The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,119
back from Richmond.”
“You’re not still going tomorrow, are you?” she asked, her voice growing louder due to her surprise. “It’s after two. You’ll be exhausted before you even start.”
Especially because she had to leave the house by six to make her flight. But she’d already paid for her plane ticket. And she felt a decision had to be made where Tammy was concerned. “I can rest in the car while Laurie drives.”
“Aunt Laurie is awesome,” she said, sounding relieved that she didn’t need to offer to go along herself. “She’s always there for us.”
“Laurie’s a wonderful person.” Mary turned off the water. “Have you ever wished you had a sibling, Autumn?” she asked and held her breath as her daughter took a moment to consider the question.
“I used to, growing up,” she admitted. “Being an only child gets lonely—especially an only child who doesn’t have a father. But when Caden and Taylor are at each other’s throats, I realize that I never had to compete for the front seat of the car, the last piece of cake, what movie we’ll watch or what game we’ll play.” She smiled. “I’m fine, Mom. You did a great job.”
That was what every mother longed to hear. But what would Autumn say when she learned that she could’ve had a sibling all along?
* * *
Sunlight, slanting through the blinds, woke Autumn the following morning. Still groggy, she smiled when she smelled Quinn’s cologne on her bedding and wished he was beside her—until she grew alert enough to remember what had unfolded last night. Then her heart didn’t feel quite so light.
With a groan, she shoved her head under the pillow. Her seventeen-year-old daughter was going to have a baby. “No!” she yelled, because no one was around and she could do it without being heard.
Throwing off the pillow, she rose up on her elbows to see the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was only eight; not too late. Had her mother left? Or after such a brutal night, had she and Laurie decided to postpone their trip to Richmond, after all?
Autumn climbed out of bed to go to the bathroom and lifted the blind so she could check the drive on the way back. Her mother’s sensible Chevy was gone, suggesting she’d left as planned.
“If she feels half as bad as I do, she should’ve waited until next Monday,” she mumbled. The coffee shop wouldn’t be finished for months. What would it matter to wait another week to check out the Richmond store’s new software when they’d been running the bookstore the same way for years?
Knowing her mother, Mary had kept the appointment just so she wouldn’t have to cancel at the last moment. It was the courteous thing to do, so Autumn couldn’t pinpoint why she was annoyed. She was just mad in general.
Her phone buzzed. It was Quinn.
She checked to make sure her door was locked before answering, just in case she said something she’d rather not have one of her children overhear. Had she not taken that small precaution last night, her kids would’ve walked in and found Quinn in her bed.
She was definitely going to be more careful in the future. These days, Taylor and Caden were so caught up in their own lives that she’d been lulled into a false sense of security, had taken her privacy out here in the garage too much for granted.
“Hello?”
“You okay?” he asked.
She dropped back onto the bed and pulled up the covers. The air-conditioning was already chumming along, trying to combat the oppressive humidity—a battle the humidity would win as the day progressed—but she was chilled to the bone. “I feel like crying,” she admitted. “I’m shocked. I’m sad. I’m disappointed. I’m worried about how this will impact her life and how well it will go with Oliver and his parents.”
“Relief has to be in there somewhere. That was a close call,” he said with a chuckle. “Things could’ve been much worse.”
She was too upset to find anything about last night funny, but she couldn’t help agreeing on the close call. “That’s true. Did you find your flip-flop? Or is it still hiding under my bed?”
“I found it. Thanks for leaving the light on when you left.”
“No problem.”
“What are you doing today?”
“Sulking.” She didn’t feel like leaving the house. Fortunately, the store was closed, so she didn’t have to man it while Laurie and her mother were away.
He chuckled again, but this time more sympathetically. “I’m sorry.”