Mia flinched at Jo’s mention of the word love. Lou hadn’t moved a millimeter. She just stood there sporting a smile Mia still had to get used to having aimed at her.

Epilogue

Lou couldn’t keep her eyes off Mia, who was strutting around the shop as though she owned it, as though she had invented the concept of the bookshop and was the first person on the planet to ever extract coffee from a handful of beans.

This was Mia at her best, even though it was only one side of her, or one side where many of her good qualities converged into the display she put on today: warm, welcoming, confident. A smile so easy, so bordering on sultry it made Lou weak at the knees—because she knew what it looked like when it crossed over all the way to sultry. She had been on the receiving end of Mia’s sultry smiles for three months now, and she didn’t think she could ever do without them.

“I sure hope we did the right thing,” Jane, who was standing next to her, said. “Not so much merging with a coffee shop and with people who clearly know what they’re doing, but bringing such a young thing into our lives. Look at her, Lou. Your girlfriend is a live wire. And all that coffee won’t help.” Jane snickered. Lou had been standing next to her for a while and she’d made a game of keeping tabs on how many glasses of champagne Jane had consumed during that time. Jane didn’t get out much, but when she did, and on special occasions like these, she went all out.

Then Lou lingered on the words your girlfriend. Mia was her girlfriend now. There really was no other way to describe her.

“I’m not sure I need that kind of excitement in my life,” Jane continued. “I prefer a quiet life.”

Lou smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Jane. You don’t have to come down to the shop if you don’t want to.”

“But what if I do want to, despite myself? What do you young people call it? FOMO?”

“Then come down and see what all the fuss is about, after which you can go back upstairs again and continue in your solitary ways.”