Page 13 of Piece By Piece

“Well, that explains the children’s section,” Liza said, laughing.

Dixie pointed at her with her good hand. “Now you watch it.”

She was smiling as she eased herself into the chair behind the register.

Liza noticed the way she cradled the brace against her stomach and the way her face scrunched up when she moved the wrong way. The sprain was clearly worse than Dixie was letting on.

And it wasn’t just that. Dixie had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s several years ago, and Liza had never quite stopped worrying about it. And while she was doing well on her medication and physical therapy, the disease was definitely progressing. It was just part of the disease.

And the fact that her husband also had it didn’t make things any easier.

She knew Dixie struggled with things. She never stopped smiling and joking — that was the curtain she put up — but Liza knew it had to be hard.

“Now, Liza, I’m going to ask you something, and darling, you can say no, okay? Would you consider just staying here a little bit longer? And I don’t mean forever, just maybe a few more weeks through the festival. Help me run the store while I heal this thing up.” She held up her wrist. “I’ll pay you, of course, and you can keep staying in the apartment.”

Liza set down the measuring tape.

She’d been here for a few days. The plan was two weeks. Staying longer meant she’d have a bigger gap in her résumé. She’d have to keep lying to her mother, and she’d have to keep extending that period of time where she had no idea what she was going to do with the rest of her life.

But it also meant more time in a place she loved, more time away from a big inbox full of emails from recruiters that she couldn’t bear to open, more time in a bookstore that smelled like vanilla and felt like Grandma’s living room.

“You don’t have to decide today,” Dixie said.

“Yes,” Liza blurted out.

Dixie blinked. “Yes, you’ll think about it?”

“No. Yes, I’ll stay.”

Dixie’s face lit up. “Oh, sugar, that made my whole week, my whole month, maybe my whole year, but we’ll see how things go.”

She stood up, winced again, and then sat back down and waved Liza over for a one-armed hug.

“Now,” Dixie said, “we need to talk about your social life.”

“Oh, no, we do not.”

“Oh, yes, we do. Honey, you’re thirty-two years old and single on an island full of perfectly good-looking men with tans and cute personalities. I’m just not going to sit here and watch you spend every evening eating cereal over the sink.”

“How do you know I eat cereal over the sink?”

“Because I lived in that apartment for six months back in the day, and I did the same thing. Now listen, there’s this firefighter named Jake who comes here every Thursday to look at new releases. Very handsome. He’s got great teeth. I’m going to introduce you.”

“Dixie.”

“Oh, and there’s a man who runs the kayak rental place. He has arms like a lumberjack, but don’t tell my husband I said that. I’m not sure what his name is, but I’m going to find out.”

Liza rubbed her temples. “I didn’t come here to date, Dixie. I came here to help you with the children’s section.”

“Nobody comes here to date, sweetheart, but it happens. Like the flu, everybody eventually catches it, except this is something you’ll enjoy.”

Liza opened her mouth to argue, but stopped because she could see from the look on Dixie’s face that the train had left the station and there was no getting it back.

“What about that puzzle guy?” Dixie said, almost to herself. “What’s his name?”

“Grant? What about him?”

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud.” Dixie waved her hand. “Oh, he’s too quiet for you anyway. You need somebody that’s got a little spark.”