wasn’t, of course.
Dana’s name lit up the screen instead, and when he answered the call, she launched into a discussion without bothering to say hello. “Chuck Blevins from the pizza place sent in his agreement this morning.”
She must have been calling him during a mid-morning Starbucks run, because Sawyer could hear the hum of Portland’s city streets in the background—cars slicing through the rain, honking horns, jackhammers. All things notably absent where he stood right now. “That’s good news.”
“He liked the idea of one of his dad’s old employees being in charge of the redesign,” she said. Then she added a rare, “Good job.”
He should have been thrilled. The contract made things official—Chuck and his dad were on board, which meant Sawyer was one step closer to the permanent job he desperately wanted at Ridley. But as he stood talking to Dana, his gaze drifted across the street where he noticed Jamie and Anita talking to a small group of other business owners. They all had paper cups in their hands—non-Ridley cups, he noted—but judging from their glum expressions, it wasn’t merely a casual coffee date.
“How’s it going with the bookstore?” Dana said.
He gave a start. He’d forgotten he was in the middle of a call. “Jamie and I are talking.”
It was the truth, technically. Plus, he really wanted to try and keep Jamie out of Dana’s crosshairs.
But of course, she pressed for specifics. “About her supporting the project?”
Across the street, Jamie and her group disbanded. Chuck Blevins was the first to leave, walking in the direction of the pizzeria with his head bowed and shoulders hunched. The others followed suit, Olga and Beth going their separate ways while Jamie and Anita walked together, arm in arm.
“It’s a work in progress,” he muttered under his breath.
Dana’s tone took on a distinct note of displeasure. “As long as there is progress before the council vote. There’s a reason Ridley chose you for this.”
He was well aware of the reason. He was also aware that Jamie and Anita both looked visibly shaken, and he was pretty sure that his very presence in Waterford as a Ridley representative was the root cause of their distress. His pizzeria conquest suddenly didn’t feel much like a victory anymore.
He swallowed hard. “I remember.”
The rest of the day passed in a blur for Jamie as she went through the motions of smiling at customers, helping them choose books, and keeping up her usual level of animated chatter.
True Love Books had always been Jamie’s happy place. She loved her customers…but today she just wasn’t feeling it. All she could think about was her conversation with Anita, Olga, Beth and Chuck earlier, and the horrible sense of dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach since she’d learned Chuck had signed the paperwork to sell his property to Ridley.
She couldn’t believe he’d caved. Now all the other businesses in the district would probably fall like dominoes until she’d eventually be forced to close her doors. The worst-case scenario suddenly seemed like a very real possibility.
At the end of the day, she locked the doors, slipped into her red swing coat and placed Eliot’s cat carrier on the counter, dreaming of a bubble bath and a rom-com movie. Anything to get her mind off of the proposed Ridley project.
And Sawyer O’Dell. Because, really. Weren’t the two just about synonymous at this point?
“Eliot?” She leaned over the counter but couldn’t spot her kitty anywhere until he popped up onto the countertop, seemingly from out of nowhere.
Meow.
She scratched behind his ears and he purred, long and loud.
“Aw, good boy.” Jamie held him up so that the two of them were eye to eye. “Okay, Eliot. What’ll we do if we can’t save this place, huh?”
Eliot blinked his glittering cat eyes, taking it all in. Jamie couldn’t imagine what he would do all day if he couldn’t come to True Love. He was much too social to be stuck at home all day. If the store closed, numerous people, plus the world’s sweetest cat, would suffer. Not just Jamie.
But she couldn’t think about that right now. She’d been thinking of little else all day, to no avail. Right then, she just needed a break from it all.
“There you go, bud.” She tucked Eliot inside his carrier and zipped it up tight, for once anxious to get home and try to forget about True Love for a while.
But as she reached for her keys in the flowered china dish by the register,