Page 13 of Something Old

“Yep, the very one.” Madeline grinned. “But now, I should run. I’m not dressed for clean-up duty.”

She was wearing another comic-inspired shirt. This time Spider-Man clung to her chest.

Lucky guy, Grant thought—then cringed. He really wasn’t the lecherous, leering type, yet this was the second time he’d caught himself checking Madeline out. He thought Holly had ruined him for anything remotely like romance for life. It was nice to know that wasn’t the case—even if it was inappropriate.

“No, no. Wouldn’t want to get your best T-shirt dirty.”

“Second-best.” Her eyes twinkled. “But yeah, exactly. Should we create a firm schedule, or—”

“No schedule necessary. Just come by any evenings that work for you. I’m—”

“Always here. Rarely leave. I remember.”

He ducked his head. He’d really said that—impatiently, in fact. What a tool. Madeline was smiling, however, and made no move to leave immediately.

Just before it got awkward, she lightly clapped her hands again—must be her thing, he thought with an inner smile. “Okay, then, right! I’ll leave you to it.”

“Yes, off you go.” He clapped once too.

This time she caught the tease immediately and laughed.

“But before you do, seriously, why are you doing this?”

She studied him. “Well, it’s definitely not because of your winsome personality.”

“Touché.”

“And it’s not your good looks . . . ”

“You think I’m good-looking?”

“Or I don’t, hence my saying it’s not your good looks.”

“Fair enough.”

“And it’s really not because I have a burning desire to explore”—she glanced down at a mountain of musty magazines—“a decade’s worth of someone’s thirty-year-old monthly subscription to Personal Computer World.”

How astute of her to realize it wasn’t even his dad’s subscription. He’d no doubt scrounged them off someone who was throwing them away, smart enough to see them for the waste of space they now were. “The problem with people nowadays is they think everything’s disposable. Knowledge is never obsolete,” he said, quoting his dad.

“He wasn’t entirely wrong.” Laugh lines deepened by her eyes, and she turned to go.

“Wait. Those were all not the reason you’re helping me, so why are you?”

“Embrace the mystery, Grant,” she called over her shoulder, disappearing into the maze of boxes as if she already knew the way through by heart.

Chapter 10

The week disappeared on Madeline. She’d thought she was ready to simply flip the sign to open and unlock the doors, but there were more last-minute things to do than she’d realized. She wanted cupcakes for opening day, so she went to Sweet Treats, a cute little independent bakery she’d discovered weeks ago and indulged at frequently. She’d never officially introduced herself, though, despite having become a regular. Now, sharing what the special order was for, she was flattered by how excited Annie and Lita, the young couple who owned Sweet Treats, were for her.

Annie’s always-pink face flushed even deeper with delight for her, and her big blue eyes shone. “Don’t worry about picking them up. We’ll deliver them ourselves first thing before you open. We’d been wondering who owns that adorable place. We talk about it every time we drive by!”

“Yes, and we want to talk to you about the antique breadboard in your front window.” Lita’s shiny black pigtails bobbed as she nodded vigorously to emphasize her words.

The breadboard was only visible from the front window if you pressed your face to the glass and strained to see things. Madeline smiled. So here were two of her lookie-loos—and they couldn’t be nicer.

“I can’t wait. See you then.”

She also spent time helping Aisha put final touches on her displays and trying out different presentation styles for some of her smaller items, so they weren’t lost amidst the larger, instantly eye-grabbing pieces.