The crowd leaves and I still haven’t said anything about the flowers in my mom’s office. I didn’t have time—not in the craziness of Anita’s water breaking. When it’s over there’s just a few of us left. Pete, Whit, and Nick. Shay and Avery. Isabel and Jessica have vanished.
“Let’s get this place cleaned up so we can head to the hospital,” Pete says.
“You’re going to go?”
“Well, yeah. We went last time, too. It was awesome. Bobby was totally panicking. We could hear Anita cussing him out all the way down the hall. No way I’m missing a repeat,” Nick says as he tosses trash in the can under the bar. He glances up at Avery. “If you’re sticking around, do something,” and hands him a trash bag.
While I close up behind the counter, totaling up the day’s sales and making sure to shut down everything, Shay stays to help, taking down the decorations and the book signing table while the boys break down the security system and tables. Avery gets put on trash duty, which allows him time to follow Shay around, talking about meeting my mom.
“Julia’s a rockstar. She let me hang out and ask a million questions. No wonder she beat Gaskins. She’s strong and smart.”
“She is,” Shay says, handing him a stack of cups left on the table.
“Like, I thought she would be, but you never know when you’re reading a book if someone’s boosting themselves up, right? But Julia. She’s a survivor.”
He drones on and on and I’m thinking no wonder my mother made a bee-line for the door. Avery’s intense and a true fan but wow, he gets worked up.
Nick walks over with a box of cords and I say, “Hey, listen, did you see anyone come in with a vase of yellow flowers?”
He shakes his head. “No, but I was pretty busy talking to people all night.”
“Sell any photographs?”
“Yeah, I did.” His face lights up. “Thanks for giving me the opportunity.”
“You made that opportunity for yourself.”
Whit comes up and asks, “What had you so freaked out earlier?”
I look down at the computer. “Nothing. I heard Anita and panicked. I thought something was wrong out here.”
He frowns. “I didn’t hear anything.”
Pete comes out of the kitchen. “I put all the food in the refrigerator—there’s a bunch left over.”
“You should take some back to your apartment. We’ll never eat it.”
“Or take it to Anita,” Shay offers. “New moms always need stuff to feed the family.”
“Good idea.” I scan the room and it seems like everything is back in order—mostly. “I’ll come in tomorrow and do the rest.”
Everyone gathers their things and heads to the door. On the porch I lock up, and Shay stands next to me and says, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure.” I look at the guys. “Can you wait a sec?”
“Take your time,” Pete says and the others nod as they head to the parking lot behind the shop. Avery follows a few paces behind.
“Listen, I think I may have an idea who sent those letters.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I was on my phone in the kitchen tonight when I overheard a conversation in the hall. It was two girls—the ones from the shop next door? It’s pretty clear they don’t like you.”
“Isabel and Jessica?” I frown. “You think they sent threatening letters?”
“Tonight’s not the first time I’ve seen them. In fact, I talked to them a few days ago when I went into their boutique. Once they found out who I was, they were more than happy to dish as much gossip on you as they wanted. I ignored it—I’m not here to dig into your personal life, no matter how intrusive I can be. They suggested I look into some incident with a teacher back at your old school and they dropped a lot of hints about who you were seeing in town.”
“They told you all that? Why didn’t you say something?”
