“She said her jaw ached from laughing so much.”
“That’s a good sign, right?”
She turned to face me, her expression serious. “She hasn’t laughed like that in a long time. Those were her words. So yeah, it’s a good sign.” Her voice caught and she played with the charm hanging on a chain around her neck. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have her come home smiling and glowing. It’s all I’ve wanted for a long time. Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t thank me. It’s entirely selfish on my part. Making her laugh might be the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “Is that true?”
“I would never lie about something like that.”
“Whatwouldyou lie about?”
I chuckled as I straightened a stack of books on the table. “Only to spare someone’s feelings. Unless I knew it was something that would hurt them later if I didn’t tell them the truth.”
“For example?”
I turned to look at her. Interrogating me like this reminded me of her mother, yet, like with Delphine, it was totally adorable. “For example? Let me think.” Of course I couldn’t conjure a single one.
“Like you wouldn’t tell me you liked my mom if it wasn’t true just because I want it to be.”
“Yes, that’s a great example. And I do like your mom. Very much.”
She puffed out a breath, then smiled. “Okay, good. I’ll get to work now.”
The next couple hours were busy with customers, mostly tourists, who delighted in the small town bookstore. A few asked after my mother, saying they’d met her in past visits. I had to tell them she was gone, but that I was her son. That seemed to make them feel slightly better, but clearly my mother had left a mark on anyone who met her.
Seraphina came by a little after eleven so we could talk about her upcoming signing. I took her back to the office so we could talk privately.
“How are you?” I asked.
“I’m good. Just sent off the latest book, so I’m taking the day for myself. Hunter was able to finish up his business in Nashville and comes in tonight. I’m attempting to make him something special for dinner.”
“There’s always takeout,” I said. Seraphina was notorious for her disinterest in cooking.
“I have a backup plan, trust me.”
We chatted about the upcoming signing. We’d done four together since I took over the store. They were always well attended and low stress. Seraphina wasn’t demanding, which for authors was not the norm. I’d had a few divas of late. In addition, Seraphina’s books were even more popular since the premier of her Netflix movie. I expected a lot of people, which was always good for the store.
“Okay, now that we have all that figured out,” Seraphina said. “Let’s talk about you. And Delphine. How was the date? I heard it was good.”
“Word gets around in a small town,” I said.
“More like in a group chat. None of us can mind our own business.”
“That’s what friends are for,” I said.
“She had fun,” Seraphina said. “Said you made her laugh.”
“We had some good laughs.”
“Tyler said Robbie ran the algorithm, and you’re now ninety-six percent compatible. Which is significantly higher than his original assessment.”
I watched her carefully, to detect whether she thought the algorithm was a cute antic or real. From her earnest expression, it seemed to be the latter. “You believe in that?” I asked.
“The proof’s in the data. His matches have proven to be accurate for four times now. How could I not?”
“Yeah, seems that way.”
