The Story Of Us - Teri Wilson Page 0,15

said I would.”

Did he not remember, or did he simply think that everyone moved away from their hometown and never looked back?

“I had no idea,” he said, blinking rapidly before letting out a strangled-sounding laugh.

“Well, how would you? You’ve been gone for fifteen years.” There. She’d said it. “Unless Rick tells you everything.”

“Not that thing,” he said under his breath.

She was a little stumped as to why he seemed so surprised. He’d just seen her on top of a ladder shelving new books. Did he really think she was still working part-time in the afternoons for Mr. Ogilvy?

“Well, enough about me.” She pasted on a smile. “How are you? What are you doing back here?”

She was dying to know. Rick hadn’t breathed a word about Sawyer coming back. And Sawyer’s crisp blue dress shirt and the messenger bag that was currently slung over his shoulder kind of made it seem like this was more than simply a vacation—not that it seemed likely he’d come to visit on a whim after all this time.

“I…um…” His face went blank for a second, and then the chime of a cell phone had him reaching for his pocket. “Oh, excuse me. Hold on…”

Jamie nodded, wondering who would be calling him. Then she wondered why she cared as two bothersome words echoed in her consciousness: romantic hiatus.

Sawyer’s brow furrowed as he glanced at the screen of his ringing iPhone. “Oh. Um, sorry. I have to…”

“Oh.” Jamie nodded again while Sawyer held the phone to his ear. She couldn’t seem to stop.

“Hey, Dana. Can you hold on just a second?” Sawyer glanced up from his phone with an apologetic smile. “I have to take this.”

Whoever Dana might be, she was clearly important to him. And that was perfectly fine. Jamie didn’t even know Sawyer anymore.

Seeing him again had been nice, though. Not quite as agonizing as she’d originally feared.

“Of course,” she said, shooing him off. “Yeah, go. It was great to see you again.”

“Good to see you too. Bye.” He was already walking away, practically sprinting toward the courtyard exit. “Hey, Dana. Yeah…”

He waved at her one last time before he disappeared.

“Bye,” she said, and her heart gave a little squeeze.

Then she took a deep inhale, squared her shoulders and marched back inside her bookstore. This was nothing more than history repeating itself. Jamie had grown accustomed to saying goodbye to Sawyer O’Dell a long, long time ago.

Jamie put on a brave front when she went back to shelving books, but it would have been nice to have had some time to regroup after her high school sweetheart resurfaced out of the blue, quoting Shakespeare and acting like he’d just walked out of the pages of a Jane Austen novel. A break was definitely in order. Fifteen hours or so would have been nice—one for each year that had passed since Sawyer O’Dell had broken up with her the summer after their high school graduation.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have fifteen hours to spare, since the town council meeting was scheduled to begin less than an hour after Sawyer left.

She shelved like a madwoman, channeling all of her confusion into getting the shiny new books perfectly displayed before it was time to close up and head to her aunt’s flower shop so they could walk to the meeting together.

She debated whether or not tell Anita that Sawyer had dropped by…and ultimately decided against it. Anita had always loved Sawyer. Everyone loved Sawyer. But if she mentioned it, the fact that he was back in town would become a thing. And Jamie had already decided it definitely wasn’t a thing. It was a non-thing, really. Sure, it had been nice to see him, but she had more important things to think about.

Namely, saving her bookstore.

The town council meeting was set to take place at the Waterford Community Center, an old church that had been converted into a theatre and meeting hall. With its tall steeple and arched stained-glass window, it had always been one of Jamie’s favorite buildings in the business district. Even though the space hadn’t served as a house of worship for thirty-some-odd years, it still carried the distinct, comforting aroma of candle wax, furniture polish and old hymnals. Light spilled in from the nave windows overhead, and every tiny sound echoed off the smooth oak floors.

As lovely as the old building was, Jamie hummed with nervous energy when she and Anita walked through the door. The turnout for the council meeting was huge. They were ten