called Shelley’s. She went inside. The place was small, but well-laid out, she discovered as she wandered the stacks. Mostly bestsellers, but some older books you might find in any store. She perused them. A gem was buried in the pile.
“Hello,” she heard from behind her. “My name is Mary Lanahan.” She turned to find a woman with dark eyes and hair liberally sprinkled with gray. “I own Shelley’s.”
“Hello. Millie Morrison. Is the shop named after Percy Bysshe?”
“Ah, you know your romantic poets. And yes, my mother was a poet. Published, too. She started Shelley’s. I took over when she died.”
“What was her name? I’ll find her online.”
Mary gave her the information. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
She picked up the battered copy of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. “What are you selling this for?”
“Make me an offer. I don’t pay much attention to this section.”
“Mary, this book is worth substantial money.” She opened it to the second page. “And wow, it’s signed. You could get a thousand bucks for this.”
“You’re joking.”
“No, I’m a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America. And I established a healthy sales division of rare books in a store in New York City.”
Her mouth gaped. Then her eyes turned shrewd. “Why didn’t you buy it for your store?”
“I couldn’t do that to a sister bookseller. What’s more, I’ll go through this section if you like, and tell you if you have any more valuable tomes here.”
“Let’s go sit in the back and you can do that afterward. My cashier will let me know if I’m needed.” She started away. “Don’t forget to bring Jack Kerouac with you.”
Over tea, they talked about books, about her clientele, which consisted of townspeople, students at the community college, and senior citizens from the development of two over-sixty-only complexes near town. Millie showed Mary her rare book collection at Fitzgerald’s, then she asked about the towns surrounding Corning. “Are there bookstores there?”
“I know of one that closed in Bath. Why?”
“Because I’m considering moving upstate and opening one, where there’s no competition to you.” Millie swallowed hard. Verbalizing what she might do with her life made it real.
Well, that was good. She could probably be happy up here. Maybe grandma and grandpa would move too, as there was a cadre of people their age living here.
After she left Shelley’s, Millie drove around, visited Bath and Gang Mills and Horseheads, all interesting names. The city gave way to farmland, then communities. The towns themselves weren’t as quaint or pretty or as populated as Corning. But she could see herself settled here.
She picked up groceries at Wegman’s, a delightful store, went back to the cabin and called up Future Plans where Millie kept notes about someday realizing this dream.
She banished Finn from her mind by immersing herself in the dream.
* * *
Finn walked into his financial advisor’s office for a meeting at noon the next day. “Hello, Finn,” Linc Blackwell said.
They exchanged pleasantries, then Linc sat in a chair in front of his desk and they got down to business. “What brought you here, Finn.”
“I need to move investments so I can take out some money.”
“All right.”
“I need it fast, like tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” His brows skyrocketed. “How much?”
“Five million.”
“May I ask for what?”
“Yeah, I’ll need you in on the deal anyway. I want to buy the building where my store is located.”
“In that area, it’s surely worth more than five million.”
“My family’s investing the rest.” Sort of.
“How much do you have access from them?”
“Ten million.”
Linc kept his cool. He was used to dealing with wealthy clients.
“All right. Let’s analyze your account and see what we can get without too much penalty.”
“Great.” Decision made, Finn was calmer. When he started to think about Millie, he told himself he’d get this taken care of and then find her.
* * *
On her third day in upstate New York, she went online searching for real estate in a small area which she liked, called Elmira Heights. A bit later, her phone buzzed. “Hello.”
“Millie, this is Mary Lanahan. From Shelley’s?”
“What’s up, Mary.”
“Have you found a location for your store yet?”
“My hypothetical store. I’m considering Elmira Heights now.”
“I’d like to see you today. I’ll come to wherever you are.”
“I’ll drive down to you. I need some chocolate and forgot to buy it.”
“There’s a fudge store right near here.”
“Yum. See you soon.”
Millie passed the fudge shop and the window tempted her enough to check it out. She entered Shelley’s smiling. Mary met her and brought her back to