AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good.” I want to stay like this forever. “And I love you too.”
Sara and I are closing up the shop later that day when an unfamiliar black car pulls up in front of the window.
Sara squeals, drawing my attention, my brows raised in suspicion. “What did you do?”
“Me?” She mocks offense. “What makes you think it was me?”
“Fine,” I say, folding my arms over my chest. “What didJessedo?”
Sara cringes but she can’t keep the smile from her face. “Okay, it was me. Jesse has no idea.”
I turn back around to see a petite older woman stepping out of the passenger seat. She pauses, her eyes bouncing around the front of our store like she’s judging it. After a moment, she takes a single step and Sara hisses before rushing to my side. “Please don’t hate me for this. I think it’s the best decision for both of us.”
With a frown, I look back at the lady to see her stop again, talking animatedly to a man dressed in a business suit. “What decision? What’s going on?”
“She wants to buy the shop?” Sara says, her voice soft and hesitant.
“What shop?” I say absentmindedly, trying to make out what the couple are saying.
“Ours.”
What?Abandoning my task, I spin around to face her. “It’s not for sale.”
“It is now.”
“How do Inotknow this?”
“Because you would have told me I was crazy,” Sara says with her hands on her hips, making a stand. “You would have tried to get out of it because of some kind of misplaced guilt, and you don’t owe this town anything. You don’t even owe me.”
“But…”
“But nothing. I want you to go and live in the big city, designing your jewelry or selling your scents online. Hell, be a trophy wife if that’s what you want. But I’m not letting you stay here.”
I rest back against the shelf behind me and huff. “What about you? What will you do?”
Sara’s face scrunches, and she looks away. “I didn’t want to tell you like this. I didn’t think they were coming until next week.” She pauses, taking a deep breath, scaring me a little. “I’m pregnant. We’re having another baby, and I want to stay home.”
“You’re pregnant?” I gasp in excitement, my hands flying to my mouth. “Sara, that’s amazing. I didn’t think you could…” I trail off because she knows.
Happy tears well in my eyes but guilt pools in my belly. I made her work while she was pregnant. All those times I disappeared to see Jesse…
“Uh-uh, stop.”
“What?” I smile because she knows me so well. One of only two people that do.
“Before you get any ideas in your head, I’mokay. If I was too tired to work, I had someone fill in. You needed this. I wasn’t going to stop you.”
“I should have been there foryou. That’s what’s important.”
“You will be. Now. When you sign over the shop. That’s what I need.”
My eyes flash to the people outside to see them staring at something down the street. “Are you sure?” I ask, because deep down, I want this. I want out.
“I’m positive. It’s time we both started new adventures.”
I smile before pulling Sara into a hug, careful not to hold her too tightly. “They’re coming,” I say, when I notice them out of the corner of my eye. “I guess it’s show time.”
“Oh, before she arrives,” Sara rushes. “I told her she might not get the essential oils, and that would be your decision. I didn’t know what you’d want to do.”
