“Of course, and I’ll be back in the morning.”
“Thank you.”
“Always.”
She allowed the heaviness of her exhaustion to flop her head to the left of her pillow. She whispered, “Well, I’ll be... Ashish Banks saved my life, huh?”
“Yes.” I smiled as I thought about how he had saved mine, too, all those years before.
***
After leaving my visit with Grandma Claire, I headed straight to the bookshop. Ellie was behind the register, selling a few books to a customer. I was grateful when she’d swiftly steppedup to help run the shop that morning so I could spend time with Grandma Claire.
It was quite a dream come true to see a solid number of customers browsing the shelves of Second Chance. There were even individuals sitting at the coffee bar that became a whiskey bar after five in the afternoon. They were reading their newest purchases and sipping on some of the most delicious coffee creations known to mankind.
It all still felt unreal to me.
“How’s Claire?” Ellie asked me the moment she finished ringing up the customer’s order.
“Good, even though she’s not thrilled about her new food plan.”
“Yeah, my dad wasn’t thrilled about the shift in his meal plan either after his health issues. But I swear, it’s like he’s a new person. She’s going to feel so much better after some time. Let me know if you need help prepping anything for her.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep you posted. And thank you for running the shop while I was gone this morning.”
“Hang out in a bookshop surrounded by novels? I’m an easy sell for that,” she joked. I knew I loved novels, but Ellielovednovels. She inhaled storybooks at a reading pace that I couldn’t even keep up with, which was saying a lot because I read a lot. I could easily get through five novels a week. Ellie could do ten without issue.
If you sliced her skin open, I wouldn’t have been shocked if words tumbled out. I bet her words would always end with happily ever afters, too.
“Oh! Crap. With all the madness of everything yesterday, I didn’t get to show you my HEA corner,” I told Ellie. I wrapped my arm around hers and pulled her toward a corner of the shop that was still covered with big white sheets.
“You have a happily ever after corner of the shop?” she asked.
“Something like that,” I replied. I removed the sheets and revealed the corner. Against the wall was writing that said, “Happily Ellie After.” Below the title was a small plate that read, “A corner made for the woman with the best recommendations. Here is a list of books deemed as Ellie’s most beloved Happily Ever Afters.”
On the shelf were the books that Ellie loved and tirelessly recommended to anyone who was willing to listen. There were hundreds and hundreds of books that Ellie had recommended to me.
“Karla...” Ellie beamed as her eyes flashed with emotions. “You made me a recommendation corner?”
“Of course. It would’ve been a shame to waste all these great recs.”
She walked near the shelf and studied the books. “Some of these are so old. How did you remember them all?”
“I had a shelf on my book tracker. Whenever you’d recommend one over the past ten years, I’d add it to my ‘Ellie Recs’ folder.”
She pulled me into a hug. “This means so much to me. Thank you, Karla.”
I hugged her back. “Thank you. Without you, this wouldn’t exist.”
“It would, but that’s sweet of you to say.” She took a few photos of the corner before pulling me into her side and taking a selfie of us in the corner. Then she headed back to the front to help customers.
I spent the rest of the day flipping between thoughts of my grandmother and thoughts of Ash. A part of me was beating myself up for not asking Ash for his number so we could reconnect. Another part of me wanted to rage at him for theway he ended things with me. I knew after he lost his father, he probably lost himself. I hated that I understood why he pushed me away. I understood more than most. Grief made some people open up and live life to the fullest, while for others it made them retreat into their loneliness.
Still...
He could’ve been alone with me.
Us crossing paths at Second Chance was so very short-lived and wrapped up in a very traumatic situation. My mind couldn’t fully grasp that it was him who was in front of me when Grandma Claire had her incident. He felt like a dream that I was trying to make come to life.
