Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,25

he caught sight of an old sign peeling at the side of the road.

Grayson’s Books.

Aidan pulled over, glad for the detour. He followed the sign down an overgrown path and through a creaking gate, and found the store half-hidden behind a massive blackberry bush. It wasn’t a store, not really, but an old cottage, and when Aidan stepped through the front door, he found a warren of sun-drenched rooms filled with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and stacks of old, dusty boxes. There was a man taking a nap behind the front desk – feet up, head tipped back – so Aidan left him to snooze in peace, and made his way deeper into the house.

There didn’t seem to be a system, he realized, as he browsed the haphazard collection of books. At least, none that made any sense to him. Cookbooks were stacked beside pulp romance novels, and dusty old classics teetered on the table with what looked like the complete series of Sweet Valley High. He found a box of old fantasy novels in the corner, and paused. These were like the ones that kid had been reading. Stella’s kid, he corrected himself. Matty.

He could buy a few…

Aidan stopped himself. He wasn’t going to get involved, remember?

He moved on to the back room, where he found a shelf full of nonfiction. There, buried between some old computer guides, was a whole trove of maritime books, everything from nautical histories, to local shipbuilding, and even a dusty book of boat designs, too. He guessed seafaring was big business on the Cape. He was just flipping through, curious, when a familiar voice made him turn.

“What are you doing here?”

It was Cassie, looking at him in clear surprise.

“What does it look like?” Aidan asked. He held up a book as evidence.

“Browsing… Isn’t that kind of inefficient?” she teased. “I would have thought you just ordered everything online, so you didn’t miss a moment’s work.”

Aidan didn’t want to explain why he had plenty of time to kill, so he changed the subject.

“What about you?” he eyed the stack of classic literature in her arms. “Since when do you read Tolstoy?”

“They’re for a client,” Cassie replied with a grin. “He wants an impressive bookshelf, to make him seem serious and intellectual. I figure these at least have the spines cracked.”

Aidan chuckled. “That’s… kind of pretentious.”

“Oh yes?” Cassie quirked an eyebrow, amused. “Don’t tell me you’ve read every one of those doorstopper coffee table books at your apartment? History of Italian Cinema and Life Cycle of the Snow Leopard.”

“OK, OK.” Aidan grinned. He moved towards the doorway, but Cassie trailed him, fishing one of the old shipbuilding guides from the top of his stack.

“What’s this? You’re going to work on grandpa’s boat?” she asked, looking surprised.

Aidan shrugged. “Maybe. It would be a shame to let it just rot away.”

Cassi smirked. “You, rolling up your sleeves and getting dirty…? I just can’t picture it.”

“I’m not that useless,” Aidan said, with a twinge of defensiveness. “You all act like I’m incapable of taking care of anything.”

“We’re just kidding,” Cassie said, still smiling. “It’s just been so long since I’ve seen you away from your laptop. I started thinking it was surgically attached.”

“No laptop today.” Aidan held up his hands. “And I even left my cellphone in the car.”

Cassie gasped theatrically. “My God! However, will you cope?”

“Funny.”

Cassie trailed him to the next room. “Aww, I’m only teasing. You know you never get out of the office. This is the second time you’ve even visited us all, you didn’t even come for Christmas last year,” she pointed out.

“I was busy. You act like there’s something wrong with working for a living,” he replied, only part-kidding. “It’s not like the rest of you are going to support the family on surfing and dog-walking jobs.” The rest of his family was talented, sure, but they’d always followed their passions – without thinking who would be there picking up the tab if everything went wrong.

“I can support myself just fine,” Cassie said airily. “I have a ton of clients at my design business now, and you know Wes isn’t exactly strapped for cash.”

Aidan paused. She was right, she had made a success of things, but it was still hard for him to see her in a new light. However grown-up she was now, Cassie would always be his baby sister, the one who used to sleep in his closet during thunderstorms because she was scared to be alone. “And there you were, swearing you’d