“Alice Young was very worried about leaving the Book Nook to her granddaughter. I didn’t understand why, but she told me that her granddaughter was a very talented photographer with an adventurer’s soul and a heart that would bleed for the ones she loved.”

Okay.

Now he’s just playing dirty. I swipe away at the tears I can no longer hold back, still staying silent.

“She told me that you didn’t like books much but would still spend the little free time you had indulging her and her friends at book club or helping around the store. She knew the store was worth a small fortune for the property alone, and whether you decided to sell or rent out the space, you’d be set for life. But she was concerned that you wouldn’t sell.”

“What?” I feel a little dizzy, and even though I’ve never had blood sugar issues, I feel like I should ask for a glass of orange juice or something. “She was worried I wouldn’t sell?”

I spent this entire time thinking she would’ve been worried about me selling like Dad did. Tossing everything she worked for away in order to make a quick buck.

“I know, that’s what I thought.” His wry grin tugs at the corners of his mouth. “I couldn’t believe that she was worried about a twentysomething-year-old who loved to travel and didn’t read not selling the moment the opportunity arose. But she insisted. And actually, I owe you this.” He pushes away from his desk, opens the top drawer, and hands me a crisp twenty-dollar bill that he pulls out.

I look at the money. My head is beginning to ache from how tight my eyebrows are furrowed. “I . . . I don’t understand.”

“Your grandmother bet me twenty dollars that this would be an issue. Told me if you called about the Book Nook, I was to give you a twenty. I’m a man of my word.” He drops the money in front of me when I still don’t take it. “Plus, she said she would haunt me if I didn’t honor my end of the deal.”

That finally makes me crack a smile, because Gran making jokes about haunting someone while planning her will is so something she would’ve done.

“Not that.” I leave the money on the desk. “I don’t understand what she wanted me to do. I know how much the Book Nook meant to her—it meant a lot to me. It was her legacy. How could she expect me to sell that?”