Page 7 of Windward Hearts

“I have had some good news lately,” Miriam admitted. “My granddaughter, Hope, is coming to visit me.”

Eleanor lit up at this news. She hadn’t met Hope, but Miriam talked about her endlessly, as well as her other granddaughter, Felicity. Besides, Eleanor knew how exciting it was to get a visit from one of your young family members; she had recently enjoyed a visit from her son, Jeremy, while he was on a break from college, and she’d been walking on clouds for weeks over it.

“That’s wonderful,” Eleanor said, meaning it.

Miriam’s smile lit her up.

“It is,” she agreed. “I mean, the poor dear did find out that the restaurant where she works is closing down, and she did love that job, so it’s not all good news for her. But she’s going to come here while she works out her next steps.”

“That sounds like it’s good for both of you,” Eleanor observed.

“It is, even if it’s very clearly a ploy to come take care of me,” Miriam said. She frowned like she didn’t approve of this in the least, but there was something pleased in her expression. Eleanor pretended she didn’t notice. It was always lovely to have proof that someone you cared for cared in return, even if you were as stubborn as Miriam Landers could be when it came to proving her independence.

“Wow, it sounds like Hope is just as terrible as us book club girls, huh?” she joked.

Miriam gave up the front of disapproval and beamed again.

“Yes, I am just cursed to be surrounded by kind, loving, wonderful people.”

“It’s a burden,” Eleanor said with a laugh.

Over tea, Eleanor caught Miriam up on the latest discussion at the weekly book club meetings, and promised to come back in a few days with another meal and some time to chat.

“I’m hoping I should be back at another meeting or two,” Miriam said. “I’ve got another checkup this week and I really am feeling much better.”

“Fingers crossed!” Eleanor called as she waved her farewell.

As Eleanor headed back to her car, she encountered Jared Novak heading down the street. She didn’t know the man all that well, aside from the way that she knew most of the people who lived in town at this point, but she offered him a friendly, neighborly wave and a hello, thinking happily about how much she loved living in Magnolia Shore. She had lived in Indianapolis for decades, and there, she hadn’t been able to walk down any random street and run into at least a few people she knew. Here, it was guaranteed.

“Jared, hi!” she said.

He blinked, apparently lost in thought, then smiled his greeting.

“Eleanor. Nice to see you. How have you been?”

“Oh, can’t complain,” she said. “We missed you at the last SBOA meeting, though!”

The Small Business Owners’ Association, or SBOA to its members, was an informal group of local business owners who went out for coffee or drinks about once a month to share tips and tricks, to seek advice from one another, and to complain about the strange struggles that often came with operating a small business. Eleanor found the group to be a wonderful resource, particularly as she was still in her first year of owning Magnolia Shore’s very first independent bookstore.

It was astonishing to think how much her life had changed in just over a year. Before she’d come to Magnolia Shore, she’d been in a marriage in decline… but she had failed to recognize the signs. Although she didn’t necessarily thank her ex-husband for the way he’d broken the news about wanting a divorce, which he’d done on their twentieth anniversary, she was nevertheless grateful for the fact that he’d had the courage and wisdom to see what she hadn’t.

Because, as shocking as that divorce had been, her life was ever so much better now.

She’d moved to Magnolia Shore on a whim only to realize that the house she’d purchased with her divorce settlement was much too large for one woman living alone. The excess space, combined with her lifelong love of books, had sparked her desire to open a bookstore.

She never would have managed to make that dream into a reality without the help of her new friends, which had come together over a book club, and the local hardware store owner, Garrett Wilder.

They’d had a rough start, she and Garrett, but the sparks of their rivalry had kindled into a flame of attraction, and now they were dating and very happily in love.

“Oh, yeah,” Jared said, twisting his mouth to the side ruefully. “I was at the restaurant that night, as ever.” He chuckled slightly. “Which is where I’m also headed now.”

Eleanor gave him a nod of commiseration. She knew how easily busy periods in business could take over, and she had a sense that bookstores were rather less chaotic than restaurants.

“We would all starve without you,” she said fondly, “but you also need to take time for yourself!”

This was a common refrain at their SBOA meetings, and they all took turns either giving or ignoring the advice.

Apparently, today was Jared’s day to be on team ignore.