Chiara Campbell had been hoping all day for a customer. So, of course, fate delivered her the one person she’d been avoiding.
“Hey, you!” her sister sang out, to the accompaniment of the dull shop bells.
“Hey, hon!”
Chiara tried to echo the cheerful tone of her sister’s greeting—but didn’t quite make it.
She came out from behind the shop’s front desk and hugged Auburn. Her sister gave great, big, warm hugs, and Chiara relished this one—and the opportunity to hide her face for a moment longer.
On any other day, her sister would be the most welcome sight, but right now? Not so much. Chiara had successfully dodged Auburn for a few days. Which she never did. She and Auburn had been close as teenagers—Auburn was less than two years younger than Chiara—and since Auburn’s return to Tierney Bay seven months ago, they’d grown even closer. They hung out in their free time and told each other everything.
Or almost everything.
Everything except this: Chiara was interviewing for a job, and if she got it, she’d have to move to Seattle, four hours away. And even though she knew all her siblings, including Auburn, would do their best to be happy for her, it would still be hard to tell them she was leaving. It would be, at best, bittersweet.
Especially since Auburn had just come back to Tierney Bay after years away.
Chiara was planning to tell all her siblings her news this coming Tuesday night at family dinner—a more-or-less weekly event. It felt fairest to tell them all at the same time, which was part of why she’d been avoiding Auburn. Because Chiara sucked at keeping secrets from her sister.
Auburn released her from the hug, and Chiara snuck her a guilty look, expecting her sister to be wearing a “what’s-going-on” expression. But Auburn was surveying the shop critically, and not looking at her at all.
“Wow,” Auburn said. “This place really is a hot mess.”
“This place” was Meeples, a comic book and board game shop owned by Chiara’s friend Evan. And Auburn’s hot mess assessment was generous.
The building itself could have been charming. Nestled on a back street behind the main part of Tierney Bay, it was one of the oldest structures in their Oregon Coast town. It was a beach shack—compact, gray-shingled—with an orange front door. Under one window, a flower box had once bloomed but now bristled with dead stalks.
Inside, the dingy, unwashed windows gave the whole interior a gray aspect that was not helped by the footworn wall-to-wall carpeting. Formerly a used bookstore, the shop still smelled of the must and dust of books. The shelves were too closely spaced for a game-and-comic book store, and all wrong for displaying Evan’s merchandise. The game boxes were hard to see, and the comics sagged where they were propped. The old maps and photos had given the used bookstore atmosphere but made Evan’s store feel haunted.
Which wasn’t far off—the former owner had died recently, and the family had rented Evan the shop with the used books still on the shelves.
Auburn’s nostrils flared like she smelled something rotten.
“I told you it was bad.”
“Yeah. I was hoping you were exaggerating.”
“If only. I tried to tell him he shouldn’t open until he renovated, but—” Chiara shrugged. Eighteen-year-old Evan was all heart and no plan, and she loved him for it—even though she worried his venture might be doomed. “He donated the comics from his own collection, paid rent, and spent the rest of the money on game inventory. Nothing left for renovation.”
Auburn was shaking her head. “And he thought—he thought that would work? Like, just put up a new sign, and—magic?”
Chiara shrugged. “He thought the place was charming. He thought if he loved it, everyone would love it.”
Auburn was shaking her head. “At least, I don’t know, wash the windows, paint the walls…”
Chiara sighed. “I’ve told him. I said he should tear out the carpet and repaint. And get rid of at least half the shelves. There should be racks for the comics, demo tables, display shelves for the games.…” She trailed off. “But to be honest, even if he did all that? I don’t know if it would work. With his current sales numbers, he won’t survive till next spring. I feel like it’s cruel to encourage him to put more money into it.”
“Do you think sales would improve if he, um, dressed it up a little?” Auburn asked.
“It couldn’t hurt, right? But he’s got some branding issues, too. He’s going after the gamer crowd with this stuff—” Chiara gestured at the window, where he’d displayed Magic the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and a bunch of complicated strategy games—“but he needs to bring in the family tourist crowd if he’s going to make it in Tierney Bay.”
