Page 59 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

Two Months Later

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Comments:

Tammy Jane : Finally, something I can agree with Kerry on.

Kerry Winsor : We can’t run her off this soon!

Marjorie Brown : Something weird.

Kerry Winsor : I hate you.

Hu Gh : Wait a second, isn’t that the girl the library was named after? I thought she was dead.

Kerry Winsor : Hugh, we told you that was a secret. PLEASE get it together. Just this once! I’m deleting your comment before you ruin it.

“I know you wanted payback for covering your eyes when the library opened,” I muttered. “And I’m sorry, but this is terrifying.”

I had no idea where Mollie was taking me, and she wasn’t the best guide.

“Sorry, sorry.” She laughed. “This is hard to do while pregnant.”

“I could cover my own eyes?—”

“Nope,” she said. “Don’t you dare.”

I sealed my mouth shut as we crossed the street. Finally, we came to a stop. “Can I see the surprise now?”

“That was terrifying to watch,” a very familiar voice said.

“Henry? You’re here?”

“I had to finish up the last bit of it, but yes. Obviously, I should have done the guiding.”

Mollie laughed. “What’s a surprise without a little bit of chaos?”

“Please save me,” I said as I reached for Henry. His hand curled around mine.

“All right, I think she’s suffered enough.”

“You love to watch me suffer,” I muttered in his direction.

“Only when it’s me in control.” His voice was low, but Mollie definitely heard it.

“All right, well, I know way too much, but also not enough.” She laughed. “Now, without further ado ... Here it is!”

Light rushed in. We were in front of the library, and my eyes traced over the brick for a second. “What am I looking at? Did something break?”

“No,” Mollie said with another laugh. “Look down.”

She gently guided my head to a newly installed sign. It was in warm wood tones, similar to the one in front of the town. Underneath it was a garden of all different kinds of flowers. At first, I thought it was a cute way to show off the library, but then I read it.

“Mollie, what the?—”

She bounced on her feet. “Surprise! I’ve been holding this in for weeks ! I can’t believe I made it!”

I turned back to the sign, tears springing into my eyes.

It didn’t have much on it. Just the newly minted name of the building.

Wren Hackett Library.

“How did you two do this?” I managed.

“It wasn’t all us,” Henry said with a smile.

“There’s technically a party tomorrow, but I figured you’d start crying.” Mollie laughed as I wiped a tear. “And you’d want to spend tomorrow being happy.”

“Still. How? ”

“After your mom came, the whole town wanted you to know you’re a part of things here. What better way than to name the library you fought for?”

“I—you could have gotten me a thank-you card.”

Henry’s lips pressed to my cheek. “We’re a fan of bigger gestures here.”

They were. I’d never been welcomed somewhere faster. After I returned, most people made sure to say hello to me every single morning or ask me how I was doing. There was no talk about the show or about my mom or Jude.

Only me.

“Guys,” I said, “how am I supposed to work now? I’m gonna keep looking over here!”

“Should we have saved it for tomorrow?” Mollie asked.

I wiped at my eyes. “No.”

“We’ll still need to cover it,” Henry reminded. “No one else knows we did this. You’ll have to act surprised.”

“Oh, great. Put my acting skills to the test.” I would still be surprised every single day. Probably all of the days. “But thank you. This is ... this is more than a thank you can even cover.”

Mollie pulled me into a tight hug. “You deserve it.”

When she pulled away, Henry checked his watch. “We should get this covered up. It’s our usual diner time. Wanna join?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t.” She let out a sigh. “Doctor’s appointment. Cain won’t let me miss it.”

“Didn’t you just go?” I asked.

“I’m now on an every-other-week basis. The last trimester sucks .”

“Good luck,” I said. “Tell Cain to chill.”

She rolled her eyes. “He won’t. He’s such a panicked dad, but I can’t fault him for it. He didn’t get to see all of this with Eric.”

“He better calm down for the next one,” I said.

“I’ll make him if he doesn’t.” She gave me a final hug before making her way to her car. “Have a nice breakfast!”

After Mollie was gone, we walked over to Center Point.

This was our usual schedule, and my stomach rumbled already.

Henry and I had worked out how to make a routine that worked for us both, and now I was so used to it that I didn’t want to deviate, even if it was a special morning for multiple reasons.

“There you are,” Tammy said with a smile. “You ready to knock some things down?”

My first Strawberry Springs project started today, and even though I was still emotional from the library, I was ready to do something else for the town.

“You know I am,” I said.

“I already told her to wear a mask,” Henry added. “I can’t even imagine what all would be in there.” He shuddered.

“It hasn’t been closed for too much longer than the library. Only ten years longer, in fact.”

“ Only ten years?” Tammy asked with a raised brow. “Who knows what all’s in there!”

“The older the better,” I said with a smile.

Tammy took us to our usual table, but didn’t get to stay long since the diner was busy.

Since the show finished airing, people flocked to the library, even though they weren’t residents.

Marjorie and Henrietta were planning multiple events that would benefit the other smaller towns in the region.

Tammy had help, though she preferred to try to do anything else.

Kelsey trudged to our booth. Henry and I had a habit of sitting on the same side so we could be close, so she was able to flop on the old leather dramatically.

“ Why does Mom have such a huge fucking menu?” she muttered.

In the two months since Kelsey had come to town, she and I had become good friends.

Mollie even got along with her too, and we’d had some card game nights at the farmhouse that went late into the night.

Mollie would always be my best friend, but it was nice to have my group expand.

I even chatted with Grace and Jade whenever I went shopping.

I felt like a part of something here, and I was.

“It’s great for the customers.”

“I’m just so bad at being a server. I forget things all the time, and Kerry already went to the Facebook group about it.”

