something she’d been tooscared to ask because she was afraid she wouldn’t like the answer.
Taylor sighed, settling back farther into her chair. “Probably. His regional manager has been going on and on about what a great job he’s done reimagining the place while staying true to its character. He already asked him to go to Nashville to look at one of their other properties and give his thoughts on what they might be able to do there.”
“Would you go with him? If he asked?” Lucy stared at the floor, focusing on a swirling knot in the wood. What would she do if her closest friend and confidante left her here all alone? Sure, she had Pete and Pam and the others, but they were more like stand-in parents than the kind of best friend you share secrets with over wine and sappy Hallmark movies.
“I don’t know. Maybe?” Taylor shrugged. “I already told him we’d have to at least be engaged. I’m not uprooting my life for a boyfriend.”
Lucy could feel the hot tears stinging her eyes. Even her best friend was going to leave her. What would she do without Taylor on Heron Isle?
