The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis

Author:Jill Shalvis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Harper was in the kitchen when Ivy came back from Olde Tahoe Tap. The teen’s eyes were red-rimmed, but she was visibly relaxed. “How did it go?”

Ivy smiled, and Harper felt her chest cavity fill with relief.

“Okay if we don’t talk about it right now?” Ivy asked.

“Of course. Do you want to work the front for me?”

Ivy’s face creased in happy surprise. “Really? You trust me with that?”

“Completely.” It was the utter truth. Plus, it was their quiet hours, but even if it hadn’t been, Harper knew Ivy could handle things.

And she did, right up to closing time. After, she went to the lake with Ham to meet up with Jessie and James.

And Harper went to the bookstore. As she entered, the chime went off—still the Addams Family theme song.

Shay was humming along with it as she looked up from her perch and eyed Harper. But unlike always, she didn’t immediately frown.

Progress.

She did, however, look exhausted. “Hey,” Harper said. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. Except I’m twenty-nine and completely burned-out.” Shay tossed up her hands. “Like, what am I supposed to do for fifty more years? Get cats? Bitch about summer lake traffic? Keep buying veggies by the ton and watching them die? Get oil changes?”

“Well, cats are great. And yeah, okay, traffic sucks. But you don’t have to buy veggies by the ton. I won’t tell a soul, I swear.”

Shay thought about that. “Sage advice. Which reminds me, I need you to come to yoga with me tomorrow and pretend to be my friend.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s bring-a-friend week, and if I do, I get twenty percent off next month’s fees, so . . . you’re up.”

“You run out of friends already?”

“You’re the first and only person I’ve asked,” Shay said.

“Oh.” Harper didn’t know what to say to that. “So we are friends.”

“More like pretend friends.”

Harper laughed. “I’m not going until you admit you like me and that we’re real friends.”

Shay narrowed her eyes.

“Twenty percent is a lot . . .”

Shay sighed. “Fine. We’re real friends. Happy?”

Harper smiled. “Very. Oh, and I thought of something genius that could help us both. To the left of my register, I’ve got an empty bookshelf.”

“Fascinating,” Shay said, and yawned. “But I’ve got bills to worry about, so—”

“I think you should use the shelf to sell books. Like cookbooks, or whatever you’d like, really.”

Shay paused. Blinked. “I’m sorry. Did you just offer to help me sell some books?”

“I did. Why, is that weird?”

“Yes.” Shay shut her laptop. “What’s the catch? What percentage do you want?”

“Zero. I just want some cute books on that shelf and thought you might like the idea.”

“I do.” Shay looked wary. “Have you always been like this?”

“Like what?”

“Too good to be true.”

Harper laughed. She laughed so hard she nearly had to sit down.

“I don’t see what’s so damn funny,” Shay muttered.

“It’s just that I thought I was the most screwed-up person I knew, that’s all.”

“Hmph,” Shay said, but looked like this made her feel better.

The front door opened, and the Addams Family theme song went off again.

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