The Magnolia Sisters (Magnolia Sisters #1) - Michelle Major Page 0,111
doing okay. Meredith and Carrie gave her a sense of belonging to something bigger. They might each have an individual history but they’d remain connected going forward, no matter what life threw at each of them.
As they drove into Magnolia, Carrie turned at the water tower and headed into downtown.
“Are you stopping at the gallery?” Avery asked.
“The bakery,” Carrie answered. “I’m hungry.”
“Me, too,” Meredith offered from the back seat. “I hope she has the carrot-cake muffins today.”
Carrie pulled into an open parking space and turned off the car.
“I’ll wait here,” Avery told them, unwilling to return to life in Magnolia until she spoke with Gray. “I’m more tired than hungry.”
She frowned as her sisters shared a look.
“We’re going to eat inside,” Meredith told her. “It will take a while.”
“How long does it take to eat a muffin?” Avery asked. “Besides, you can order everything to go. I miss Spot. I want to get out to the rescue and see her.”
The other two women climbed out of the car, and Meredith immediately opened the passenger door. “You need to come in with us. People will talk if we’re not together.”
Avery laughed softly. “No one expects us to be together all the time.”
“Come on,” Carrie coaxed in her gentle voice. “Meredith has been particularly annoying today. I need a buffer.”
“What you need,” Meredith said as she nudged Carrie’s arm, “is someone to stop me from reaching across the table to smack your pretty face when you say something stupid.”
“See?” Carrie held up her hands in entreaty.
“Codependent much?” Avery unbuckled her seat belt. “I’m sure you could have managed ordering breakfast without my supervision.”
She darted a glance up and down the street after slamming shut the car door. It was Saturday morning but the sidewalks seemed particularly quiet. There was no reason to think she’d run into Gray so soon. Of course, part of her was desperate to see him but she needed to gather her thoughts, come up with all the reasons he should give their relationship another chance.
Yes, she’d had over four hours in the air on the way back to think about her list but the possibility of rejection still made nerves flutter across her skin.
Carrie and Meredith flanked her as they headed for Sunnyside’s entrance, each of them looping an arm with one of hers. “I’m not a flight risk,” she said with a laugh. “You two are acting weird.”
“You have no idea,” Meredith answered as she held open the bakery’s door.
What was that supposed to mean? Avery was preoccupied studying her youngest sister as she entered so it took her an extra moment to register what waited for them inside the bakery.
“Welcome home!” a chorus of voices shouted.
Avery felt her eyes grow wide as she took in the crowd of people staring at her. From Malcolm to Josie to a host of other residents she’d gotten to know throughout her time in Magnolia. They were smiling at her, eyes shining with affection like she’d just returned home from some holy crusade instead of a few days on the West Coast.
“What did you two do?” she asked her sisters, who’d stepped forward to face the crowd at her side.
“Not us.” Carrie grinned. “Our only job was getting you here.”
Her brain working overtime to figure out why she was on the receiving end of all of this fanfare, Avery’s gaze snagged on a tall figure making his way to the front of the crowd.
“Hey,” Gray said as he came toward her. That one syllable sent longing fluttering through her belly.
“Give her something better than hey,” Malcolm shouted with a laugh.
“You complete me,” a voice from the back called.
“You make me want to be a better man,” Mary Ellen suggested with an enthusiastic nod.
“You have bewitched me, body and soul,” Joe from the diner added.
“Jane Austen didn’t write that line,” Julie Martindale informed him, shaking her head. “It’s not in the book.”