SADIE FELT AS if she’d blinked and it was Tuesday again. And not just any Tuesday, the Tuesday of Homecoming week. Nearlake put as much time and energy into the event as it did Christmas, and that was saying something. Christmas in Nearlake was downright magical.
Although she didn’t play sports in high school, she did enjoy watching them. And the Homecoming game was a lot of fun. As odd as it could be at times to be back at your high school years after graduating, she enjoyed the school spirit and the community support.
Monday being the one day the shop was closed, Sadie had spent the afternoon making cupcakes for the bake sale the school library was holding to raise money for more books. JoJo had been able to help for a little while, but then spent the rest of the afternoon resting in her chair, chatting with Sadie as she’d decorated each cupcake in the school colors of green and gold.
Tuesday morning had flown by, a steady stream of customers coming into the shop. Another reason Sadie liked Homecoming week was that it brought in more business. Rather than just come for the weekend, many alumni would arrive early and stay for the week, enjoying time with friends and family before the big game on Friday night.
As Sadie was finishing her lunch at her desk, Moira stuck her head in the door of the office. “Hey, there. Your young charges have arrived.”
Sadie scrunched up her face. “Young charges?”
Moira smiled. “You know, the young man who broke the window and the hunky police officer’s daughter you said could organize books.”
Sadie shook her head at Moira calling James “hunky,” whether that was true or not.
“It was a stroke of genius, if you ask me, to have his daughter hang out here after school. Get to know her, have him hang around more. Good thinking, Sadie girl,” Moira said with a click of her tongue.
It took every ounce of self-control Sadie had to not roll her eyes into the back of her head. “Moira. There was no hidden motive in asking Maddie or Kenny to be here after school. Kenny is paying off his debt with sweat equity, and Maddie asked if she could help organize the books. That wasn’t even my idea.”
“Whatever you say. Still can’t hurt your cause though.” Moira gave her a thumbs up then left.
“There’s no cause!” Sadie yelled, but Moira was already gone.
It was beginning to feel as if every single person in her life was determined to set her up with James. However, she had wondered about how often she’d seen him since he’d answered her call about the broken window. She’d gone from seeing him around town, mostly at a distance, to having him in her shop three different times in one week’s time.
Which wasn’t entirely strange. The first time was because he was investigating the broken window. The second time he’d come to return the baseball he’d found, and the third, to buy furniture for Maddie. But she had to admit that a part of her wondered, maybe even dared to hope, that he was stopping into the store to see her.
No. That couldn’t be it. She was creating stories in her head. Ones that she had no time for. With all she had on her plate, love and romance would not fit. With a sigh, she sat back in her chair. It had been a long time since she’d considered anything resembling love into her thoughts, let alone her life.
Yet, when she was honest with herself, she had to admit she’d been thinking about James. A lot. The way his eyes lit up when he talked about Maddie. Or what a great listener he was. He had seemed truly interested when Sadie talked about the store, what it meant to her and how she felt about the items that came through the door. Sincere and genuine were words that came to mind when she thought of him. And he was thoughtful, too. She knew he’d meant it when he offered to help her fix things around her house, or even teach her to do it herself. And even though the thought of James as her own personal handyman brought about certain fantasies she dared not entertain, the last thing she wanted was to take up any of his time teaching her how to wield a hammer or working on her house when she had absolutely no means to pay him.
He’d been the star of their high school days, a spotlight seeming to follow him wherever he went, but she could see a shy, quiet side to him, one that made her think a lot of his demeanor back then had more to do with what was expected of him rather than his true self.
She chuckled. Wasn’t that the definition of teen years right there? She doubted many people could honestly say in those years they were completely and totally themselves.
And now his daughter was in the store, as Moira had said, but not so Sadie could spend more time with James. She would never use Maddie as some pawn to get closer to him. Moira didn’t mean that, Sadie, knew, but…ugh! Her thoughts were all jumbled since he’d showed up at her door a mere handful of days ago.
She stood up from her chair and swept the trash from lunch into the garbage beside the desk. With a brush of her hands over the bin, she tossed her thoughts in there as well. It was time to run her store and leave behind thoughts of dating, love, romance, and anything that had to do with James Larsen.
She made her way to the front of the store where she found Moira showing Kenny how to dust shelves and Maddie at the counter holding a small, metal storage box with daisies panted on the top. She looked up when she saw Sadie and smiled, her expression the spitting image of her dad’s. There went the ability to forget all things having to do with James Larsen. Sadie would be spending the week staring into the face of a girl who had the same twinkle in her eye that he did.
Sadie was doomed.
“This is so cute,” Maddie said as she popped the box open and looked inside. “It’s so small though. What’s it meant to hold?”
Sadie stood on the other side of the counter, facing Maddie. “It’s a pill box. Women used to carry them in their handbags.”
Maddie looked at her. “What’s a handbag?”
Goodness. Was Sadie that old? She didn’t normally feel it but at that moment she feared a few gray hairs may have shown up.
“It’s a purse.”
Maddie nodded. “Oh. Right.”
Sadie noticed then that like the other teenagers in town, Maddie didn’t have a purse over her shoulder. Or a bag of any kind. It was probably safe to assume Maddie had a phone case that kids used that held ID and a credit card, all they could need or want fitting nicely in the back pocket of their jeans.
Handbags had been somewhat of an obsession for Sadie’s grandmother. Owning an
antique shop could do that to a person. Some beautiful bags came through the store, one-of-a-kind pieces that were handmade, and even some high-end designer ones Sadie couldn’t fathom paying full price for brand new.
The current generation seemed to have a less-is-more kind of mindset, not wanting to be bogged down with stuff, but where Sadie could see the convenience of a person’s whole world being on their phone, she still didn’t trust electronics to not give out, therefore leaving her stranded. She was more than fine with her paper calendar and notebook tucked neatly into her tote-sized handbag. She bit back a laugh at the fact that one of those pill boxes was tucked in there as well.
