“Well, before we got interrupted, you said you had a question to ask me?”
She sat there smiling expectantly. Did she know what he was going to ask? Was she assuming?
“Right… Well… I was just going to ask you… If you had any idea what time the spring festival starts?”
She sat there for a moment, her face falling slightly. “Oh. No, but I’m sure Julie knows. I can text her later.”
“Great.”
The awkward silence that hung between them was as thick as molasses. When the food came, they ate quietly, each of them avoiding eye contact and only talking about the food. How the rolls were nice and hot. How the soup was creamier than they’d imagined it would be. What had he done? He should’ve just popped the question when he had the chance. Now she was mad or sad or something.
William didn’t know what to do. If he proposed now, she was going to think that he was doing it forcibly. That he didn’t really want to but felt he had to. And it wouldn’t be the romantic gesture that he had planned. No matter how awkward it was, he had to find a different way to propose to her that would be something she would remember forever. A crummy, stupid restaurant wasn’t enough for her anyway. He was going to go big the next time.
Chapter 7
Julie walked into the bookstore to find Dixie sitting at the table, reading yet another Charlotte McLemore book. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any customers in the store just yet since it was pretty early.
“Good morning,” Dixie said, hardly looking up.
“You’re reading another one?”
“Yes, I am. And I swear this one is better than the other one. I don’t know how she does it. She’s like a genius or something,” Dixie said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
“You’re such a fangirl.”
“So, did you read that book?”
Julie scrunched her nose and shook her head. “No. I tried last night but I got one page in, and I fell asleep on Dawson’s shoulder. He kept elbowing me, but it didn’t do any good. But I’m going to try to read some on my lunch break today.”
“Charlotte’s coming in just a few days. You’ve got to get it read or she’s going to know it. She’s going to realize that you didn’t like the book…”
“I never said I didn’t like it. I’m just exhausted. By the way, have you talked to Meg about the wedding for me?”
Dixie shrugged her shoulders. “I’m going to do that. I just got so caught up in this book last night that I totally forgot to call her again…”
Julie pulled the book out of her hand. “Young lady, you are not allowed to read anymore of this book until you get your chores done.”
Dixie cackled with laughter. “You know I’ve got a stack of those books right behind me, don’t you? I’ll just grab another one.“
“You wouldn’t dare!” Julie said, laughing as she handed the book back to Dixie. “But try to at least get some work done today.”
“Well, I’ve got some bad news on that front. I’ve actually got a physical therapy appointment in a few minutes. I’ll be gone for at least a couple of hours.”
“That’s okay. I can handle this place by myself.” Dixie stood up, walked behind the counter and retrieved her handbag.
“I’ll bring you back some lunch from the café. Chicken salad croissant?”
“Yes, and tell Dorothy to go extra heavy on the chicken. The last time it was more bread than anything else. That new girl doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
Dixie smiled and nodded before walking out the front door. Julie loved the familiarity of living in Seagrove. Everybody knew everybody else. Of course, that also meant that everybody was in everybody else’s business, but it still felt like home. Much more like home than any other place she’d ever lived, including where she raised her daughters.
Seagrove was like this strange little hamlet that most people didn’t know about, but it was heaven on earth to her. It was where she had found Dawson and Dylan, and it was where she planned to spend the rest of her days.
This time of the morning was her favorite at the bookstore. Even though there were a lot more tourists in town right now, very few of them came to the bookstore until after lunch. It gave her time to tidy up, get the coffee ready for the day and just spend some quiet time with herself. That was something that she didn’t get a lot of these days with a young son to raise.
She adored Dylan, of course, but he was high energy and she was getting older. She didn’t expect to be raising a little boy at this stage of her life, but she was grateful to be his mom. Still, she enjoyed those moments where she could just sit quietly, close her eyes and take a few deep breaths.
Janine had been trying to coax her back to a yoga class so that she could learn how to calm down a bit, but Julie had been resistant. She knew her sister was the best yoga teacher around, but there was just something about being in a class full of people. She preferred to sit alone when she wanted to rest her mind.
As she finished wiping down the café tables, she heard someone walk through the front door. It was a woman she’d never seen before. She was well dressed for the area. Tall, thin, with beautiful short, red hair and porcelain white skin. She was obviously very high class, as her mother would call it.
“Welcome to Down Yonder Books. Can I help you with anything?”
The woman smiled. “No, thank you. I just wanted to take a look around before I go to a meeting.”
“Feel free. You have the run of the place. Not many people come here this time of the morning.”
She nodded slightly and then started walking around
