Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (33 page)

Chapter
Twenty-five

Life. It travels roads with twists f
iction writers could never conjure up
.
Lilyan’s death has
made me more determined to
find answers. I realize that o
ur time here is
not only fragile—what we do matters.
I want to move forward
, but not without finding the real me first.
I do
n’t like the feeling of being a nomad.
~
Journal e
ntry

I
sent
Maggie
a text, asking her
to drop by
the bookshop
.
Bending with the flow, like a sapling in the wind, wasn’t getting the job done. Goldie interrupted my thoughts
,
and
I followed her
, finding
Maggie at the
back door
. “H
ow
did
you get here so fast?
”

“Y
our text
came through
as I pulled in behind the shop
s
.”
A misch
ievous grin brightened her face.

“
I need
your
help with selling the furniture in the apartment.
”

Upstairs,
Maggie
raised her eyebrows as her eyes wandered over the contents of the front room. I hop
ed she’d reserve the doubt
in her eyes.
“My professional advice is to put the furniture in
my
shop and sell it on
consignment. W
hen
furniture is included in a sale
,
you seldom receive full value.
”
Her expre
ssion looked as if her misgivings
were about to be given a voice
.

“I’ve
allowed my emotions to do my thinking
much too long
. If Au
dra still wants this
shop
for
a real estate office—it’s hers.”
I drew in a deep breath. “
If you can arrange to handle the furniture, I
’d appreciate it.
”

“
I understand
you feel you’ve been dragging your heels
—don’t overcompensate
.”

“Being here in
Serenity
Cove
is like needing
to unravel a seam
and not being able to find the right thr
ead to pull.
” Goldi
e nudged me
. I followed her to the door and
opened it. “Logan.
”
I didn’t want or need
another critic.

Maggie put her hand on my
shoulder. “I’m
off to check i
n with Linda
.
I’ll be back in
a few.”
Logan stepped b
ack
,
allowing her to pass
.

“What’s
going on?
You b
oth look so serious.” His eyes r
oved around the room like Maggie’s had.

“I’m attempting to create some semblance of
order
.”
If only my heart would
stop reacting to this man
,
dressed in a polo shirt and jeans.
Wasn’t there a law against
lo
oking that
good
in Levi
’
s? If
not—
there sh
ould be. It
didn’t help my
confusion
.
“This store
remain
ing a bookshop doesn’t seem probable
.”

“We used to sit
on the
rug
downstairs
and
listen
to Miss
Anne
, as we called her
back then
.
She could sure read a story
. In summer,
the child
ren of the seasonal
visitors
joined us
for story time
.”
Logan
fingered the ends of my hair
, the way he often did
. “I’ll let you get back to it—I
’ll drop by later.
”

“Sound
s
good.” H
e
gently grasped
my
arm
. Chills slid down my spine.
I wanted
to
feel the urgency of his kiss
, but
with a quick hug
he left
.

I watched out the
apartment
window as
Logan
drove away
.
It wasn’t the first time I had heard how Anne read to the children, but his comments
propelled me down the stairs.

The
now familiar
area
displayed several
perfect kid-height bookshelves
.
Delightful jungle
animal
s under swaying palm trees worked their way around the
border
of a hand-woven rug
l
y
ing
in
the
center of the space
. In fr
ont of the carpet
sa
t the chair. It must’ve been
Anne
’s
chair
, the one
where she sat
and
read to the children.
I knelt, rubbing the texture of
the rug, wanting the memories it held to be mine. I wanted her to read to me
.
Go
ldie perked up her ears
.
I glanced up
and
Maggie
had returned
.

“Ah,
the reading place?”
She slipped down
to
the floor
beside
me
. “Miss
Anne
and story
time. Not a child around wanted to miss it.
Even some of
the parents leaned a
gainst the wa
lls and listened while she read.”

“There must be
a
buyer
interested in owning
a bookshop,
someone
who’ll sit and
share stories with
the kids
. I
want
Anne
’s
dream to live on.”
A future and a hope.
I
wanted
to believe
—not
quite
.

Maggie
stood
. “Let’s go to Rubi’s.
I’m famished.”

I welcomed the distraction. “I’m in.” I brush
ed the dust off my clothes and the three of us paraded out the front door and across the street.

We chose
a booth
along the side windows of the diner.
Rubi’s daughter,
Tiffani
,
had
served our s
andwiches as
Logan
and
Alec
arrived
. We waved them over and
they squeezed into the booth with us.

Tiffani brought over
cold drinks
for
Logan
and
Alec
. “Are you ready to order?”

“I’m good.” Logan nodded to
Alec
.
“You?”

Alec
picked u
p
the chi
lled glass. “This will do it for me
.
”

“If you change your mind
,
give me a holler
.”
Tiffani
smiled as she sashayed to another table
.

“We saw you
through the window.”
Logan
dire
cted his comment
to me. “
Roger Monroe
call
ed
.
We
’
re meeting with him
tomorrow
afternoon
.
Thought you might want to be there.
”

“Yes.
Definitely
. Think
he has useful information?”

He
shrugged. “Worth a try
.”
Logan toyed with the long-handled spoon in front of him.
“I’m going to church with Maggie in the morning—you guys interested?”

Surprise beamed
from Maggie’s opened
-
eyed expression. “M
eet here for breakfast at eight?
”

“
Church still
start
at nine?
”
Logan grinned at his sister.

Maggie merely nodded, with a look of shock
vivid on her face.

Excitement caressed my insides—I missed praise and worship
. Although
I couldn’t hear the music,
I loved the feeling
when
people lifted their hands to
gether in praise. Morning
couldn’t come soon enough.

Chapter T
wenty-six

Several pe
ople craned their necks
. If the sight of
their police chief in church wasn’t enoug
h to incite curiosity
—I had a gorgeous woman
on my arm.

We scooted into the
pew
Grandmother Delatorre used
to claim each Sunday morning. Sam took h
er place between Maggie and me.
Alec
and his wife Peggy were
on the other side of my sister
. I shifted in my seat a couple of times.

“You okay?” Sam
whispered.

I folded my hand around hers. “I’m good.”

Whe
n the choir broke into song, it brought memories of
my grandpa
rents—on both sides. Were
the
y
smiling down on this day?
S
trange
how thr
ough pure
stubbornness we
get it wrong.
I squeezed Sam’s hand—i
t felt good to be back.

After services
,
we hurried to Maggie’s house
for the meeting with Roger Monro
e.
G
athered
on the front porch
,
we watched for his arrival
. Finally, a
white rental car rolled to a stop in the
driveway
and I assumed it was Roger Monroe
.

I
walked down the
wooden steps
and
extended my hand
to him.
“Thank you for meeting with us.”
He
towered over me a good
three inches.

He
grasped my hand
with a firm grip. “
Not sure I
’ll be of much help
.” I
made introductions all around.
Then
note
d his features
,
looking for any resemblance to Sam
. Especially his eyes, were they the
same
blue as
her
s? They were brown.

M
aggie filled a mug
and placed it where Roger sat. He looked at
Sam
and smiled
. “I see your
mom
in you. She was about your age the last time I saw her. I returned to
Serenity
Cove and
found
Anne
had opened
a bookshop. It made sense. She always carried books with her.

Sam
antha
leaned forward. “Tell me about her.”

He stretched his legs out
. “I was
sixteen
when
my parents se
nt me here to liv
e with my aunt. A
better
environment
, so they claimed
. My aunt’s propert
y line connected to the land
Anne’s parent
s owned
.
”