Page 48 of The Story Between Us

“Can I help you?”

The woman behind the counter had silver hair and kind eyes, a cardigan with actual cat hair on it, and reading glasses perched on her nose. Her name tag said Hazel.

“I’m just looking around,” Livvie said. “I heard you have a children’s section?”

Something flickered across Hazel’s face. “We do. It’s…in progress. Would you like to see it?”

She led Livvie through a doorway at the back of the main room, into a space that was clearly meant to be something special. The bones were there—a large room with good light, a bay window overlooking a garden. But the walls were bare. Bookshelves stood half empty. In one corner, a wooden structure had been started and abandoned—framing for something that might have been a reading nook now draped in plastic.

“This was going to be the Storybook Corner,” Hazel said quietly. “Emma Rivers designed it. She had this whole vision—murals on the walls, a tree-trunk reading nook, bookshelves carved to look like castles.”

Window seats here—kids can see the lake while they read.

Livvie’s heart clenched. “What happened?”

“She started fundraising. Got the town excited. We’d raised almost half of what we needed.” Hazel touched the plastic-covered frame gently. “And then she got sick again. The last time.”

The air in the room turned heavy, dusty with grief.

“She used to do story hour here,” Hazel continued. “Every Saturday morning. She’d dress up, do all the voices, make the children feel like they were actually inside the books. They called her the Story Lady.” A soft smile. “After she passed, we tried to keep it going. But it wasn’t the same. I just read from the picture books. I don’t have her magic.”

Livvie looked at the half-built frame, the empty walls, the window that looked out at nothing.

“Do you still have her original plans?” she asked. “The sketches, the design?”

Hazel shook her head. “She kept everything at home. We asked Nate, after…but he wasn’t ready to go through her things. I don’t think he ever has.”

“I think I can help with that,” she said.

Hazel’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Livvie pulled out her phone, pretending to check the time. “But I might know where to find those plans. Let me see what I can do.”

She left Hazel standing in the unfinished room and didn’t look back.

Jake the Uber driver was sitting on Nate’s porch when she pulled up.

He waved cheerfully, like this was completely normal, like she hadn’t bribed him for soup a few days ago. Apparently, now they were friends. A paper bag from Maple Sweets sat beside him, and he was eating what looked like a bear claw.

“Hey,” he said, standing up and brushing crumbs off his jeans. “Brought some pastries. Figured you guys could use reinforcements.”

“That’s…very thoughtful.”

“Edie said you’ve been in every morning.” He grinned. “Word gets around.”

Of course it did. This was Maple Lake. Population: everyone knows your business.

“So,” Jake said, falling into step beside her as she climbed the porch stairs. “How’s it going in there? Has he made any progress?”

Livvie thought about the empty screen. The fake smile. The silence from behind the office door.

“He’s already almost halfway through book five,” she deadpanned.

Jake’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“No. I’m lying. I have no idea what’s happening and I’m running out of ideas.”

He laughed—a genuine, warm sound that made her feel slightly less like a fraud. “Fair enough. Well, for what it’s worth, the whole town’s rooting for him. Somebody asked me yesterday if I thought he’d finish before the Flannel Festival.”