Love Under Construction

by Mills, Britney M.

  She slid off his lap and danced on her toes in celebration before running inside. Her footsteps pounded up the stairs, the sound echoing through the hallway and out the front door.

  Liam looked out at the line of trees over the tops of the houses across the street and smiled. She definitely got her zest for life from her mother.

  Walking in, Liam pulled out the bag of pancake mix and measured it out, not needing to look at the directions anymore after the many times he’d made them over the past few months. He looked around the kitchen, seeing his sister’s touch everywhere. Her favorite color was plum, and some of the appliances she owned were either completely that color or they had some part in that shade.

  A minute or two later, Cari ran down the stairs and took up her usual seat at the table. Liam studied her face as she stared at the griddle, her eyes wide with excitement. He’d never met anyone who loved pancakes more than his niece.

  He tried to hide a smile as his eyes traveled to her hair. It looked as though she’d tried to put it into a ponytail, but with the large bumps on top and several sections sticking out on the sides, she looked like she’d been in a tussle rather than just waking up.

  “Here are a few hot off the griddle,” he said with a smile, piling two pancakes on a paper plate. He poured syrup over the top of it and gave her a fork. “When you’re done, we’ll have to do something with your hair.”

  Cari turned to him with a scowl. “I already did it.”

  “I just want to fix one little part,” Liam said, making a small space in between his forefinger and thumb.

  Cari liked being independent, especially with her clothes and hair. Liam wasn’t all that good at the fancy hair Kara could create with a few elastic bands, but he’d learned fast how to braid and use bows to his advantage.

  “Fine. But we get to go to the park after school today if I let you.” She held out her fork, using it to emphasize each word. Her negotiation skills were something to admire.

  Liam chuckled, the serious face of his niece reminding him so much of Kara when they were younger. She was three years older than him and should have the world ahead of her. He just hoped the results of the surgery would be favorable and they could get back to their lives.

  Twenty minutes later, they were out the door and walking the few blocks to Sage Creek elementary school.

  “Don’t forget. We’re going to the park after school,” Cari said, her lips pursed and her chin raised.

  “If it doesn’t rain, we will.”

  She folded her arms against her chest. “You said we could go to the park. I think we should go even in the rain.”

  Raising both hands in surrender, Liam chuckled. “We’ll see what we can do.”

  Cari hesitated, and Liam could tell the wheels were turning from his statement. “If we don’t go to the park, then you owe me a big bowl of ice cream.”

  “Deal.” Liam pulled her into a hug, but she tore away and waved, disappearing into the crowd of children playing on the playground. Liam smiled, remembering when he’d do that with his own mother.

  His thoughts turned to his mother as he walked back to the bookstore on Main Street. It was just south of the coffee shop, probably the best spot they could have hoped for as people would grab their beverage and walk over, looking for their latest read. It had been their mother’s dream to own one, as she loved reading or anything that had to do with books. In his mind’s eye, Liam could see her chatting away when he was as young as Cari, talking about how the characters in the book she was currently reading “moved” her.

  It had been Kara’s idea to open the store in Sage Creek, and while Liam had been skeptical that a bookstore would survive in a small town like this, he’d put up the money to get it started and trusted his sister that it would all work out. Five months in, every day he was surprised by how much income they were making and the number of people he spoke to about this book or that.

  Now, New York seemed light-years away, as if that had been a long dream he’d had and this was what his reality looked like. He was content for the most part, aside from worrying about his sister. But he wouldn’t have been able to help out like this, taking care of Cari and driving back and forth to Grand Junction for this appointment or that surgery, if he still lived across the country.

  Opening the door to the bookstore, Liam flipped the lights on and walked to set his current book down on the counter. It was a mystery, one that many of the citizens of the town had already bought or borrowed. MK Malone was the hot topic for many, and Liam was pleasantly surprised when he’d finally broken down and started reading it.

