The door opened another inch, and he took it as a sign of apology or understanding.
“Just give her some time. I’ve got some work to do over at my place.” He gestured across the street. “It’s going to be busy around here tomorrow when they start tiling the bathrooms. It’s going to take some time, but it’ll be worth it. I’ll be back in the morning.”
He walked in, shut the door, considered.
“You’ve really got to keep the door closed.”
He waited a moment, then, satisfied, went down, walked out, and locked up.
Across the street he stopped and turned to look, and thought he saw, just for a moment, the shadowy form of a woman at the porch rail.
But the door stayed closed.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FRAZZLED, IRRITABLE, AND DESPERATE FOR TEN MINUTES of peace, Clare dragged herself into the bookstore. For a moment, she indulged in some much-needed self-pity.
She owned the damn place, didn’t she? She ought to be able to just take the day off, go do something fun like . . . she couldn’t think of a thing.
Because she wasn’t in the mood for fun. She was in the mood to sit alone, blissfully alone in a quiet room, and stare at nothing for a couple hours.
“Morning!” Laurie sat cheerfully at the computer station. Her wide, bright smile gave Clare an instant headache. “How’s everything?”
“As you’d expect after hauling three kids to the dentist, listening to the bickering and whining all the way there and back. They were still at it when I dumped them at school. Their teachers may send out a warrant for my arrest.”
Laurie’s smile dimmed toward a look of sympathy. “Not a great way to start the day.”
“For any of us.” Clare dumped her purse and briefcase on the steps. Since taking the day off for a quiet room didn’t make the slate, at least she needed coffee before she got started on work.
And really, work climbed several rungs up the ladder from three battling boys.
“I’m going up to sulk for a while,” she said as she poured a mug. “And try not to think about the fact they have their checkups at the pediatrician next week. Maybe I’ll just run away from home.”
“You work too hard.”
“I’m not in the mood to disagree. Or remind myself that dentists and doctors insist on payment for services rendered.”
“I hate to tell you, you’ve got three messages.”
“Three?” That called for a shot of caramel in the coffee. “We’ve only been open a half hour.”
“Sorry. Um, plus we’ve got some sort of leak in the stockroom bathroom. Really sorry.”
Potential plumbing bill. No amount of caramel could ease the pain. “Oh well.”
“Maybe you’re getting all the crap stuff out of the way at once.”
“By the time you shovel up the crap, more materializes. It’s like the loaves and fishes. So I’d better get to it.”
Laurie waved the yellow message pad, smiled expectantly.
“I’ll take care of those first. I’ll be upstairs if you need me, and I sincerely hope you don’t for the next hour.” She reached for the messages, found herself in a little tug-of-war. “I actually need these to return the calls.”
“I know, but . . .” Doing a quick chair dance, Laurie jiggled the pad between their hands, tilted her head in a downward jerk.
“Laurie, for heaven’s sake. What’s going on with you? You’re officially cut off from caffeine until—Oh! Oh my God.” Clare released the pad to grab Laurie’s hand. The one sporting a sweet, sparkling engagement ring.
“I’m getting married!”
“I see that. Oh, Laurie, it’s a beautiful ring.”
“Isn’t it? I can’t stop looking at it. I love it. I just love it. I thought you’d never see it.”
“I was blinded by self-pity and leaky pipes. When did this happen?”
“Tyler asked me last night. He’s been acting so weird the last week or so, I was worried he wanted to break up.”
“Laurie, he’s crazy about you. Obviously,” she added turning Laurie’s hand to study the ring from another angle.
“Yeah, but he’d just been so weird. Then last night he’s like so super serious and he said we needed to take a walk in the park. I didn’t know what was up.”
“I’m so happy for you.” Clare set the coffee aside to free her arms for the hug. “You had no idea?”
“Zero. I mean, we’ve been together for two years now, and we’ve sort of poked around the edges of maybe. But I didn’t see it coming.” Her brown eyes glistened with happy tears. “Clare,