Page 78 of A Novel Summer
“The pregnancy? I know it’s been hard. But pretty soon you’ll have the babies and it will all be worth it. It’s what you wanted eventually, right? You always wanted to be a mom. And you love Doug.”
“That’s not the point,” Colleen said with irritation. “Imagine not having the energy to doanything, let alone the things you love.You can’t even read, never mind edit. You can’t even walk around. Do you know what it’s like to feel like you no longerexist?”
“No,” Hunter said, “I don’t. But you do exist. You more than exist—you’re going to be someone’s mother. I think you’ll feel so differently once the babies are born. You’re going to be so happy.”
Colleen pulled the covers up higher and turned away from her. “It doesn’t work like that. Real life isn’t a Shelby Archer novel.”
Fifty-Six
Justin made dinner reservations, but Kate was running late at the bookstore. Evidently, she was learning what every vendor in town figured out sooner or later: summer hours of operation tended to be viewed more as suggestions than regulations.
He recognized a few of the people browsing the Hendrik’s shelves as being Land’s End customers, locals like Walter Tegan, a balding former linguistics professor who always dressed in a white polo shirt, denim shorts, and suspenders.
“I’m looking for a book,” Walter said to Kate. “The cover is green.”
When Kate didn’t find that to be enough information to go on, he became irritated.
“Colleen would know what I mean,” Walter said.
“I’m sure Kate will be able to help you if can think of what the book’s about, or maybe one word of the title?” Justin suggested.
Walter shook his head and walked out.
Kate frowned. “Not exactly a satisfied customer.”
“Can’t win ’em all,” he said, leaning over the counter to kiss her. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
After Kate managed to close shop, she told him that her last few customers were tourists, and that she could always tell the difference between locals and visitors because the visitors didn’t ask what happened to Land’s End.
“They seem to almost resent me,” she said. “But I didn’t put Land’s End out of business. It was the flood. It’s a strange customer dynamic I’ve never experienced before.”
“It will improve in time. People will just be happy to have a bookshop. I can’t imagine this town without one.”
“And now they’ll have two.”
Justin was confused. “You’re keeping your current location and the Land’s End space?”
Kate flushed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ears. It was a habit of hers, and it always slipped right back to hang straight along her cheek. He usually found the familiar gesture endearing. “Let’s talk over dinner,” she said, seeming almost flustered.
“I’d rather talk now.” He stopped walking. “What’s going on?”
She tucked a lock of hair behind one ear and avoided his eyes. “My brother, Karl, is opening a hotel here. I’m planning to have a boutique bookshop in the lobby catering to his clientele—beach books, some nonfiction about Provincetown, postcards—that sort of thing.”
Justin was confused. He didn’t presume to know everything that was happening in town, but after all his town council meetings, how could he have missed the news of a new hotel development? Unless...
“Don’t tell me your brother bought the wharf building,” he said slowly.
“No,” she said. “My father did.”
“Your father?” He thought back to their lunch with Martin Hendrik at Fishtail. What was it he’d said about Ptown?Untapped potential.Justin still remembered the comment because it was the opposite of the way he viewed Ptown. “So, your father bought the building you knew we were trying to turn into affordable housing? Did you ever think to mention that to me? Or better yet—tell him to back off?”
“You’re making this personal,” she said.
“You made this personal when you stood by as your father took it out from under us, and you made it even more personal by not telling me after the fact. How could you lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t talk about my family’s business plans. Just because we’re together doesn’t give you a right to that information.”
He couldn’t believe she could say that with a straight face. “When I told you, the other night in Boston, that we lost our bid for the building, you looked me right in the eye with some platitude about how it might be something good for the town.”
