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“You’re outsourcing the labor of making the gift to me?”
“Oh my god, it’s like you’re trying to be obtuse. I don’t know what I did to deserve this.” She let out a long, melodramatic sigh. “How’s this? Before you leave Bayview, one last tour of it. We go experience everything Bayview, and you’re going to have a great time so you don’t have to look back and worry about anything you missed out on doing. And we’ll take pictures, and you can put your favorite one in the frame to remember.”
I let out a heavy sigh, dropping the frame back onto the tissue paper in the box. Paisley was anything but conventional, but… she did give the best gifts. And this, turned out, was her outdoing herself. In a way that made me want to push her over, run away, hide myself away in my bedroom, and never see anyone again.
I didn’t deserve this. But I couldn’t bring that up without getting an earful from her.
“Is thistourgoing to be you sending me to do errands for you?” I said, finally. She snorted.
“C’mon. Cynicism isn’t a good look for someone that pretty. You’re going to decide what’s on the tour.”
“Really.” I tried to ignore the part about her calling me pretty. I didn’t know how to engage with it right now. “So I’m also the tour guide for my own tour.”
“Maybe less a tour and more, like… a bucket list.” She grinned. “Bayview bucket list. Everything you’ve ever wanted to do here. And I’m gonna spoil the hell out of you by taking you to do everything. What do you say? And your only option is yes, because it’s Paisley asking, so keep that in mind.”
“Bayview bucket list.” I rubbed my forehead. “How tacky is that?”
She put her hands on her hips. “You take that back right now, or I will start screaming as loud as I possibly can until you do.”
“Okay! Okay. I take it back. Oh my god.” I sank against the wall behind the counter, looking down at the frame.
“So? We’ll meet up tomorrow morning, and we’ll figure out what’s on your bucket list.”
I glowered. “I work in the morning, Paisley. Running the shop. I work literally every morning.”
“Not if you close tomorrow, you won’t.” She winked. “C’mon. You deserve a day off. Especially if you’re getting ready to leave, better wean everyone off this place.”
The more she talked about it, the realer it felt, and I wasn’t really… emotionally ready for that. I looked out the window. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Well, too late. I already put word out that you’re going to be closed tomorrow.”
I paused. “You did what?”
She puffed out her chest. “I’m the queen of gossip, you know. I want something to get everywhere in town, I can do it just like that, bam! Paisley superpowers. So, deal with it. You’re mine tomorrow morning.”
I felt myself flush.Dammit.Was I that easy? All she had to do was word something like that?
No—it was obviously a lot more than that. But that explanation was easier to accept.
“I don’t know why I ever try saying no to you,” I sighed, hard. “Well, Iguessif nobody’s coming here tomorrow anyway—”
“Great!” She reached across and pulled me into an awkward over-the-counter hug, squeezing her face into my shoulder, the frame of her glasses pressing into my collar. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Oh my god, this is going to be great. I’m such a genius.”
“You’re certainly very… something.”
“Yep! A genius.” She pulled away, beaming, and she winked before she spun on her heel. “I’ll open the shop again on my way out! I’ll see you tomorrow, Harps. Love you.”
It really was pointless to try resisting her in anything. I sank against the counter, looking down at the empty photo frame in the box, staring up at me.
Chapter 6
Paisley
I was kind of hoping I’d be able to get back to my place and then just crash—like, fall face-first into my bed and blare some music and let myself be a moody mess—but there was a clattering noise in the kitchen, music playing. I rounded the corner into the kitchen, primed for revenge.
“Emberlynn.I told you I’d be cooking—” I stopped, scrunching up my face at the sight of Kay there, looking up from where she was, by all appearances, serving up strawberries and cream. “You’re not Emberlynn.”
She beamed. “I’m not! It’s true.”