Auburn gave her sister a one-armed hug. “You’re enough of a saint for minding the shop for him, Kee. You don’t need to be trying to save him from his half-assed business plan.”
Chiara laughed. “I’m hardly a saint. And so far I can’t say I’ve done anything that would save him. Besides, you know I love Evan like a little brother.”
Auburn raised her eyebrows sky-high. Chiara looked away. Okay, poor choice of words. That was another topic she didn’t want to delve into with Auburn right now. Quickly, she said, “And you know you would have done the same thing in my shoes. You did do the same thing in my shoes, when Carl was in the hospital. You ran Beachcrest for him.”
“Yeah, but running Beachcrest actually was my job. You already have a job.”
“Which, luckily, is extremely flexible, so I can help the people I love when they need it.”
Auburn grinned, probably because she knew Chiara was right—she’d totally have done the same thing if their situations were reversed.
“And seriously, there are a lot worse ways for me to spend my time. I’ve been reading the inventory.” Chiara gestured to the stack of comics that had accumulated at the checkout counter. “Shh. Don’t tell Evan. I’m being super gentle. And it’s not like they have spines to break.”
Auburn scrunched her lovely face. Of course she wouldn’t tell. “So Evan’s surgery went okay? Thanks for the text.“
Chiara nodded. “I was there when he woke up. He was pretty out of it, but the nurses said he was doing great, especially given that it was emergency surgery. They were in there a long time.” She frowned.
Auburn shook her head. “I’ll go see him tomorrow.”
When Evan had called, nearly in tears, to ask if Chiara would watch the shop for a couple of weeks, she’d said of course. He was having an emergency small bowel resection. Evan had Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory condition that affected his intestines. He’d had it as long as Chiara had known him, which was a little more than ten years.
Ten years.
It was crazy that so much time had passed.
“How—how have you been feeling about it? Having Evan back in town?”
Chiara knew Auburn was asking whether having Evan around had brought up old feelings about Evan’s brother, Jax. And yeah, maybe a little bit—but she’d been trying her hardest not to go there. “It’s been great.”
Auburn raised her eyebrows.
“Really. It’s been fine.”
“Come on, Kee, who do you think you’re talking to?”
She should have known it was hopeless. “Okay,” she admitted. “It’s been a little weird. I have thought more about Jax in the last few weeks than in the last five years put together. But it’s okay, honestly. Evan is Jax’s little brother. He isn’t Jax. They’re nothing alike. And I don’t hold what Jax did against Evan. It had nothing to do with him. I’m just glad to have Evan back. We lost him when Jax left. And Evan lost us. It’s been great to reconnect.”
Auburn acknowledged that with a nod, but her expression was hard. In light of Jax’s disappearing act, Chiara couldn’t blame her. Two weeks before Chiara’s senior prom, Jax, Evan, and their mom had skipped town without warning and without a backward glance. And Jax had never gotten in touch with her, or anyone, as far as she knew, to explain.
Jax’s leaving had broken Chiara’s heart. She had loved him so much, and when he’d disappeared, she’d been gutted. And then there was the timing of his leaving, not only right before prom, but right after the night in his truck.…
If she was being totally honest with herself—which wasn’t always her strong suit—Evan’s coming back to town had made things harder. Because all of a sudden she remembered both. The glow that had surrounded those days senior year, and the feeling of having her breath yanked out of her chest by pain and heartbreak.
Auburn’s eyes were warm and concerned.
“I’m fine,” Chiara said. “It was ten years ago. I’m way over it. Jax wouldn’t even be my type if I met him now.”
“Oh, yeah,” Auburn said, laughing. “Hard to picture Jax in a shirt and tie or driving a Tesla or mansplaining bitcoin.”
