Hometown Valentine by Lissa Manley

Author:Lissa Manley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

By the end of the afternoon spent helping Jonah at The Cabana, Lily felt energized. She’d been raised to work hard, and she liked the sense of accomplishment a job well-done gave her. It felt good to be helping, to be part of a team.

An hour before closing, while Lily manned the front counter, a face from the past came through the door. Louise Armstead, her short graying hair windswept, walked to the counter.

Lily had gone to high school with her daughter, Josie, and Lily and Josie had been good friends, their senior year in particular, when they’d been inseparable. Then they’d graduated and Josie had left town to go to school in Southern California while Lily had stayed behind to help Mom. Lily and Josie gradually lost touch. Last Lily had heard through the grapevine Josie was living in Seattle, working as a physical therapist.

Lily remembered Mrs. Armstead as a kind, practical, hardworking woman who had been heavily involved in the Moonlight Cove High School Parent Teacher Organization.

As Mrs. Armstead arrived at the counter, she looked up from digging her wallet out of her purse. “Oh, goodness me. Lily Rogers!”

“Hi, Mrs. Armstead.” Lily gave a small wave.

Mrs. Armstead hesitated, her brow creased above her sparkling blue eyes. “I come here a lot, and I don’t remember ever seeing you working here.”

“Oh, I don’t, actually. I’m just helping out the owner, Blake Stonely, today.” She’d leave out why; it wasn’t her place to tell people that Peyton was sick.

“Ah, I see.” Mrs. Armstead put her purse on the counter and bestowed upon Lily a warm smile. “So, what have you been up to? I seem to remember you were working at the boutique around the corner.”

Normally Lily would have launched into how she’d been helping out at home while working at The Clothes Horse, yada yada yada. And while all of that was, well, fine, her life was changing soon, and she wanted to start talking about how she envisioned her future as a clothing designer. And, really, it was time to let people in on her aspirations now that going to LA was becoming more of a reality. So she said, “Actually, I’m going to be moving to Los Angeles in a few months.”

Mrs. Armstead’s eyes lit up. “Oh, my, that’s exciting. What’s taking you down there?”

“I’m going to audition for the show Project Fashion.”

“Really?” Mrs. Armstead said. “Oh, yes, I remember now you were always interested in fashion.”

“Yes, Josie and I had a lot of fashion shows, didn’t we?” Lily would design and sew, and Josie would model. A perfect partnership.

“I seem to remember you were quite talented.”

Pride had Lily beaming. “Well, thank you. I’ve had the design bug for a long time.” Ever since she’d started making clothes for her stuffed animals when she was eight.

“Doesn’t surprise me at all.” Mrs. Armstead’s eyes lit up. “Did you know that Josie is engaged?”

“No, I didn’t know that.” Lily nodded, a grin on her face. Though inside, something curled inward.

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