I didn’t know you so well, I’d think you were a totally self-absorbed human being,” Shanna told her, even as she grabbed her purse and prepared to take Laurie to the inn for an inspection to see if it would meet her needs.
Fortunately, she’d anticipated exactly this scenario and had worked doubly hard to get ahead for the opening, so she could spend a few hours focused on the wedding.
“I’ve made an appointment with the owner,” Shanna told her. “We’ll walk around, look things over and have lunch, then meet with Jess.”
“You’re an angel,” Laurie said, giving her a hug. “I knew I could count on you. And once we’ve done this, you can count on me a hundred percent to do whatever you need me to do. I’ll even bake cookies, if that’s what you want.”
“Given your cooking skills, I think it’s probably a good thing that I’m having the food for the opening catered, by the inn, as a matter of fact. I’ll go over those details while we’re with Jess, too.”
“Then it won’t be all about me,” Laurie said with an exaggerated pout.
Shanna laughed. “Sorry, sweetie, you are not the center of the universe, at least not this week. When the time comes for your wedding, I promise you’ll get all of my attention.”
Laurie put on her seat belt, then managed to turn sideways and tuck a leg under her. “So, tell me about the men in this town.”
“Haven’t we had this conversation? Besides, you’re engaged. Other men should be the last thing on your mind.”
“Not for me. For you. And we haven’t discussed this since you’ve met someone,” Laurie said confidently.
Shanna regarded her with shock. “What makes you say that?”
“There’s a glow in your cheeks and a sparkle in your eyes. It wasn’t there when you left Philadelphia.”
“Maybe it’s there because I’ve been walking on the beach every morning. Or because I’m excited about opening the store day after tomorrow.”
“I like my reason better,” Laurie said, undaunted. “Who is he? What’s his name? How’d you meet?”
“Not talking about this,” Shanna said. “And here we are at the inn. Isn’t that fortunate timing?”
Laurie tried to stare her down, then relented. “These questions aren’t going away,” she warned. “I’m just hitting the pause button.”
“That’ll do for now,” Shanna said, relieved.
Of course, an hour later when Jess joined them in the dining room, it didn’t help that the first words out of her mouth were, “So, what’s going on with you and my brother?”
Laurie’s eyes lit up at once, even as Shanna groaned. Laurie turned to Jess.
“Shanna’s been seeing your brother?”
“No!” Shanna said emphatically. “Kevin has helped me out at the shop a couple of times. No big deal.”
Jess shook her head. “It’s a big deal to all of us. Kevin’s wife died in Iraq a little over a year ago,” she explained to Laurie. “Other than taking care of his son and dealing with family when he has to, he’s been pretty much isolating himself since then. Not that half the women in town haven’t tried to get his attention, but he’s been oblivious, at least until Shanna arrived on the scene.”
Shanna saw the precise moment when the full import of Jess’s words registered with Laurie. The excitement in her eyes dimmed. It was immediately replaced by concern.
“I see,” she murmured, turning to Shanna with a worried frown. It was evident that Jess’s words had doused her enthusiasm for this new relationship.
“Let’s talk about available dates for the wedding,” Shanna said pointedly. “I have a million last details to take care of at the store, so we don’t have much time.”
“Of course,” Jess said at once, opening her event planner.
As she and Laurie discussed the details of the wedding, Shanna sat back and tried to figure out how on earth to explain to her best friend that she really wasn’t about to leap from the frying pan of one lousy relationship into the fire of another.
The ride back to the shop was made in uncomfortable silence. Shanna made it clear at the outset that any discussion of Kevin O’Brien was off-limits. Since he was the only subject on Laurie’s mind, she apparently could think of nothing to say. That suited Shanna just fine.
After parking in the alley behind the shop, Shanna said, “Why don’t you go on upstairs and settle in? Take a nap while I finish sorting through the last boxes of inventory.”
“I can help with that,” Laurie said.
“Not really. I’m the only one who can figure out which things should go on display and which should be held back. I want to keep some things till after the opening, just in case it goes really well and the customers buy everything that isn’t nailed down.” She grinned as she said, “I should be so lucky, right?”
“You’re going to be a huge success,” Laurie said with unfeigned enthusiasm. “I can already tell. You have a knack for this. All those years of working as an accountant apparently stifled this creative side of you.”
Shanna could hardly deny that. Being a CPA had been a safe, but boring career. It was ironic that she’d met Greg while working for his family’s corporation. He’d encouraged her to quit right after the wedding, and she’d been only too eager to get away from the tedium. She hadn’t gone back to accounting until after the divorce, and she hadn’t been any happier the second time around, though her work environment had been a new one with coworkers she’d really liked.
“At least I know exactly how to set up a bookkeeping system and work with spreadsheets,” she said finally. “My education and experience weren’t a total waste of time.”
She unlocked the back door to the shop, and Laurie followed her inside. Shanna removed her spare apartment key from the small safe she’d had installed and handed it to her, but Laurie didn’t budge. Instead, she poured herself a cup of leftover coffee and nuked it in the microwave.
“We need to talk,” she announced, peering at Shanna over the rim of the mug.
“Not if it’s about Kevin O’Brien,” Shanna said firmly. “There’s nothing to discuss.”
“Lost soul. Little boy. I’d say there are at least two things we need to address.”
Even though she’d drawn the comparisons herself, Shanna remained insistent. “It’s not Greg all over again. You’ve heard the expression once burned, twice shy. Well, I’m at least three or four times shy. No way am I walking into the middle of this situation. Not that Kevin is actually like Greg. For one thing, he’s not drinking.”
“You have proof of that?”
“Proof, no, but he’s been around the store enough that I would surely have seen some evidence of it.”
“You
