Dixie cackled with laughter. “You know I’ve got a stack of those books right behind me, don’t you? I’ll just grab another one.“

“You wouldn’t dare!” Julie said, laughing as she handed the book back to Dixie. “But try to at least get some work done today.”

“Well, I’ve got some bad news on that front. I’ve actually got a physical therapy appointment in a few minutes. I’ll be gone for at least a couple of hours.”

“That’s okay. I can handle this place by myself.” Dixie stood up, walked behind the counter and retrieved her handbag.

“I’ll bring you back some lunch from the café. Chicken salad croissant?”

“Yes, and tell Dorothy to go extra heavy on the chicken. The last time it was more bread than anything else. That new girl doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

Dixie smiled and nodded before walking out the front door. Julie loved the familiarity of living in Seagrove. Everybody knew everybody else. Of course, that also meant that everybody was in everybody else’s business, but it still felt like home. Much more like home than any other place she’d ever lived, including where she raised her daughters.

Seagrove was like this strange little hamlet that most people didn’t know about, but it was heaven on earth to her. It was where she had found Dawson and Dylan, and it was where she planned to spend the rest of her days.

This time of the morning was her favorite at the bookstore. Even though there were a lot more tourists in town right now, very few of them came to the bookstore until after lunch. It gave her time to tidy up, get the coffee ready for the day and just spend some quiet time with herself. That was something that she didn’t get a lot of these days with a young son to raise.

She adored Dylan, of course, but he was high energy and she was getting older. She didn’t expect to be raising a little boy at this stage of her life, but she was grateful to be his mom. Still, she enjoyed those moments where she could just sit quietly, close her eyes and take a few deep breaths.

Janine had been trying to coax her back to a yoga class so that she could learn how to calm down a bit, but Julie had been resistant. She knew her sister was the best yoga teacher around, but there was just something about being in a class full of people. She preferred to sit alone when she wanted to rest her mind.

As she finished wiping down the café tables, she heard someone walk through the front door. It was a woman she’d never seen before. She was well dressed for the area. Tall, thin, with beautiful short, red hair and porcelain white skin. She was obviously very high class, as her mother would call it.

“Welcome to Down Yonder Books. Can I help you with anything?”

The woman smiled. “No, thank you. I just wanted to take a look around before I go to a meeting.”