Ten Days To Say I Do

Chapter 5

By ten in the morning, Jay had shelved forty books wrong.

Elena found him in the fiction aisle with a stack in his arms, looking pretty pleased with himself. He had sorted them by color. Blues on the left, reds in the middle, and a whole shelf of yellow.

"It looks nice," he said.

"It looks like a paint store."

"People like pretty shelves."

"People like finding the book they came for." She started pulling them out. "Alphabetical. By author's last name. Is that so hard?"

"I wouldn't know. I don't have a last name, remember?"

She threw a paperback at him. He caught it without even looking.

She hadn't expected him to show up today. She'd figured he would only come when she needed him, like a plumber. But at nine he was at the door again with coffee, asking what needed doing, and she was too surprised to say no. Now it was day four and he was standing in her shop with his sleeves rolled up, and it felt strangely normal. That was probably a bad sign.

Priya arrived at lunch with a box of pastries and a look on her face like she'd swallowed a firework.

"You took two days off," she said, "and you didn't tell me you were ENGAGED?"

"How did you even—"

"Your aunt posted about it. With hearts. There's a picture of the ring." Priya spun around, saw Jay behind the counter, and stopped so fast the pastries slid in the box. "Oh. Hi. You're him."

"I'm him. Jay."

"Priya. Elena and I work together. Sit, sit, I have questions."

She had a lot of questions. How did they meet, what was the proposal like, did he get down on one knee. Jay answered every one without missing a beat, and Elena stood there nodding, amazed at how good he was. He'd even remembered the ladder.

"And what do you do?" Priya asked.

"Consulting."

"For who?"

"Whoever's paying."

"Ooh, mysterious." Priya bit into a pastry. "You know, our new CEO is like that. Nobody has seen him. Not one photo. Karen from accounts swears he'll show up in disguise, like a reality show, to spy on us."

"Would that bother you?" Jay asked.

"Are you kidding? I'd have to be nice to everyone." Priya laughed. Jay laughed too, a bit too loudly, and Elena gave him a look. He drank his coffee.

Priya left twenty minutes later, after making Elena promise to bring Jay to the next office party. Elena promised, just to get her out the door.

When the bell stopped ringing, it got very quiet.

Jay had picked up the little stool from beside the register. He turned it over in his hands, running a thumb along the worn spot on the top. "This is where he taught you to read?"

"Yeah." Elena hadn't planned to say more, but it came out anyway. "He used to sit right there and read me the same book every night. Same one, for like a year. I could recite it by the end. He'd pretend not to notice when I skipped pages."

"Sounds like a good guy."

"He was." Her throat got tight. "He was the only one who ever, I don't know. Waited for me. My parents were always busy. Everyone was busy."

Jay didn't say anything for a while. Then he set the stool down, carefully, right where it belonged.

"My father wanted me to run the family business," he said. "Since I was a kid. It was never a question. I don't think anyone ever asked if I wanted to."

"Do you?"

"I don't know yet." He gave a small, tired smile. "Sometimes it's nice to be somebody nobody expects anything from."

She looked at him then. Really looked. For the first time since the bus stop, he didn't seem like a stranger she'd hired. He looked like somebody who had been carrying something heavy for a long time and had only just put it down.

She realized how close they were standing. She wasn't sure who had moved.

"Rule two," she said quietly.

"No kissing."

"Right."

"I remember." But he didn't step back. Neither did she.

The bell over the door rang.

Elena jumped a foot in the air. Victor was in the doorway, and behind him was a heavy man in a gray suit with a tape measure hanging out of his jacket pocket like a tail.

"Sorry, cousin," Victor said, not sounding sorry at all. "Am I interrupting?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Elena, meet Mr. Kessler. He's very interested in this property." Victor's smile got wider. "He just wanted a look around. See what he's buying."

"You can't do that," Elena said. "It's not yours yet."

"Not yet," Victor agreed. "Six days to go. But it's always good to be prepared."

Kessler was already walking through the shop, tapping the walls with his knuckle like he was checking a melon. "That wall's coming down first," he said to nobody. "Open it all up."

Elena's hands curled into fists. Jay moved half a step in front of her, calm, not saying a word.

Kessler turned back toward them. He glanced at Elena, then at Jay, and stopped. His eyes narrowed.

"Have we met?" he said.

"I don't think so," Jay said.

"Huh." Kessler squinted at him. "Funny. I could've sworn I've seen your face somewhere."

Jay said nothing at all.

And behind Kessler, Victor's smile turned slow and interested.

Where had this man seen Jay before?