Why was Annie so reluctant about this? “Or maybe you just can’t bear the thought of not seeing Kristin for more than a few days.”

“I know I deserved that.” Annie did look her in the eye now. “But I think it would be a mistake to close the shop right now. Which means we’d need to hire someone on short notice. I’d need to train them. It just doesn’t feel right at this time.”

“I don’t see why not. Mia is training Taylor and she will be responsible for the Pink Bean soon. Why can’t we do the same? Selling books is hardly rocket science. In fact, we could just ask the Pink Bean people to keep an eye on our bit of the shop.”

“You make it sound as though all I do in that shop is sit on a chair and sell the occasional book.”

“And you make it sound as though you really don’t want to go on vacation with me.”

“I agree we need a plan. Or I need a plan to get past this. But going away is not the solution. I need to deal with this head on. Perhaps, right now, it’s too much to ask of you to trust me that I can do this, but I swear to you that I can.”

“I do trust you.” Jane was surprised by how easy it was to say the words even though her trust in her wife had just taken a severe blow.

“I’ll talk to her.” Annie was looking away again. “I’ll tell her how I feel and ask her to stay away for a while.”

“No,” Jane was quick to say. “Don’t tell her.”

“Why not?”

Was Annie really so naive? Or was she out to get humiliated and certain it would be the case? Either way, it wasn’t a risk Jane was willing to take. “Because what if you tell her and it is mutual?”

“What? No.” Annie squared her shoulders. “Even if it was, which I’m sure it’s not, it wouldn’t matter. Because I will always choose you. I think I’ve proved that before.”

“I need to sleep on it, not that I expect to get much sleep tonight.” Jane held her hand in front of her mouth as she suppressed a yawn.

“We’ll decide what to do about this tomorrow. Together.” Annie rose and held out her hand. “Shall we go to bed?”

“I think I’ll sleep here tonight. I’ll only keep you awake with my tossing and turning and you have to get up early to open the shop.”

Annie nodded, indicating, Jane hoped, she understood why Jane didn’t much feel like relieving her from her morning duties any longer. “I should be the one to sleep in the couch.”