But Grace hadn’t used the back door in weeks.
“I’m not going to lose sleep over it.” Liddy grabbed her bag. “Gracie, thanks so much for coming in. I appreciate the chance to step out for a bit. I won’t be long.”
“Take your time. I don’t have plans for the night.” Grace shooed the three women toward the front door.
“I’ve had some interesting people come in today,” Liddy told them as they crossed Front Street. “I got some good ideas for the shop from some new customers.”
“You can share those over dinner.” Maggie linked an arm through Liddy’s. “But first things first. Emma tells me Johanna Hall is on the prowl, and she’s set her sights on Tuck, who might have his set on you. Spill it, Lids.”
Over dinner, Liddy spilled.
“I could see Tuck as a companion for you.” Emma touched her white napkin to the corners of her mouth.
“Companion, hell,” Liddy scoffed. “I’m not looking to Tuck for companionship. I have you two for that, not to mention a steady stream of customers to talk to.”
“Maybe companion wasn’t the right word,” Emma said. “You may fill whatever you prefer in the blank. Doesn’t change the fact I could see you two together for something more than ‘Hey, Liddy.’ ‘Hey, Tuck.’”
“I guess we’ll have to wait to see what comes next. I’m just hoping it isn’t Johanna.”
“Tuck isn’t stupid, and I’ll bet he’s had his pick of women to date for years,” Maggie said. “If he had his eye on her, he’d have done something about it by now. I think she was blowing smoke.”
“Why would she do that?”
Maggie shrugged. “Maybe because you’re both single, and she saw him coming out of your shop at an early hour and was wondering what he was doing there.”
“Could be,” Emma said. “Maybe she was thinking there was something going on between the two of you, and she wanted to let you know you had competition. She wouldn’t come right out and ask you, because she’s sneaky.”
“Not to mention petty and jealous. I agree with Em.” Maggie drank the last of her iced tea. “She told you she was going to invite Tuck for dinner on Saturday night, maybe to see if she could get a reaction from you.”
“She didn’t. I was cool as a cucumber.” Liddy checked the time on her phone. “I need to get back. Let’s get the waiter to bring the check.”
Emma left them at the corner to walk back to her house on Pitcher Street while Maggie and Liddy returned to the shop. Grace was at the register reading when they came in.
“How’s it going?” Liddy asked her.
“Two customers while you were gone.” Grace nodded in the direction of the children’s section. “The kid is still here. I think he must be doing his homework.”
“He could go to the library for that.” Liddy glanced at the boy—Dylan, the girls had called him—who was writing in a notebook that was propped up on his backpack. “I thought kids did all their homework on computers these days.”
“Maybe some subjects, maybe not some others.” Grace shrugged. “And maybe he doesn’t have a computer at home. He’s not bothering anyone.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to give him the boot, Grace. I was just saying . . .” Liddy gestured for Grace to vacate the area behind the counter. “Are you done upstairs for the night?”
“I am. Mom, want a ride?” Grace dug her keys out from her bag.
“Sure. I could probably use the walk, but I’ll make it up tomorrow with an early run.”
“I’ll run with you,” Grace told her.
“Are you two still thinking about running a marathon?” Liddy asked.
“Mom is; I’m not.”
“You could train with me, Lids,” Maggie suggested. “I’ve been working with Dee Olson. She started running marathons after the last of her five kids left for college. She’s done Boston and New York. I run with her on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.” Maggie laughed. “Of course, so far, I’ve only been able to go three miles, but I’m working up to it slowly, which Dee said is the best way to go. Build up gradually.”
“Well, it sure sounds like a good time to me, but I think I’ll pass.” The shop phone rang, and Liddy answered it. Maggie pointed toward the back of the shop to indicate they were leaving, and Liddy acknowledged their departure with a wave.
With twenty minutes left before closing, Liddy’s neighbor, Bernadette Sikorski, strolled in.
“I meant to come in earlier, but I had my grandsons after school, and time just got away from me,” Bernie told her. “I wanted to pick up the new book about the army nurse who was in Vietnam right at the end of the war. You know the one I’m talking about?”
“I do. It’s right over here.” Liddy led her to the general fiction bestseller table, but noticed the book was sold out. “Oh, maybe there’s one left on the shelves.”
The two women searched the shelf for the book and found it, out of place.
“It’s unbelievable people can’t put things back where they found them.” Liddy held up the book. “Bernie, I’m pretty sure this is the one you want.”
“Yes, that’s it. That’s the cover they showed on TV this morning. Thanks, Liddy.” As she paid for the book, Bernie said, “I saw Maggie’s daughter over by your place this afternoon.”
“She’s thinking about renting out the little house. You know, the small place down by the pond where Jim used to have his insurance agency.”
“Oh, sure. Is that place even livable?”
“Grace has plans to make it so.”
“Tell her to call my niece in Fairhaven if she needs insurance.”
“I’ll mention it to her.” Anyone but Jim. Liddy’s phone chimed nine o’clock, as she’d set it to do. “Did you walk over, Bernie?”
“I did. You ready to leave? We can walk together.”
“Just let me check the back door to make sure it’s locked and turn out the lights in my office. And there was one customer here . . .” Liddy looked around when she reached the back of the shop, but the boy who’d been doing his homework there for hours was gone. “Closing time. I’m locking up,” she called just in case he or someone else might still be in the shop. When there was no response, Liddy locked the back door and got her bag from her office. He must have left the shop while she was helping Bernie.
She decided to leave her iPad and Rosalita on the counter for the morning, and she and Bernie headed off toward Jasper Street. They took their time, discussing Grace’s plans for the shop and Bernie’s grandson’s soccer game along the way. The streetlights were a hazy glow overhead, the cicadas hummed in the background, and the very first faint hint of fall settled over the town.
Chapter Nine
Hope momentarily fluttered in Liddy’s chest when her doorbell rang at seven in the morning, but a glance through the glass panel in the door brought her back to reality when she saw a thirty-three-year-old woman where she’d hoped to find a handsome man of sixty-two. She opened the door with a slight sense of disappointment.