“We did all tell her that petty stuff was fine,” Henry said. “Sorry, Kelsey.”

“I just need to find something else,” she said. “But I hate reading and planning things, and no one else is hiring right now.”

“Give it a few months,” I said. “I bet something’ll come up.”

She let out a sigh before sitting up abruptly. “I forgot to refill Hugh’s coffee! Shit!”

She was gone before we could say anything else.

With Tammy running the show, our order came out smoothly. I wasn’t trying to get in the middle of their drama, but I’d heard both sides of the story. Tammy was being far more patient than most moms, but it was clear Kelsey wasn’t cut out for this.

I’d privately told Tammy to hold out as long as she could. Kelsey wasn’t bad at face-to-face interactions. She could charm anyone. The issue was when she got overwhelmed, she would forget to refill drinks or grab a side of ranch.

She would be far better behind a counter, not providing full service.

We ate quickly since today was Henry’s day to restock the clinic coffee from Food ‘n’ Things. We walked together up until I broke off at one of the older empty lots on the square.

Theo was waiting in front of it, tattooed arms crossed. He was looking over the space. I knew we wanted to get this done on as small of a budget as possible, so it would mostly be him, me, and one other person working on it.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Nope,” he replied, “though I don’t think I’ll ever be.”

“All we need is for—” I paused when another truck pulled in.

Dean Briggs was one of my best contractors when I worked in Nashville. I was happy he was willing to work with me after not being invited to work on the show.

And I’d heard he’d done great work on Violet and Charlie’s house.

“Mornin’,” he said as he stepped out of the truck with a coffee cup in his hand.

Dean was a good man, but he also loved women.

He was a playboy in every sense of the word, though I wouldn’t lie and say I hadn’t considered it many times before I met Henry.

Once on a project in East Nashville, he’d gotten together with the owner.

She was heartbroken when he didn’t want anything else, yet still said the sex was the best she’d ever had.

Even back then, I didn’t want to complicate things.

“Hi,” Theo said. At first, I was worried about how few words he spoke, but according to everyone, he never had a lot to say.

“By the end of this, I’ll be getting coffee from you.” He tilted his cup. “This is from your sister store, isn’t it?”

Theo eyed the cup. “It is, though I have a different name in mind. The manager I spoke to said she didn’t have a problem with it.”

“I bet it’s gonna be the hot spot of the town,” Dean said. I saw Theo’s shoulders relax a bit. He’d been nervous about this since we first met to talk about this renovation, but Dean’s easygoing nature seemed to calm most people. “Should we get started?”

“I have one thing before we do. You’re staying in one of the hotels for a month, right?” I asked.

“It’s a bit of a far drive, so yeah. Why?”

“You’re from a small town, so you know how this works, right? Gossip, Facebook groups, and all that?”

“I don’t care what people say about me. I’m only here for a month.”

I groaned.

“He hasn’t met the people here, has he?” Theo asked. “They’ll make you care. Even if you don’t want to.”

“I doubt that.”

“Okay,” I said, getting in Dean’s line of sight. “Ground rules. Can you follow them?”

“You sound like my mom.”

“ Dean. I live here. I want people to continue to trust me and those who I trust.”

He let out a sigh. “Fine. What are the rules?”

I read them off each finger. “Don’t add to the population.

Don’t subtract from the population. Stay out of the hospital, the newspaper, and most importantly, the Facebook group.

” I paused when I realized he wasn’t looking at me.

He was looking behind me . I turned, only to see Grace walking down the street. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Dean didn’t budge until I snapped my fingers in front of him. “What?” he asked, blinking back into himself.

“New rule. Stay away from Grace.”

“Why?”

“She’s not a one-night stand type.” I turned to Theo for confirmation. “Right?”

He shrugged. “How would I know? I don’t date anyone.”

“Ever?”

“Sounds like my kind of man,” Dean added.

“Or have one-night stands.”

Dean’s eyes widened. “Then what do you do all the time?”

“Work.” He said it like it was obvious.

“Okay, then I’m gonna make an assumption based on what I’ve seen. Grace is kind and sweet and doesn’t need you breaking her heart.”

“I don’t break hearts,” Dean said. “I make it clear from day one?—”

“And yet they get mad when you leave. Just don’t do that to Grace, okay?”

He let out a sigh, but nodded. “Fine. Now, can we get to work?”

“Yes, but Theo should get first dibs.”

Dean blinked. “Wow. You’ve matured. Usually you’re first in line.”

“Theo’s spent less time listening to us and more time looking at the door. I’m not heartless.” I turned to Theo. “Go ahead. Crack it open.”

“Technically, I’ve already seen it,” he said. “But I appreciate the gesture.”

“So have I,” I replied. “It’s the symbolism. Get with the program!” I pulled on my mask as Theo put up his hands in mock defense before going to the door. He took a second to put on his, and Dean did the same before the door opened.

Dust was everywhere , as well as old brick. What I could smell was thick and stale. “We’ll definitely need to air it out,” I said. “But this could really be something.”

“Hopefully,” Theo said.

“I see a wall that could come out.” I grabbed a sledgehammer. “I call dibs!”

I ran over to it. Dean got to work on the electrical, groaning about how poorly it was done.

As I swung the sledgehammer, I thought of all the other things I could work on in Strawberry Springs to make it beautiful.

The STM grant seemed to be willing to pay it out.

I could even renovate the apartment upstairs for Theo if he wanted to live here, or for someone else to rent.

I had plenty of work to do, but because I didn’t need to fix myself, I was happy to do it.

It wasn’t that I needed to distract myself with projects anymore.

I didn’t need to break things to fix them.

I didn’t need to do that to hide from what had hurt me.

That was the thing about emotional wounds.

There was no fixing it. I had to take them as they were and find people who helped me with them.

Not just old buildings.