  He’d always thought cozy mysteries were for girls, as the main character was usually some snoopy woman who couldn’t mind her own business. But the way the author had crafted the characters and the plot so far, Liam had to smile several times throughout the first half as he realized the author had linked with points A, B, and C from the beginning of the book. Such nuances he’d overlooked until they’d begun to come into play. He found himself looking forward to seeing how it ended.

  He walked in the direction of the small breakroom in back, past the rows of shelves and the small study desks along the wall, to place his leftovers in the fridge for lunch before he moved to the large event room. He’d ordered several new computers to go next to the row of desks, and with all the little trinkets he’d started stocking, he’d drawn in more and more customers.

  When looking for a place to open up shop, Kara had the idea to find something big enough for the books and space large enough to allow people to talk about them. After looking throughout Sage Creek and finding nothing suitable at first, Liam asked the landlord if they could rent two units and place a few doors in the wall that divided them to allow passage between the two. He’d approved without hesitation, glad to rent out both.

  The bell over the door chimed, and Liam walked back to the counter to see who it was. “Oh, hey, Tanner.” He walked over and shook the hand of the owner of the hardware store. They’d hung out quite a bit before his sister had taken a turn for the worse, but with the extra appointments and surgery, it had been a while since they’d gotten together. “What can I do for you today?”

  “I’m just wondering if you have any books on sewing?”

  Liam raised his eyebrow, curious as to why Tanner Hart would suddenly need something for sewing. He’d been the quarterback for his high school and had even gone to school on scholarship. Liam knew a lot of guys who could sew, but that was something he couldn’t picture Tanner doing. “Yeah, here in the Arts and Crafts section.”

  They walked over to one of the back rows, and Liam waved across the selection that spanned several shelves.

  Tanner’s eyes went wide, and he frowned. “It’s for my mother, so any advice you have would be great. She wanted one with embroidery. Is that when they make a whole bunch of x’s on the white fabric?”

  Liam laughed and slapped Tanner on the back. “Yep. Okay, here at the bottom, we have a lot of those kinds of books, different themes along here. If there isn’t something you think she’d like, I can order one for you. When do you need it by?”

  “Tomorrow,” Tanner said, a sheepish grin on his face. He bent down and looked over the books displayed there, pulling out one with fairytale designs. “I’m going to go with this one. If she doesn’t like it, I’ll send her here and you can order her something.”

  Liam turned and walked back to the counter, realizing he hadn’t started the computer up just yet. “At least you thought about her the day before her birthday, right?”

  “Yep.” Tanner chuckled and pulled out his wallet, extending a credit card toward Liam. “What are you doing in a couple of weeks? A bunch of us were going to head up into the mountains on side-by-sides the weekend after Colton gets back from his honeymoon, and we haven’t seen you in a while. You should come.”

  Focusing on the computer, Liam nodded, swiping the card through the reader. “It sounds like a lot of fun, but I’ve got Cari.”

>   “No news yet about Kara?” Tanner’s lips drooped, making him look ten years older. He was one of a handful of people in town who truly knew what was going on with Liam’s sister. It was hard enough having his sister in the hospital, but in a town like this, Liam would get attacked by the questions and pity stares.

  Aside from Tanner, Colton Maxfield, the builder of a new subdivision and one of the first people to welcome him in town, along with his fiancée, Becca, and two or three of the older ladies in town were about the only people who knew her condition. Becca owned the flower shop up Main Street, and the one time Liam had broken down and told Colton just after Kara’s diagnosis, she’d sent several bouquets to the hospital.

  “I’ve just been waiting for a call that Kara has woken up. And any news on her counts. It might be too early to know too much, but I’ll take whatever information they’ll give me. I’m hoping she can come home next week, but who knows.”

  Tanner signed his name on the touchscreen and replaced the pen. “What if I arrange for someone to watch Cari? Since it’s fall, we won’t have light for too long.”

  The idea was tempting, but Liam wasn’t going to hold his breath. Tanner was a good-looking single guy. There wasn’t a chance he’d actually remember to talk to someone about babysitting Tanner’s niece once he walked out the door. At least, that would have been Liam’s mentality just a few years ago.

