The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,107

here alone today?” Joann asked as they came toward the cash register.

Mary set her phone aside. “For now. Laurie had a hair appointment, but she’ll be in shortly.”

“What about Autumn?”

“She doesn’t usually come in until noon or one.”

Joann waved at the racks of books. “Anything new we should be aware of?”

Mary led them to the science fiction section, which was Megan’s favorite. “I ordered a dystopian novel by a woman named Tosca Lee I thought Megan would like.” She pulled it off the shelf and handed it to Joann’s granddaughter. “It’s been getting some great reviews.”

Joann sipped her coffee while Megan read the back cover and began to flip through the beginning of the story. “I saw your family with Quinn and his folks at the fireworks show on Sunday night. Are Autumn and Quinn getting together? Because Bev Vizii is running around telling everyone that Autumn and Quinn were probably having an online affair the whole time, that maybe she was the one he was cheating with.”

“That’s crazy. He wasn’t cheating. He’s said as much. And Nick was still around back then.”

“You know Bev. She insists that her daughter was justified.”

“It’s time someone told Bev to shut her trap. She’s been bad-mouthing Quinn ever since he came home. We’re all tired of it. Her daughter stabbed him, for crying out loud. How can she blame him?”

“Someone stabbed Quinn?” Megan asked, eyes wide. “The guy who owns that restaurant?”

“Never you mind. It was a long time ago,” Joann replied, quickly smoothing over it. “Do you want that book or not?”

“It looks good to me.”

“Then get it. We’ve got to meet your grandpa at the post office.”

Megan handed Mary the novel, and Mary returned to the register to ring it up. “Thanks for coming in,” she said as she put it in a bag with the Beach Front Books logo and handed it over the counter.

“Of course,” Joann said as her granddaughter accepted it. “We love books, but I’ll have to come back and find something for myself later.”

Mary told them goodbye and then picked up her phone again. She was expecting to continue her conversation with Tammy, and sure enough, there was another message waiting for her.

I’d like to see your place someday. And your store. Beach Front Books. It sounds so quaint and fabulous.

She was tempted to write, You’re welcome to come out whenever you can. But first she needed to know that Tammy no longer had a relationship with Nora.

Where’s your mother? she finally asked. Do you know?

No clue.

You don’t have any contact with her?

None. She knows how I feel about her.

That was comforting. But it still felt too risky—given how terrible the past had been—to bring anything that had to do with the Skinners into the careful life she’d built here.

Does she know where you live?

Who can say?

What would you do if she ever contacted you?

At this point, I’m not sure. It’s been so long.

This answer was less comforting. It gave Mary the impression that Tammy was softening toward her mother. Nora had proved herself to be such a psychopath that Mary had decided she’d have to be a fool to feel any empathy for her. But she wasn’t related to Nora like Tammy was, so maybe she could be more objective.

“Who are you texting?”

Mary jumped. She’d been so engrossed in her exchange with Tammy that she hadn’t heard Laurie come in. There was no bell on the back door. “Oh, it’s you,” she said. “You scared me.”

“It’s not like I snuck in,” Laurie said with a laugh. “Is that Tammy?”

“Yeah.”

“I should’ve guessed. You’ve been texting her nonstop since you two first spoke.”

“More and more as the days go by. It was never Tammy I had a problem with,” she mumbled, but Tammy’s response had made her uneasy. She read the words two or three more times before she could convince herself that Tammy didn’t necessarily mean she’d allow her mother back into her life.

Or did she?

What difference does the length of time make? she asked.

She could be a completely different person these days.

You think prison might have improved her?

She certainly had plenty of time to think while she was behind bars. Wouldn’t you say? It’s also possible she would never have done what she did without my father’s influence.

And that might only be what you want to

believe.

“What’s she saying?” Laurie looked concerned, probably because of Mary’s own expression.

“Nothing.” She put her phone away and got busy doing all the stuff she’d neglected while she was caught