Page 25 of Pinch of Love

And Maya would be merely that.

Chapter Seven

Maya

“This is beautiful,” I told my sister, who had a pair of overalls on and an orange tee poking out underneath. She beamed with pride as we stared at the indoor construction site that was promising to turn into an antique store. Pancake was chewing on a bone twice the size of her little canine self over by a temporary wall.

I’d helped Grace move in about thirty boxes of things she’d ordered that were filled with custom signage to decorate the store with fun sayings for categories. The premise of her store was great. The space had been divided into a dozen or so smaller stores where she’d get a commission from other people’s items that sold, plus a rental fee for each space.

Grace frowned at me and looked around at the pile of lumber and half-framed walls before turning her attention back to me.

“I wouldn’t call it beautiful, but it’s getting there.” She bit her lip and tried not to laugh for some reason.

“What’s so funny?” My hands slid to my hips.

“You just seem to be in a very good mood since I last saw you. That’s all.” She slid her gaze to the one area in the store that had been completed—the front. Plastic sheathing rippled from the slightest breeze, protecting the finished product from the rest of the work.

“It’s called Buttercup Lake. Something about this place just makes a person feel better.”

“Are you sure it’s notsomeone?”

I thought back to Cash coming to my rescue this morning and smiled. “Positive.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that you had to call him for maintenance already?”

“Well, he certainly seemed puzzled by it, but it happens. He can’t predict what the last vacationers were up to.”

My sister smirked with a twinkle in her eye. “Totally.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

She clapped her hands and pretended to dust them off. “Nothing at all. But hey, since you’re going to be here for the foreseeable future, wanna come to the Sunshine Breakfast Club with me?”

“I heard about that club. Since when did you become a book club type of gal?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I chuckled. “I don’t know. You were always into the boys, and I was into the books.”

She laughed and held up her finger. “I was into one boy.”

“That turned into two,” I corrected since she didn’t marry the first one. But she had recently rekindled things with boy number one in a surprising move.

“It’s not just about books. We chat, we eat, we eat some more, and then we chat, and finally, we talk about the latest read. It’s a lot of fun. Most of the meetings are in the morning so people can get to work, but sometimes there are night meetings.” She walked over to a large purse slumped next to Pancake and pulled out a book. “I picked up two copies of this month’s read in case you wanted to join.”

“Suspicious,” I muttered.

Grace rolled her eyes and put up her hands in jest. “Ooh, real suspicious. Asking her sister to join a book club. It hasshenanigansstamped all over it.”

I chuckled. “Fine. But only because you bought this for me. I have an entire library of books waiting for me.”

“I know. Izzy hasn’t stopped talking about how cool your vacation place is.”

“I love it. I don’t know how I’m going to drag myself away.”

“Who says you have to?”

I grinned. “You do remember I run a company, right?”