She stopped. Viv didn’t know what she wanted to do other than go back upstairs to the elegantly quiet room and stick her head under the covers.
However, her drive to make sure her daughter was happy was stronger than anything else. Viv took a breath, looked down at her body, the one she didn’t recognize, and then back at Siena’s hopeful expression.
And she caved.
“Okay, you take the lead at the store. I’ll get out my sketch book and do my best.”
“YES!” Siena jumped up and kissed Viv on the cheek.
Viv laughed as Siena then did a completely dorky happy dance.
Goldie happened to be walking down to the beach as Siena did her knee-knocking move.
“Wait, is this for TikTok?” Goldie said.
“No, no, just celebrating. Mom’s back!” Siena said, and Goldie high-fived her.
Viv was not back. But despite that, she laughed. She shook her head. “Oh, brother, what have I gotten myself into?” Viv said.
For a moment, Siena’s optimism really was contagious. She’d help Siena with her dream even though her own dreams were in the rear view.
ChapterEleven
Siena
With her mother’s blessing, Siena could go full speed ahead. And she did. There was not a moment she wasn’t planning something for the store.
She’d decided the store’s aesthetic would mimic her mother’s clean and professional designs. Racks of crisp white tailored shirts would pop against the brick walls of the store. Her mom’s signature line of pencil skirts in classic colors would be on round racks in the middle of the store floor. Siena had ordered hooks to display the array of flattering blazers on the walls. Siena had planned this well. They had plenty of merchandise from last year’s line to start the store.
While her mother was set up on the porch of Two Lakes Grove with her sketch book and the lake as inspiration, Siena was unpacking boxes, searching for display tables, and wondering for the millionth time if they should change out the lighting in the space.
There was a lot to do to meet Aunt Libby’s deadline. Designing labels, hiring a couple of part-time sales associates, and figuring out an inventory tracking system left her little time for anything else.
Siena worked non-stop and loved it. Almost anything she needed, Aunt Libby and Aunt J.J. could point her in the right direction to find. And when she forgot to have lunch, it would appear via Aunt Hope and her waitress, Lila Pawlak.
Lila, Siena learned, was Aunt J.J.’s niece. Her dad owned Peck’s Hardware Store. The small-town connections tickled Siena. She’d never experienced that in the big city life Bret and her mom had lived.
And it was accurate to say that Aunt J.J.’s husband, Dean, was a superhero like Aunt Libby said. He’d met her at the store this morning and helped her install a chandelier to replace the track lighting that had come with the space.
She had tried to do it on her own and realized too late that it was a two-person job.
“Okay, give it a go!” Dean told her from the ladder. He showed her the main fuse box and explained what each switch controlled. She turned the main electricity back on. He flipped the light switch, and the crystal chandelier glowed to life.
“OOH! It works!” she said as Dean remained up on the ladder. The lighting was key. It had changed the game inside the store.
“The height of this okay? We can make it higher, lower?”
“I think it’s perfect.”
“I think so too, and way better than that track lighting I had. You’ve got good taste.”
“Uh, you’re the one who restored these floors. I’d say you do too.”
“Do not tell your Aunt J.J. that. She likes to say I’m part grizzly bear.”
Siena saw that too, but only because Dean Tucker was grizzly-sized.
Ooh, another idea lit up in Siena’s mind. She made a note to herself as Dean whistled in appreciation at how the new light changed the look of the store.
