“San Francisco,” I corrected.
She laughed. “And the well-worn sweatshirt you were wearing was from a college there. Then again, I am learning not to assume with you.”
“Good, you shouldn’t.”
“We’ll see.” She snapped her fingers and Mouse met us at the door. “Go with Dutch.” She ruffled his ears. “I’ll see you later. Why don’t you cook for me this time?” She waved over her head on the way to her house.
Well, shit.
I looked down at the dog who was staring at me with a tilt to his head.
“Fine. Guess we’re going shopping.”
Mouse barked and did a spin, wagged his tail, then took off toward my house.
“You’re a con artist,” I called after him.
Both of them were.
Question was, why was I willing to be conned?
NINE
Phoebe
“Phoebe, it’s just amazing.”
“Yeah?” I grinned down at Courtney Richmond from the scaffolding. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“When you told me you needed damaged books, I never dreamed this is what you’d use them for.”
I screwed a little hook into the ceiling with a pair of needle-nose pliers before carefully unfurling the fishing line full of pages I’d Mod Podged to an inch of their lives. I went a little crazy with paint, glitter, charms, and random sketches, but the effect was even better than I’d envisioned.
It was one of my more three-dimensional ideas but it made a perfect corner for Jenna’s tea display. It included a few books from Courtney’s business, the Dreamer Bookshop, in charming stacks. I’d planned on asking her if she might want a matching display.
“Can you do the same thing in my shop?”
I grinned wider. “I was going to actually ask you if you were interested.”
She clapped, her bluebell eyes shining. “More than. This is amazing.” She twirled a little and one of her pencils slipped outof her hair. “Oops.” She crouched to pick it up and tucked it right back into the mass of silky hair she kept trapped on the top of her head.
Every time I saw her I wanted to tug out the pins because my head hurt in sympathy.
“Wow.”
Courtney turned around at the customer who stopped, her mouth agape and arms full of end-of-the-day baked goods. Jenna and her sister baked new things daily and discounted their leftovers.
I frowned at the number of boxes the woman had.
I glanced over at the bakery case, noticing that there were a lot more things than usual in the case that day.
Hmm.
Now that I thought about it, the traffic in the café had been a little light today. Usually the day after a storm the place was full to the bursting with cabin-fever customers.
“Did you do that mural, young lady?”
Pulled back into the moment, I smiled down at the woman. “Yes, I did.”
