neck.
Still this was the longest she had ever been away from St. John’s Cove and her business.
Not to mention her brothers and her friends. How were Amanda and Charlie doing? She suddenly felt guilty that she had escaped so completely that she hadn’t even thought to call Amanda, that she had not once looked for stock for her store.
She wanted to take the bus back, but Ethan didn’t like it, and insisted on renting her a car. After adrive home that seemed so boring alone , she turned in the car at St. John’s Cove, and was given a ride home by Matthew Bellinger, the town’s oldest bachelor. He told her, shyly, that he was taking Mable Saunders for tea the following day.
Love is in the air, Sam thought happily.
Ethan had insisted she call as soon as she got home so he knew she’d arrived safely, and Sam was so intent on that—and on hearing his voice again, how could she already miss him so completely—that at first she walked right by the sign that swung in front of her store, eager to share her happiness with Amanda who was just closing up inside.
But the bright red sticker grabbed her peripheral vision and she backtracked and stared with disbelief.
The happiness escaped from her with a nearly audible hiss, like air from a pricked balloon.
Sold.
How could that be? How could her life have changed so completely when she had just glanced away for a moment? But isn’t that what happened when you let go of control? It was taken from you.
A boat due that never came home. If she had only noticed they were overdue sooner, taken control…
A familiar stomachache, a sensation Sam had not felt for days, twisted in her gut. She approached the door of Groom to Grow, the lightness gone from her step, feeling like a prisoner going to the gallows.
She opened the door and looked around at herbeautiful space as if she was already saying goodbye. This was her business. More, it was home.
And she, of all people, knew how quickly you could lose that place called home.
“Oh, Sam, I’m so sorry,” Amanda said when she went in the door. Sam knew she had not succeeded at hiding her stricken expression. “They just came by and put up the Sold sticker minutes ago! I was going to try to get the sign down before you got here so I could break it to you gently. Are you okay?”
Actually Sam felt like she was holding it together by a thread, but she smiled bravely and made her escape out the front door and up to her apartment. If she let Amanda hug her, she would break into a million pieces.
She called Ethan and was relieved when she got his voice mail. She left a quick message saying she was home safely and hung up.
She dialed the Realtor, who wouldn’t give her any more information than she had given Amanda, even though they were second cousins by marriage.
“You’re the tenant , Sam. I can’t divulge the details of the deal to you. It’s between the owner and the purchaser.”
“What about my business? What about Groom to Grow?”
“The possession date is only thirty days away.”
“Thirty days?” she breathed. “Isn’t that awfully fast?”
“To the owner’s delight,” the Realtor said dryly.
“You’ll be contacted soon, Sam. Don’t worry.”
Don’t worry. She had spent the last wonderful week not worrying. And look what had happened. Logically she knew worrying would not have changed anything, but she had an awful feeling.
As if she had let down her vigilance and her whole life was being shot to smithereens because of it. While she was gallivanting around Cape Cod and Boston, she should have really been scouting a new location for her store! She should have been planning for this contingency, instead of letting herself be swept away.
The phone rang. She hoped it was the Realtor showing proper loyalty to family members, but it wasn’t.
It was Ethan. Why did she feel mad at him?
Because he had made her believe for a short time that life held only good things.
“How was your trip back?”
For
Still this was the longest she had ever been away from St. John’s Cove and her business.
Not to mention her brothers and her friends. How were Amanda and Charlie doing? She suddenly felt guilty that she had escaped so completely that she hadn’t even thought to call Amanda, that she had not once looked for stock for her store.
She wanted to take the bus back, but Ethan didn’t like it, and insisted on renting her a car. After adrive home that seemed so boring alone , she turned in the car at St. John’s Cove, and was given a ride home by Matthew Bellinger, the town’s oldest bachelor. He told her, shyly, that he was taking Mable Saunders for tea the following day.
Love is in the air, Sam thought happily.
Ethan had insisted she call as soon as she got home so he knew she’d arrived safely, and Sam was so intent on that—and on hearing his voice again, how could she already miss him so completely—that at first she walked right by the sign that swung in front of her store, eager to share her happiness with Amanda who was just closing up inside.
But the bright red sticker grabbed her peripheral vision and she backtracked and stared with disbelief.
The happiness escaped from her with a nearly audible hiss, like air from a pricked balloon.
Sold.
How could that be? How could her life have changed so completely when she had just glanced away for a moment? But isn’t that what happened when you let go of control? It was taken from you.
A boat due that never came home. If she had only noticed they were overdue sooner, taken control…
A familiar stomachache, a sensation Sam had not felt for days, twisted in her gut. She approached the door of Groom to Grow, the lightness gone from her step, feeling like a prisoner going to the gallows.
She opened the door and looked around at herbeautiful space as if she was already saying goodbye. This was her business. More, it was home.
And she, of all people, knew how quickly you could lose that place called home.
“Oh, Sam, I’m so sorry,” Amanda said when she went in the door. Sam knew she had not succeeded at hiding her stricken expression. “They just came by and put up the Sold sticker minutes ago! I was going to try to get the sign down before you got here so I could break it to you gently. Are you okay?”
Actually Sam felt like she was holding it together by a thread, but she smiled bravely and made her escape out the front door and up to her apartment. If she let Amanda hug her, she would break into a million pieces.
She called Ethan and was relieved when she got his voice mail. She left a quick message saying she was home safely and hung up.
She dialed the Realtor, who wouldn’t give her any more information than she had given Amanda, even though they were second cousins by marriage.
“You’re the tenant , Sam. I can’t divulge the details of the deal to you. It’s between the owner and the purchaser.”
“What about my business? What about Groom to Grow?”
“The possession date is only thirty days away.”
“Thirty days?” she breathed. “Isn’t that awfully fast?”
“To the owner’s delight,” the Realtor said dryly.
“You’ll be contacted soon, Sam. Don’t worry.”
Don’t worry. She had spent the last wonderful week not worrying. And look what had happened. Logically she knew worrying would not have changed anything, but she had an awful feeling.
As if she had let down her vigilance and her whole life was being shot to smithereens because of it. While she was gallivanting around Cape Cod and Boston, she should have really been scouting a new location for her store! She should have been planning for this contingency, instead of letting herself be swept away.
The phone rang. She hoped it was the Realtor showing proper loyalty to family members, but it wasn’t.
It was Ethan. Why did she feel mad at him?
Because he had made her believe for a short time that life held only good things.
“How was your trip back?”
For
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