Maybe she was getting old.
Vintage had a nicer ring to it.
Maddie closed the pill box and set it back down on the counter. “I brought you that book you loaned me. I really liked it.”
Sadie hadn’t noticed the book sitting on the counter until Maddie picked it up and handed it to her.
“Wow. You’re a fast reader.”
Maddie shrugged.
Sadie put out a hand and gently pushing the book back toward Maddie. “It wasn’t a loan. It was a gift.”
“Really? Wow. Thank you.”
“My rule on books is that they are meant to be re-read or passed along. So, if you want to keep it on your shelf and read it again someday, do that. Or find someone else you think might like it and let them have it.”
Maddie smiled as she tucked her hair behind her ear with one hand and looked down at the book she held in the other. “I like that. I’ll make that my rule, too.”
The bell over the front door jingled and a group of women entered the shop. Moira welcomed them as she went over to see how she could be of help.
“Miss Sadie.”
Sadie turned to see Kenny holding a duster in one hand, a big smile on his face.
“Hi Kenny.”
She introduced him to Maddie who gave him a small wave and a smile.
“Miss Sadie, thank you so much for letting me do this. This is so fun!”
Sadie and Maddie shared a quick glance at one another.
“If you think dusting is fun, Kenny, this store is going to be your amusement park,” Sadie teased.
Maddie laughed at that as Kenny headed off to dust his next row of shelves.
“Come on, Maddie. I’ll talk you through the book stacks.”
Sadie showed Maddie the various books she had piled against a side wall of the store.
“So, the thing is, I tend to have shelves for these. The problem is when a customer wants to come and buy the shelves. I started setting the books here, thinking I’d find another place for them and just haven’t got to it.”
Maddie was already kneeling before a stack. “Okay. I can go through them and arrange them by genre or color of books covers or however you want.”
“The world is your oyster, Kid. You can organize them however you want and either put them on shelves or use them as décor in various places around the store.”
“Really?” Maddie looked up at her, eyes wide in disbelief that Sadie trusted her with such a task.
“Really, really. Have at it.” She patted Maddie on the shoulder. “Just give me or Moira a shout if you need anything. We will be around the store.”
Maddie’s was already looking back down at the books, her long blond hair flowing down her back as well as covering the sides of her face. It made Sadie smile to think of how often she had done that very same thing in her life. She could get lost in books for days.
She breathed in deep and let it out. Too bad those days seemed long gone. Now they were filled with so much responsibility. Not that she was complaining. She loved her life. She did. But she wouldn’t mind a day here and there with nothing but time to read.
She left Maddie to it and went to check on Kenny. Seeing him happily running the duster over any surface he could reach, she decided to tackle prepping the dresser James had bought for when he was ready to pick it up. She liked to wrap items as well as possible so there would be no damage in transport.
Between customers coming and going, keeping an eye on Kenny, answering the phone, and chatting with friends who were in town for Homecoming, the afternoon flew by. Sadie had yet to get to finish prepping the dresser and was beginning to work on it when Maddie joined her.
“Sadie. I think I found…” her shoes squeaked as she stopped short on the wood floor. “What is that? Is that a dresser? No way. It is so cool!” She hurried over to it, running her hands along the top, her eyes wide, a huge grin on her face. “Oh man. It has a Sold sign on it. What a huge bummer.”
Sadie hated to see the girl’s shoulders sag and her face fall. But, seeing Maddie’s joyful reaction, Sadie didn’t want to ruin the surprise for James when he told Maddie it was for her.
“Yep. It was sold recently.” Although she hadn’t lied, Sadie still avoided eye contact with Maddie, not wanting to give away anything with a smile or any kind of facial expression.
“Ugh. I want a new dresser so bad, and this would be perfect.”
Wanting to draw Maddie’s attention away from her disappointment, Sadie said, “When you came over to me you said you had found something?”
“Oh yeah. Right.” Maddie snapped her fingers. “You need to come and see.”
Intrigued, Sadie followed Maddie back over to where the stacks of books had been. In a short time, Maddie had worked her way through quite a few. Sadie noticed a few books stacked on a console table nearby, a set of bookends shaped like monkeys holding them up. Another stack lay on its side on a nightstand, each book with a green cover matching the hue in the bed comforter folded nearby.
The girl had an eye for decorating. James had mentioned watching HGTV shows with her and Sadie could see proof of that.
Sadie looked where Maddie stood and saw a corner of one of the rugs pulled up, a square of wood cut out of the floor.
“Well, that’s odd.” She moved closer, her hands on her hips as she looked down.
Maddie knelt beside her. “I know, right? I dropped a book and when it hit the floor it made a hollow sound. I got down and knocked on the floor a bit and when I moved back the rug, found this.”
“I’ve been in this shop since I was a kid and I have never seen that.”
“Maybe it’s been hidden by the rug this whole time.”
Sadie searched her memories, ones of days doing much of what Kenny was doing when she was about his age, moving through the store with wonder and curiosity, a duster leading the way. Nothing popped up about that spot though. Nothing. Even during all the time she’d run the store with JoJo. Maddie could very well be right though. That rug could have easily been placed by Sadie’s grandparents, or JoJo, not as one for sale, but to cover the floors.
Sadie kneeled down next to Maddie and moved more of the rug back, revealing more of the floor.
“Wait. Is that…” she asked.
“It’s a handle.”
Tucked into the floor was a brass handle. Sadie lifted it and pulled. The square piece of floor creaked as it came up, turning on a small hinge.
“No. Way.” Maddie looked down into the dark space and then at Sadie. “I think we just found a secret passageway.”