It was Chiara’s turn to roll her eyes, because yeah, that so would never happen. And because Auburn had not been a fan of her last boyfriend. “Okay, yeah, David turned out to be an asshole—”
“Understatement…and I wasn’t talking about David. Who was the one before him? Ferris?”
“He drove an Audi. And he was in finance.”
“Finance, bitcoin. It’s a blur.” Auburn wrinkled her nose at Chiara, who grinned.
“Okay, I’m in a bit of a rut. But the point is, things would never have worked out between me and Jax long term.”
She thought of Jax—hair always roughed up, flannel shirts and torn jeans. Honest as they came—blunt, even. If Jax were sculpture, he’d be something someone hand-carved for you.
The guys she dated now, they were a lot smoother around the edges. They shared her interests, in business, finance, and accounting. And they wanted the same things she wanted—career advancement, stability, and, ultimately, enough security to think about a family and kids.
Also, they wanted to be with her, which was more than you could say for Jax.
Auburn started to say something, then stopped.
“What?” Chiara demanded.
“That might be true,” Auburn said slowly. “But…I’d still love to see you date guys you actually…like.”
Chiara scowled. “I like them fine. You’re the one who doesn’t.”
Auburn’s gaze held Chiara’s for a long moment—too long. Chiara had to look away.
She needed to change the subject. For many reasons. “Hey. I still need something to wear to the reunion.”
“I told you, I’m taking you shopping. We’re going to spend an afternoon at Bay Boutique, and we’re going to find you something that makes you feel so good about yourself that you won’t even worry about mean girls.”
Chiara laughed. “No one was mean to me in high school.” She’d had a pretty good run. Those years had probably been the happiest of her life—well, right up until they hadn’t.
“Is he going to be there?” Auburn gave her a wry little twist of a smile.
Damn Auburn and her mind-reading. She’d hate it—if she didn’t love it so much. She shook her head. “He didn’t respond to the invitation, and no one’s heard from him. And I mean, let’s face it—what would make him show up now? After all this time?”
Auburn opened her mouth. And then closed it again.
Chiara knew her sister too well. “No. Seriously, Auburn, no. He’s never coming back, and we’ll never know why he left.”
“Have you asked Evan?”
She hadn’t. She’d thought about it—but he’d been eight years old when Jax’s family had skipped town. And besides, asking the question out loud would mean she still cared—and she didn’t want to. She shook her head. “He’s not coming to the reunion. And thank God for that. That’s the last thing I need.”
“Amen to that,” Auburn said quietly. She picked up a puzzle, a cluster of intertwined curved loops, and messed with it for a moment. Then suddenly, eyes wide, she looked up from it. “Oh! Shoot! So. The whole reason I was stopping by—aside from seeing the shop—was to ask if you could do dinner tonight instead of Tuesday. I guess Levi has some thing he has to do Tuesday.”
“Tonight?” Her heart skipped.
Then she steadied herself. It would be good to just tell her brothers and sisters about Seattle and get it over with. Then they would have some time to get used to the idea. And she would, too. Because as much as she wanted the job, she did not want to leave her siblings. She took a deep breath. “Sure,” she said. “Tonight works.”
“Can you bring dessert?”
“Takeout okay?”
“Hell, yes. Molten chocolate cake from Tierney Bay Diner?”
“Of course.” It was the sisters’ favorite; it had gotten them through Auburn’s rocky 4th of July and the turmoil of almost losing Beachcrest. Those events had turned out well in the end—happily-ever-after well—but they had definitely required lots of molten chocolate cake.
Chiara would eat a lot less cake with Auburn if she moved to Seattle.
Her heart ached at the thought.
“You okay?” Auburn asked. Her gaze searched Chiara’s face.
For a second Chiara thought she was going to have to fess up prematurely.
Then Auburn sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought up Jax.”
Jax. She was still talking about Jax. Whew. Chiara’s secret was safe until…tonight.
Sigh.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. Really.” Chiara took a breath, gave her sister a brave face. “At least he’s not coming to the reunion, right?”
Auburn winced. “You might not want to tempt fate like that.”
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