Page 60 of The Library of Second Chances
“I’m sure Taylor told you I’ve gone up to Nashville a couple of times to consult on a renovation for the property up there. They’ve officially asked me to move in August, and I’m going to ask Taylor to go with me.”
Lucy felt as if all the air was being sucked out of the room. That was why he was in such a hurry. She suddenly felt nauseated, and just like that the idea of her best friend getting engaged went from a joyous occasion to a bitter reminder that no one ever stayed. The person she leaned on most, who knew her best, was going to leave her behind too. Intellectually, she knew this wasn’t about her, and that friends moved away from each other all the time and maintained close bonds, but she couldn’t help feeling that, in the end, people always leave.
“You okay?” Jack took a step closer and held out a hand. “You look like you’re about to faint.”
She smoothed her hands down her skirt. “I’m fine. It’s just a lot to take in. The engagement. Moving.”
“I know you probably don’t love the idea of her moving, but we won’t be that far away. There’s a direct flight out of JAX to Nashville. Only takes an hour.” Jack smiled at her as if it was no big deal that instead of seeing her best friend every few days, she might only see her every few months, and that was probably best-case scenario. Taylor would get up there, her business would get busy, and their visits would get further and further apart. Long-distance relationships were never the same.
Lucy turned away so he wouldn’t see the tears shining in her eyes, even though they were a mix of happy tears and sad tears.
“Yeah, of course. Tomorrow’s good.” She moved over to the counter and started stacking the research she’d printed about the impact of cruise ships on historic ports for the forum that night.
“Great! Maybe when you close up? I talked to Linda over at Rothchild’s and she said she’d stay late if she needed to.” Linda owned the jewelry store downtown just across the square.
Lucy nodded, but didn’t speak. She just wanted him to leave so she could process the news in private.
“Okay.” His voice was hesitant. “I’ll meet you there at five?”
Keeping her back turned, she nodded. “Yep, sounds good.”
She’d help him, of course. She knew Taylor wanted to marry Jack and that she’d already considered it might mean moving around with him. Lucy certainly wasn’t going to try to stop her from finding her happy ending. She just wished everyone else’s happy endings didn’t have to come at her expense.
Twenty-Four
Logan
Logan made a beeline for the Little Free Library after he parked downtown. It was almost time to head over to city hall for the community forum, but he was anxious to see if Lucy had been by and found the book. He’d wanted to go all day, but had forced himself to sit at the dining-room table in his cottage and go over the plans from both the cruise line and the company that operated the casino boats. They’d both be in attendance tonight to give their formal presentations, and Lucy’s environmental experts would be there to poke holes in the plans.
Although he’d managed to sit there all day, he wasn’t sure he’d absorbed anything. His mind had drifted again and again to Lucy, to the Little Free Library, to the way she’d seamlessly fit in with his family at dinner, to how she had a habit of biting her lip and tucking her hair behind her ear when she was nervous. He couldn’t get her out of his head.
The numbers for both the cruise ship and the casino boat looked good. They were solid revenue generators for the city,and the cruise line had the potential to benefit virtually all the businesses downtown. Admittedly, it was impossible to have their environmental impact be zero, but a small cruise line like the one he was proposing had minimal impact. The benefits outweighed the disadvantages by a wide margin.
Approaching the Little Free Library, Logan opened the door as he’d done so many times before and hoped to see his book gone from the ledge. His eyes scanned the books waiting to be shelved and then moved to the nonfiction shelf. It wasn’t there. A small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. He wished he’d been able to see her reaction. Had she been excited? Skeptical? He was pretty sure she wasn’t angry, based on their conversations as Lucy and Logan and the fact that she’d worked the whole thing into her book proposal. Maybe he could find a way to bring up the subject later without her getting suspicious. He needed to know how she’d felt about the letter.
When he entered the council chambers, Lucy was already there along with a woman he assumed was her environmental expert. The woman was dressed in a black pencil skirt and a pale-pink cardigan set. She was testing a slide on the projection screen, but much to his disappointment, it gave nothing away.
“Evening, ladies.” Logan had nearly walked all the way up to them before they noticed him.
“Oh, Logan. I didn’t hear you come in. Maybe you can help us.” Lucy turned to the woman. “He’s much better with technology than I am.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” he said under his breath in a playful tone. He smiled at them both. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I can’t get it to go into presentation mode.” The other woman clicked the mouse a few more times to no avail.
“Here, let me.” He waited for her to move aside and, with a few clicks, he had the presentation up and running.
Lucy smiled. “You do realize you just helped your opponent, right?” Her eyes sparkled. The frustration with him and his waterfront ideas was gone, replaced by a sense that she now saw him as a worthy opponent.
He smiled. “I like a fair fight.” She was in a good mood. Maybe because of his letter in the Little Free Library? Forcing his eyes away from her, he turned to the other woman and offered his hand. “Logan Lancaster.”
“Miranda Clark.” She shook his hand firmly. “Southeastern Clean Water Foundation.”
The sound of the back door opening attracted their attention. It was Mark Sandberg from the cruise line. Logan had met with him earlier in the day before he’d gone back to his hotel to change for the meeting. No sooner had he entered than one of the gentlemen from the casino boat, with whom Logan had only spoken on the phone, walked in behind him and introduced himself.
As the townspeople started filing in, they moved to sit in their usual groups. He nodded at those he recognized, like Pam, Pete, Missy, and Mildred, along with some of the men he’d met at the Freemasons’ lodge. All the council members filed in and took seats in the front row, where they were joined by the mayor.
Logan and Lucy had already agreed to begin with a presentation by Logan on the ideas from the last meeting, which he’d now had time to vet and go over with the council and the mayor. They’d lay out which ones were still on the table and which had been deemed untenable. Then they’d have presentations from the cruise line and the casino boat before hearing the opposition from Ms. Monroe and opening the floor to members of the community to offer their support or opposition for any of the remaining ideas.