  “I mean, if you can find someone, then I’ll see what I can do. It all depends on when Kara gets out and what she needs right now.”

  Tanner smiled. “Awesome. I’ll get it all set up.” He waved goodbye as he headed out with the book in hand.

  Liam grinned, thinking of the fun it would be to adventure into the hills behind Sage Creek, something not possible in Manhattan. But then he remembered his sister and niece and brought himself back to reality. There was no way he was going to let either one of them down now, when they needed him most. He’d already done that to his sister once, and he wasn’t about to repeat it.

  Checking the time, he moved into action, knowing the weekly book club would be arriving in a couple of hours. It had become a tradition for a group of over a dozen ladies to stop in once a week to talk about the books they were reading. It was great for business and even for a good chuckle when Liam managed to catch snippets of the conversation.

  When the seats were all arranged in the large room they used for bigger gatherings, Liam settled behind the counter. He settled in with the MK Malone book, intrigued as the clues came in for who had killed the town chef.

  Things were quiet for the next two hours, and as he finished the last page, it felt like he’d just stepped out of a new world and into his regular one. A thought somewhat depressing.

  He looked at the back cover, reading about the author, but the biography was only two sentences long and no picture.

  The thought crossed his mind that he should contact the author to do a reading and sign some books in the next month. They’d had two other authors visit since the store opened, which always helped sales go up as people flooded into the store. The book club wasn’t the only group of people reading the cozy mysteries, and he couldn’t keep the books in stock. That could be a big enough pull to draw the author into their sleepy little town.

  The bell rang on the other side of the wall, and Liam jotted on a sticky note to find contact info on the author when he finished helping the book group settle in.

  “Ah, Liam, dear. It’s so good to see you again. How is your sister?” Mrs. McCready asked. She was a small woman, her hair looking like a snowfall around her shoulders. Reaching up, she patted his cheek as though he were still a small child. She reminded him of the grandparents he’d never met, having lost them when he was much younger than Cari.

  Liam gave her a small smile. “I’m just waiting to hear how things turned out with the tests.” He waved his cell phone as if it would summon the call from the hospital right then.

  Mrs. McCready gasped. “I hope it was all clear. That would be such a wonderful miracle. Gordon has some more tests on Tuesday, so we’ll be heading to Grand Junction then. Do let me know if I can bring Kara anything, will you?”

  The McCreadys had found out about Kara’s condition by accident, as Mr. McCready was taken in after some abnormalities in his bloodwork. Liam and Kara had just walked out of the doctor’s office located in the hospital after getting the news of her condition, and the McCreadys had been there. In a way, it was comforting to share the burden with a couple who’d already felt like family since he’d moved to Sage Creek.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Liam moved to pick up a piece of paper on the floor. “Is there anything else I can get for you before your party arrives?”

  “I don’t think so, dear. Thank you for letting us use this room, as always. It’s better than all of us trying to fit into each other’s houses, I’ll tell you that!”

  With a smile, Liam said, “Anytime. I’ll just be in the back if you need me. Today’s shipment should be arriving at any moment, and I’ll have a few extra copies of the book you’re going to discuss.”

  He turned and strode away, hoping to avoid the rest of the ladies in the group as the door opened and the noise level increased. While they were all very nice, he could see them calculating ways to introduce him to the single ladies in their lives, and that wasn’t something he wanted or needed right now. He was focused on taking care of his niece and keeping the bookstore running, in the hope that his sister would be back in his life, bossing him around like she always had. Relationships were sticky, and he’d learned enough from his last one to know he was better off making his own decisions.

  Life was easier without the worry of losing someone he loved. He’d already done that three times, with his parents and his brother-in-law. He just hoped it wouldn’t happen with Kara too.

  * * *

  Check out Love Under Review to read the rest of the story!

  Also by Britney M Mills

  The Love, Austen Series

  The International Billionaire Series

  Sage Creek Small Town Series

  Rosemont High Baseball Series